Jaguar: Tesla irresponsible for offering dangerous self-drive tech

A senior Jaguar engineer has attacked US car-maker, Tesla, for offering autonomous technology on its cars that isn’t ready for the consumer.

Labelling Tesla’s Autopilot as “very irresponsible”, Jaguar’s XF project manager Stephen Boulter told UK tech blog Mashable that Jaguar possess the same autonomous hardware and know-how as the US car-maker but doesn’t believe it’s ready to be offered to its customers.

It’s also been reported that Jaguar believes, in its current form, semi-autonomous technology offered by the likes of Tesla ares “dangerous” because they create a “false sense of security” for drivers.

Jaguar is also concerned that semi-autonomous tech like Tesla’s Autopilot is not fool-proof or 100 per cent reliable, sometimes even failing to work in bad weather.

Speaking to Mashable at the recent Jaguar XF launch, Boulter explained that the British car-maker shared the same hardware as Tesla, using the same cameras and radar sensors, but it wouldn’t introduce its own version of Tesla’s Autopilot because the British car-maker worries the tech isn’t ready from a safety standpoint.

Boulter says he also fears a fall-out from an accident caused by the unrestricted autonomous tech.

“If something happens [with Autopilot], it could set the technology back a decade”.

The Jaguar engineer says that a fatality caused by a self-driving car could scare drivers away from the technology and lead to legislation being introduced to restrict its use on public roads.

Boulter says Jaguar is about to start testing its own range of self-driving cars on public roads in the UK and will only launch the self-driving tech once it deems it’s safe.

Jaguar isn’t the only car-maker worried about the unregulated semi-autonomous technology. Swedish car-maker Volvo has also raised concerns and thinks that only a fully autonomous car, that gives the driver little or no responsibility for the driving, will be a safer vehicle.

Even Tesla’s Elon Musk is known to be concerned. As recently reported by motoring.com.au, an anonymous Beta tester of its Autopilot semi-autonomous tech recently leaked information about a new software update for the Model S sedan and Model X SUV that could finally restrict the Autopilot’s features.

Musk recently warned that he was worried “idiotic” drivers were abusing his car’s self-drive features following YouTube videos of Model S owners cruising on the highway while the driver rests in the back seat.