Safety advocate Blumenthal tries out self-driving cars
East Haddam — U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., buckled himself into the front passenger seat of a Tesla here Tuesday as Consumer Reports staffers prepared to demonstrate the capabilities of so-called “semi-autonomous” cars that drive themselves and stop before it’s too late.
He said it was a comfort to know an expert would be ready to take the wheel, if necessary.
A member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Blumenthal has been pushing to add stronger safety oversight and greater protections for the public to legislation that seeks to facilitate the auto industry’s development of autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles. Introduced by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the AV START Act (the acronym stands for American Vision for Safer Transportation through Advancement of Revolutionary Technologies) soon could reach the Senate floor.
Blumenthal arranged Tuesday’s event at the Consumer Reports Auto Test Center, inviting reporters to the secluded, 327-acre facility where cars, tires and child car seats are tested and rated. Consumer Reports publishes its findings in a magazine and on its website, www.ConsumerReports.org.
Semi-autonomous vehicles like those driven Tuesday — primarily a 2018 Tesla Model 3 equipped with an “Autopilot” program and a 2018 Cadillac CT6 outfitted with “Super Cruise” — have their limitations, Blumenthal said, including their tendency to provide drivers with a false sense of security and complacency.
A Tesla Model X, a sport utility vehicle, was in Autopilot mode when it crashed March 23 in California, killing the driver. Five days before, a self-driving Volvo SUV operated by Uber struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona.
“These incidents certainly raise red flags,” said Blumenthal, who then sharpened his metaphor. “It’s a yellow flashing light — I don’t mean that we should stop (improving auto technology). I’ve urged a manual override (of self-driving capability). If a person in the car can take over, that person can prevent a potentially deadly accident.”
Reporters, photographers and cameramen watched as Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports’ director of auto testing, drove the Tesla, an all-electric, $60,000 sedan that Consumer Reports purchased in New York state. Blumenthal was seated next to him, and in the back was David Friedman, director of cars and product policy and analysis for Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports.
They sped back-and-forth on the property’s test track, Fisher at one point placing his hands on the steering wheel to maneuver around another vehicle. For another demonstration, they moved to a Subaru Crosstrek SUV equipped with a braking feature. A test driver drove the car at a stationary “target” vehicle at 10 mph, demonstrating the Subaru’s ability to apply full braking force to stop before crashing. Twice.
Blumenthal said “it felt frightening” and that he could tell his blood pressure was rising as the Subaru closed on the other vehicle without the driver’s hands on the wheel.
The demonstration of the $72,000 Cadillac sedan’s capabilities took place on a nearby stretch of Route 2, out of the direct view of reporters. The car’s technology prevents its semi-autonomous features from being activated on other than marked highways. It also features a series of cameras that record activity in the car. One camera is trained on the driver to ensure he or she stays focused on driving; if the driver's eyes are diverted for too long — a matter of seconds — an alarm sounds and lights flash.
Blumenthal said the demonstrations further convinced him of the need for manual overrides of the vehicles’ self-driving capabilities.
“I want that included in the bill,” he said, adding that the safety provisions in the pending legislation also need to be made applicable to semi-autonomous vehicles rather than just autonomous vehicles, as is currently the case. The legislation also should specify that data gathered on the safety and performance of such vehicles be made available to the public, he said.
“I’ll be blunt,” Blumenthal said. “In the past four years, we’ve seen the automobile industry fall short on safety — in regard to ignition systems and airbags. An industry that has problems protecting people deserves special scrutiny.”
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