Interesting early example for Tesla and "semi" self driving cars, they have warnings for the optional $2,500 software upgrade that drive should be prepared to takeover anytime, but also call it "autopilot" to market it.  T's and P's to this poor guy's family.

"Tesla’s Autopilot feature, which it markets as a $2,500 software upgrade, allows the Model S to speed up, slow down and change lanes with no input from the driver other than setting the desired maximum speed and tapping the turn signal to trigger a lane change. Feet come off the pedals, and hands come off the steering wheel. The driver can literally read a book."

"All the big automakers possess the same technology, however, and it only works on roads with clearly marked lanes and a predictable flow of traffic, when nothing else goes wrong. Yet anybody with a driver’s license knows that something is always liable to go wrong: kids or animals jump out from nowhere. Blinding sun floods the cockpit. Rain or snow makes it impossible to see, while the wheels beneath spin.  The cameras, lasers, sonars and other sensors that gather the info allowing computers to make driving decisions still aren’t as good as ordinary human drivers are at reacting to the unexpected craziness that occurs on America’s roads."

"The crash involved a Model S driven by Joshua Brown, 40, of Canton, Ohio, who was traveling east on Route 27 about 25 miles southwest of Gainesville in the middle of the afternoon. A tractor-trailer traveling the opposite direction began to make a left turn, crossing the lane Brown was traveling in, and Brown’s Tesla slid under the truck, which sliced the roof off the car, according to a police report on the crash. Brown’s Tesla left the road and crashed through two fences, before coming to rest against a power pole about 100 feet away from the highway Brown had been driving on. Brown died at the scene."

"Tesla disclosed the federal inquiry in a blog post on its website, the company’s preferred method of communicating material information about its operations. Tesla says it included numerous disclaimers about the limits of its Autopilot technology to owners who downloaded the software that activated the feature. Whenever drivers engaged Autopilot, for instance, the car flashed a warning advising that they should “be prepared to take over at any time.” Lawyers for car companies are highly skilled at anticipating everything that can go wrong in cars, and making sure owners agree to terms that mitigate liability. Tesla may very well avoid any legal liability in the Brown case, especially if it turns out Brown was using Autopilot under conditions for which it wasn’t designed."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-autopilot-fatality-florida-000000983...