The driver died from driving while playing an iPhone game, investigating agencies blamed Tesla and Apple

Federal investigators have recently discovered that the ill-fated man died in a Tesla car accident playing a game at the time of the unfortunate incident. And so they began to use words that were not very elegant to criticize Tesla and . Apple.

In particular, the National Traffic Safety Board on Tuesday held a testimony session around the car accident in March 2018, on Highway 101 in Mountain View, California. During the course of the meeting, Chairman Robert Sumwalt made it clear that Tesla must explain more clearly how the self-driving part of the system works.

" You can't buy a self-driving car, " he said at the beginning of the testimony session.

The family of Walter Huang, a 38-year-old Apple engineer, sued Tesla after his Model X hit a barrier on the highway. The family insisted the Autopilot feature of the vehicle was the cause of the crash.

Examining Huang's phone showed that one of the two iPhones Apple had given him was logged in and playing "Three Kingdoms", a mobile game, at the time of the accident. Investigators upheld the idea that Tesla was at fault in the serious collision, but they also blamed the other game for preventing the driver from responding when his car began to drive itself dangerously. .

An Uber self-driving car also had a serious accident in Arizona in the month of the Tesla car crash. In the Uber incident, the driver was in charge of monitoring the car sitting in the driver's seat, watching TV on the phone at the time of the collision.

The Autopilot feature of Tesla requires drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel at all times, and the eyes to pay attention to the road ahead, even when the car is changing lanes or accelerating.

The National Traffic Safety Board has been heavily critical of Tesla over the years regarding its driver assistance system. According to Sumwalt, the board wants Tesla to make it clear to the driver that its car cannot drive itself.

Some of the board's nine new recommendations are directed at Apple and other smartphone manufacturers. Sumwalt blames Apple for not having a clear personal electronics policy for its employees.

" Apple is not the leader. They are slow. They do not have such a policy at all " - he said.

Apple says its employees must comply with the law.

The National Traffic Safety Board continues to advise Apple and others that a stringent mobile phone policy is in place to minimize distractions , including the suggestion that phones should The default is to deactivate while driving except in an emergency.

The iPhone and Apple's CarPlay system actually have " Do Not Disturb While Driving " mode, but are not automatically activated when the user starts driving.

A recent survey by Reviews.org found that more than 75% of the participants claimed to be phone addicts. More than 50% of the 500 adults surveyed said they always or sometimes looked at the phone while driving. In semi-auto cars, it's normal for drivers to be distracted by smartphones, everyone knows why.

Reference: Mashable