Computer geek Joshua Brown loved his Tesla and affectionately called her Tessi

Joshua Brown near the new Tesla Model S near his home in Ohio. He is wearing a T-shirt with the logo of his computer company Nexu Innovation. Photo taken by neighbor Krista Kitchen

Joshua Brown, a car enthusiast, was the first Tesla Model S driver to ever die while driving in autopilot mode . Tesla reported the tragic loss on June 30, 2016. The accident itself happened on May 7, 2016 at 15:40 on the US 27 highway at the entrance to the city of Willison (Florida), near the gas station ( satellite map ). According to Tesla Motors, neither the autopilot nor the driver noticed a light truck in the background of a brightly lit sky, so the brake system was not activated.



The death of Joshua Brown caused a wide public outcry - and not only because it is the first "death from autopilot" in history. Joshua was a big fan of Tesla cars, he repeatedly tested the computer system for durability. Many saw the popular video that Joshua shot a month before his death, where the autopilot managed to dodge the truck, which made a dangerous maneuver. This video was repressed by Ilon Mask himself on his twitter.

The 40-year-old man in his heart remained a computer geek. Computers and technology were his life. He affectionately called his favorite Tesla car Tessi, writes the NY Times.


Joshua Brown's House. Photo: The New York Times / Maddie McGarvey

He was a real beta tester, because the autopilot function is still in beta testing. Tesla Motors assumes no responsibility for the operation of this experimental function and warns drivers to always keep their hands on the steering wheel during autopilot operation. As soon as Tesla rolled out this option, Joshua immediately began to test it and record videos, how the car drives without driver’s participation and reacts to various obstacles. In the first nine months after the launch of the new function, he hit over 70,000 km in autopilot mode.

“I really drive a LOT,” he wrote, answering a question in the comments on one of his dozens of YouTube videos on Tesla cars.

Friends say that Joshua was literally delighted with the new technology, which seemed to come from the future, but is available now - and how much it will increase road safety. Before that, for six years, Joshua was fined eight times for speeding.

For Joshua and other car owners, Tesla cars have become the subject of an almost cult devotion. You can find countless videos on Youtube where fans show off various Tesla Model S features, including an automatic piloting system. Some of them intentionally remove their hands from the steering wheel and engage in extraneous affairs to increase the effect ( 1 , 2 , 3) Joshua himself published videos on how the autopilot responds to obstacles in the “blind spots”, fits into sharp turns and reacts to other situations that are very difficult for the autopilot to work.

In the last days after the first accident report, several details have appeared. It became known that a portable DVD player was installed in Joshua’s car .


A fragment of a crashed Tesla Model S car in an accident on May 7, 2016. Photo: Reuters / Barbara Liston

A resident of the house to which the Tesla Model S was assigned 270 meters from the scene of the accident, Robert VanKavelaar saidthat approached the car after 15 minutes - and heard the sound of a movie running on a video player. A traffic police officer at the scene reported that there was a "Harry Potter". Apparently, information about the film came from a truck driver, 62-year-old Frank Baressy - he was the first to say about Harry Potter. Another witness, who went straight to the car and even looked into the car before the police arrived, refutes these words : there was no film.

The controversy surrounding the player is important to understand: did the driver actually see the approaching trailer in front of him on the highway or not. The fact is that the driver did not touch the brake pedal. Recall that in April 2016, another incident occurred.when the Tesla Model S crashed at speed into a car in front. In that case, Tesla Motors examined the logs and found that the adaptive cruise control system is not guilty of what happened. Logs showed that the driver pressed the brake pedal and thereby deactivated the autopilot and cruise control, which maintains a safe distance in traffic. By pressing the brake, she put the car into manual mode, and also turned off the emergency braking system, which was installed in all Tesla autopilots last year with firmware 6.2.

It can be assumed that Joshua Brown knew about the specific features of the autopilot and emergency braking system - and therefore did not touch the brake pedal so as not to interfere with the automation.

The sad incident with Joshua Brown can slightly shake Tesla car owners' confidence in the autopilot's flawlessness. According to the law of large numbers, such accidents inevitably occur, sooner or later, even in the most reliable equipment. And in the case of Tesla Motors cars, the numbers are really very large. These cars have already traveled more than 210 million km, and so far there has not been a single fatal accident.

However, relatives and friends of Joshua Brown from this is not easier.

After school, Joshua studied at the University of New Mexico with a degree in physics and computer science, but did not graduate from the university, but volunteered at the US Navy, where he served more than ten years, specializing in the disposal of ammunition, as stated in the description on the website of his IT company Nexu innovation. Co-workers say that he had advanced knowledge of computers and electrical engineering, although there was no education in this area.

Friends recall Joshua as a very kind, helpful person. He never refused to help friends and always stayed in touch with his comrades, with whom he had previously served.

His company Nexu Innovation was engaged in connecting to the Internet homes in remote areas in mountainous and forested areas where regular communication is not available. In a sense, even his business is noble: Josh helped people who did not care about large companies and large Internet providers.

A true computer enthusiast, Joshua Brown, died driving his Tessie car, which he loved so much.

“He said:“ In order to attract the attention of Ilon Mask, I can now die and immediately go to heaven, ” said computer enthusiast neighbor Krista Kitchen, recalling the case when Ilon Mask reposted his video. “He was absolutely delighted, and after a few weeks he was gone.”

Joshua Brown's family issued a statement expressing a desire to help government experts and Tesla Motors investigate. Relatives want “information from this tragedy to contribute to further innovations that enhance global road safety.”

The incident occurred a few weeks before the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was about to publish the first official guidelines for unmanned vehicles and automakers. Experts suggest that the future of automobile transport lies with drones, and only computer control is capable of eliminating the most common cause of road deaths - human errors. Last year, more than 35,000 people died on US roads, of which about 94% were due to driver mistakes.