''Elon Musk's Crash Course'' is a 2022 ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''– FX

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed and produced by Emma Schwartz with reporting by Cade Metz and Neal Boudette. The documentary explores the promises made by Tesla's CEO

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...

in regards to self-driving cars and contrasts that with the fatal

accidents An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not directly caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that nobody should be blamed, but the event may have been caused by unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Most researcher ...

that have occurred using the technology. The documentary was released on May 20, 2022, as an edition of '' The New York Times Presents'' on FX and

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Synopsis

''Elon Musk's Crash Course'' explores both the claims made by Musk about self-driving cars and their actual capabilities. The film includes multiple interviews, including former Tesla engineers who worked on the self-driving software which controls the cars. The film compares the concerns raised about the technology to the public statements made by Musk. The film focuses on the death of Joshua Brown, a former Navy Seal who is considered the first known fatality while using Tesla's Autopilot. Brown was considered an adamant fan of Tesla, having posted over two-dozen videos about his Tesla and its Autopilot features. The documentary also explores Tesla's safety features as it developed the self-driving technology, starting with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) investigation into the 38 accidents that occurred in 2016. In addition to the death of Brown, the film also focuses on the death of Walter Huang in March 2018 when his Tesla hit a concrete wall at 70 mph, and Jeremy Banner, who was killed in March 2019 when his Tesla drove under a tractor-trailer. Robert Sumwalt, former chair of the

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...

, makes the claim that Tesla has continued to ignore safety reform following these fatal accidents.

Persons featured

* Elon Musk * Robert Sumwalt, former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board * Bryan Thomas, former communications director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration * Joshua Brown, considered the first known fatality while using Tesla's Autopilot

Reception

Russ Mitchell of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' wrote that the film is "solidly reported and dead-accurate".

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

writes that the film does not break new ground, but rather comes across as "cogent synthesis and assemblage of ample archival material".

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concludes that despite Musk's media presence and the high-profile accidents involving Autopilot, Teslas still retain their status as sought after automobiles.

References

External links

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S2E1Elon Musk’s Crash Course on Fx

Official NTSB Highway Accident Report: Collision Between a Car Operating With Automated Vehicle Control Systems and a Tractor-Semitrailer Truck Near Williston, Florida May 7, 2016

Official NTSB Highway Accident Report: Collision Between a Sport Utility Vehicle Operating With Partial Driving Automation and a Crash Attenuator Mountain View, California March 23, 2018

Official NTSB Highway Accident Brief: Collision Between Car Operating with Partial Driving Automation and Truck-Tractor Semitrailer Delray Beach, Florida, March 1, 2019
{{Authority control 2022 documentary films 2022 films 2022 television films American documentary television films The New York Times 2020s English-language films 2020s American films Works about Elon Musk