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Incident 145: Tesla's Autopilot Misidentified the Moon as Yellow Stop Light

Description: Tesla's Autopilot was shown on video by its owner mistaking the moon for a yellow stop light, allegedly causing the vehicle to keep slowing down.

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Alleged: Tesla developed and deployed an AI system, which harmed Tesla drivers.

Incident Stats

Incident ID
145
Report Count
3
Incident Date
2021-07-23
Editors
Sean McGregor, Khoa Lam
Applied Taxonomies
CSETv1, GMF, MIT

CSETv1 Taxonomy Classifications

Taxonomy Details

Incident Number

The number of the incident in the AI Incident Database.
 

145

AI Tangible Harm Level Notes

Notes about the AI tangible harm level assessment
 

Stopping incorrectly could cause accidents on the road.

Special Interest Intangible Harm

An assessment of whether a special interest intangible harm occurred. This assessment does not consider the context of the intangible harm, if an AI was involved, or if there is characterizable class or subgroup of harmed entities. It is also not assessing if an intangible harm occurred. It is only asking if a special interest intangible harm occurred.
 

no

Date of Incident Year

The year in which the incident occurred. If there are multiple harms or occurrences of the incident, list the earliest. If a precise date is unavailable, but the available sources provide a basis for estimating the year, estimate. Otherwise, leave blank. Enter in the format of YYYY
 

2021

Date of Incident Month

The month in which the incident occurred. If there are multiple harms or occurrences of the incident, list the earliest. If a precise date is unavailable, but the available sources provide a basis for estimating the month, estimate. Otherwise, leave blank. Enter in the format of MM
 

07

Date of Incident Day

The day on which the incident occurred. If a precise date is unavailable, leave blank. Enter in the format of DD
 

22

MIT Taxonomy Classifications

Machine-Classified
Taxonomy Details

Risk Subdomain

A further 23 subdomains create an accessible and understandable classification of hazards and harms associated with AI
 

7.3. Lack of capability or robustness

Risk Domain

The Domain Taxonomy of AI Risks classifies risks into seven AI risk domains: (1) Discrimination & toxicity, (2) Privacy & security, (3) Misinformation, (4) Malicious actors & misuse, (5) Human-computer interaction, (6) Socioeconomic & environmental harms, and (7) AI system safety, failures & limitations.
 
  1. AI system safety, failures, and limitations

Entity

Which, if any, entity is presented as the main cause of the risk
 

AI

Timing

The stage in the AI lifecycle at which the risk is presented as occurring
 

Post-deployment

Intent

Whether the risk is presented as occurring as an expected or unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
 

Unintentional

Incident Reports

Reports Timeline

+1
Video showing moon interpreted as yellow stop light
Tesla's Full Self-Driving tech keeps getting fooled by the moon, billboards, and Burger King signsWe tried Tesla's 'full self-driving.' Here's what happened
Video showing moon interpreted as yellow stop light

Video showing moon interpreted as yellow stop light

twitter.com

Tesla's Full Self-Driving tech keeps getting fooled by the moon, billboards, and Burger King signs

Tesla's Full Self-Driving tech keeps getting fooled by the moon, billboards, and Burger King signs

businessinsider.com

We tried Tesla's 'full self-driving.' Here's what happened

We tried Tesla's 'full self-driving.' Here's what happened

cnn.com

Video showing moon interpreted as yellow stop light
twitter.com · 2021

Hey @elonmusk you might want to have your team look into the moon tricking the autopilot system. The car thinks the moon is a yellow traffic light and wanted to keep slowing down. 🤦🏼 @Teslarati @teslaownersSV @TeslaJoy

Tesla's Full Self-Driving tech keeps getting fooled by the moon, billboards, and Burger King signs
businessinsider.com · 2021

A viral tweet showed a Tesla confusing the moon for a yellow traffic light.

The company's Full Self-Driving tech has made similar mistakes before.

Owners say their cars have been fooled by billboards and Burger King signs.

Tesla CEO Elon Mu…

We tried Tesla's 'full self-driving.' Here's what happened
cnn.com · 2021

Washington, DC (CNN)When a dozen small children crossed in front of our Tesla with "full self-driving," I had good reason to be nervous.

I'd spent my morning so far in the backseat of the Model 3 using "full self-driving," the system that T…

Variants

A "variant" is an incident that shares the same causative factors, produces similar harms, and involves the same intelligent systems as a known AI incident. Rather than index variants as entirely separate incidents, we list variations of incidents under the first similar incident submitted to the database. Unlike other submission types to the incident database, variants are not required to have reporting in evidence external to the Incident Database. Learn more from the research paper.

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