Florida: First Person Killed in a Tesla Car in Self-Drive Mode Was a Former Navy SEAL
June 30th, 2016Owner and founder: Joshua D. Brown
I started Nexu Innovations with two things in mind: to make a difference and to have fun. When I look at the world around me I see what it could be. I focus on what could be done to make this world a better place. I then take these ideas and see if I can make them a reality. This is why Nexu has such a diverse range of products and services. I believe that innovation is unlimited and that things can and will always be improved upon.
I attended the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque for three years studying physics and computer science. Following my junior year, I enlisted in the US Navy serving 11.5 wonderful years on active duty as a Master Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician (EOD). While deployed numerous times overseas, in both warfighting and non-combatant roles with SOF (Special Operations Forces) units, it was my pleasure to work with the most intelligent, innovative, and independent patriots I have ever met. My duty stations included: Information Technology A School, BUD/S, NDSTC, NAVSCOLEOD, EODMU3, KTOD ACTD, and NSWDG. These opportunities allowed development of my operational experience as well as understanding and associations within the research and development (R&D) community.
The circumstances of the crash do make it seem like an actual coincidence, even to me, but:
Via: ABC News:
The U.S. announced Thursday the first fatality in a wreck involving a car in self-driving mode, the 40-year-old owner of a technology company who nicknamed his vehicle “Tessy” and had praised its sophisticated “Autopilot” system just one month earlier for preventing a collision on an interstate. The government said it is investigating the design and performance of the system aboard the Tesla Model S sedan.
Joshua D. Brown, of Canton, Ohio, died in the accident May 7 in Williston, Florida, when his car’s cameras failed to distinguish the white side of a turning tractor-trailer from a brightly lit sky and didn’t automatically activate its brakes, according to government records obtained Thursday.
Frank Baressi, 62, the driver of the truck and owner of Okemah Express LLC, said the Tesla driver was “playing Harry Potter on the TV screen” at the time of the crash and driving so quickly that “he went so fast through my trailer I didn’t see him.”
“It was still playing when he died and snapped a telephone pole a quarter mile down the road,” Baressi told The Associated Press in an interview from his home in Palm Harbor, Florida. He acknowledged he couldn’t see the movie, only heard it.
Tesla Motors Inc. said it is not possible to watch videos on the Model S touch screen. There was no reference to the movie in initial police reports.
Brown’s published obituary described him as a member of the Navy SEALs for 11 years and founder of Nexu Innovations Inc., working on wireless Internet networks and camera systems. In Washington, the Pentagon confirmed Brown’s work with the SEALs and said he left the service in 2008.
