In this new world where science fiction can quickly turn into science fact, obstacles and sudden tragedies can pock mark the road to technological progress. Such is the case with the auto industry's charge toward autonomous vehicles.

With the recent death of a driver of a semi-autonomous Tesla car, the industry — suppliers, automakers and dealers — is wondering whether some technologies of tomorrow are even worth conquering.

Benefits and dangers

Tesla Motors has been at the forefront of this movement with its Autopilot system. Following the 7.0 software update, the Tesla Model S gained the ability to "use its unique combination of cameras, radar, ultrasonic sensors and data to automatically steer down the highway, change lanes, and adjust speed in response to traffic."

For most people, their introduction to the concept of self-driving cars was sparked by sci-fi movies and television shows. The idea of cars navigating their own way along set paths was, and still is, exhilarating.

The benefits are numerous and hard to argue.

Cars that drive themselves would more than likely reduce traffic congestion and make issues like rubbernecking, aggressive driving and tailgating a thing of the past. They would also provide drivers relief as far as navigating and the constraints that would be lifted on age, disability and intoxication. And autonomous cars could help reduce labor costs for the freight and transport industries.

Recently, however, the possible benefits of the technology are being overshadowed by tragedy.

In May, a man driving a Tesla Model S in Autopilot mode crashed into a tractor-trailer in Williston, Florida. The accident was fatal and is the first death attributed to the Autopilot technology.

Responding to the accident via its blog, Tesla released a statement saying:

"When drivers activate Autopilot, the acknowledgment box explains, among other things, that Autopilot 'is an assist feature that requires you to keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times,' and that 'you need to maintain control and responsibility for your vehicle' while using it. Additionally, every time that Autopilot is engaged, the car reminds the driver to 'Always keep your hands on the wheel. Be prepared to take over at any time.' The system also makes frequent checks to ensure that the driver's hands remain on the wheel and provides visual and audible alerts if hands-on is not detected. It then gradually slows down the car until hands-on is detected again."

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigated the accident and released a preliminary report finding that the driver, Joshua Brown, may have been traveling faster than the speed limit: "According to system performance data downloaded from the car, the indicated vehicle speed was 74 mph just prior to impact, and the posted speed limit was 65 mph."

The preliminary report does not contain any analysis of data and does not state probable cause for the crash. The NTSB will release a final report in about a year.

Stepping back

Following the accident, many in the auto industry began urging Tesla to pull back from its autonomous car efforts. According to a Consumer Reports statement, the autonomy movement is possibly moving too fast.

"The company's aggressive roll-out of self-driving technology — in what it calls a 'beta-test' — is forcing safety agencies and automakers to reassess the basic relationship between human drivers and their increasingly sophisticated cars.

"While the exact cause of the fatal accident is not yet known, the incident has caused safety advocates, including Consumer Reports, to question whether the name Autopilot, as well as the marketing hype of its roll-out, promoted a dangerously premature assumption that the Model S was capable of truly driving on its own."

Ultimately, Consumer Reports requested that Tesla do several things:

• Disable Autosteer until it can be reprogrammed to require drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel.
• Stop referring to the system as "Autopilot" as it is misleading and potentially dangerous.
• Issue clearer guidance to owners on how the system should be used and its limitations.
• Test all safety-critical systems fully before public deployment; no more beta releases.

The post-accident backlash has also affected Tesla's business relationships. Mobileye, which supplied the automaker with its EyeQ3 technology that processed information from the Autopilot sensor's suite, announced it would be ending its partnership.

While the reason for the relationship's end is currently unclear, it more than likely has to do with the backlash surrounding the Autopilot system's recent problems.

In response to pressure by the industry to either pause or halt autonomous car development, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that MobilEye's departure "will not have any material effect on our plans. MobilEye's ability to evolve its technology is unfortunately negatively affected by having to support hundreds of models from legacy auto companies, resulting in a very high engineering drag coefficient.

"Tesla is laser-focused on achieving full self-driving capability on one integrated platform with an order of magnitude greater safety than the average manually driven car."

In announcing Tesla's master plan "part deux," Musk explained that the technology is still maturing that more time is necessary to achieve final "refinement and validation."

To Musk however, there is no turning back, "According to the recently released 2015 NHTSA report, automotive fatalities increased by 8 percent to one death every 89 million miles. Autopilot miles will soon exceed twice that number and the system gets better every day. It would no more make sense to disable Tesla's Autopilot, as some have called for, than it would to disable autopilot in aircraft, after which our system is named."

Despite the confidence of its boundary-pushing leader, Tesla employees aren't as sure the plan toward the autonomous cars should simply plow forward. In a CNNMoney article, some Tesla employees noted they were having issues balancing their concerns with the system's possible life-saving benefits.

For example, Eric Meadows, a former Autopilot engineer at Tesla, was testing the system on a Los Angeles highway and found the car had trouble making sharp turns. This ultimately led to Meadows being pulled over on suspicion of driving drunk.

"I came in with this mentality that Elon had: I want to go from on-ramp to off-ramp and the driver doesn't have to do anything," Meadows told CNNMoney. "The last two months I was scared someone was going to die."

As of now, plans for autonomous cars will more than likely continue to move forward.

While Tesla is indeed leading the self-driving car pack, it is not the only player in the game. Google is also working on driverless car, ensuring that the industry will more than likely progress down the road, whether there will be anyone behind the wheel to avoid any other tragedies remains to be seen.