US opens formal probe into Tesla Autopilot system (msn.com)
@mcarley Did you buy the FSD?
I have not had any real issues with autopilot or FSD. FSD is very limited at this point.
From what I hear, it’s not ready for primetime, certainly not worth $10K, and it’s not like you can just sit in the back seat.
I have a friend who has a ~40 minute commute and was going to get it so he could grade papers while on his way. I reminded him that you have to have an alert person in the seat ready to take over.
FSD and Autopilot are similar in features.
It is NOT worth 10K at this point. It autoparks (Doesn’t work half the time). It does lane changes automatically (I don’t use that.) That is about the only real difference at this point in time.
This is what scares the shit out of me. IT’s just like the disclaimer about “pay attention to the road” that comes up on the infotainment screen when I start my car. 95% of the people don’t read it, and 99% of the people who read it don’t heed it.
I’d also wonder - if I am on my bicycle on a road and a Tesla on “autopilot” approaches me from behind…does it treat me as a vehicle or does it treat me as and obstacle.? Will it change to the next lane if it’s a 4 lane road, or will it pass me in the opposite lane on a 2 lane road, or will it try to ‘squeeze by’ since i’m not a car?
It sees you as a bicyle.
So what does it do…resepect that I am going 10 mph on a 35 mph street and stay behind me? Have you passed bicycle with autopilot on? IF so, how much room did it leave between you and the bike? Was it 3 feet or more? Articles in cycling magazines express a lot of concern…But you have to understand that we see people who already treat their “non autopilot” cars as a restaurant, library, office, phone booth and anything other than a car. That they could be in a car where they don’t even have to pretend to drive it is scary to us.
My Mazda has driver assist features but no self driving features…One time on open road (not an interstate) I let go of the steering wheel to see what would happen if it starts to cross the lane lines. A tone and a warning that said “Put your hands on the steering wheel”. I wish Tesla did that, but the very name “autopilot” encourages people to NOT hold on to the wheel.
What I’d like to do it charter a plane for Tesla owners to fly to a Tesla convention. About 15 minutes from landing, have the flight crew wander back into the cabin an chit chat with folks. Tell the we should be on the ground in about 10 minutes. Tell them that autopilot was flying the plane. I’ll bet a few of them will get nervous.
It treats them like a car. If they’re In the bike lane it passes then. If it’s In the lane it stays behind it until it can pass it.
It leaves the distance you have programmed into your car. Mine is set for two car lengths
When it passes a bicycle - how much space is between the passenger door and the cyclist? I think “autopilot” is an extremely poor choice of words for people who already view driving as a secondary activity.
You do realize most cars have this feature now.
When it passes you have a lane between them.
Hmmm…got honked at by a Porsche that had an entire lane with nobody in front of him, but for some reason he needed to be in the lane we were in and passed about a foot away.
So…if I am on a two lane road. The Tesla sees me and says “that’s a bicycle” and slows down. I’m not in a bike lane, but I’m about 3 feet from the curb. How long will the Tesla stay behind me? If it passes me, how much room to my side will it give me?
Also…a bike lane with just a painted line is more frightening - most people (and most likely Tesla) figure if they are on “their” side of the white line, it’s all good. But that stupid white line encourages them to pass closer than they would without the bike lane.
It goes into the other lane and passes you.
This isn’t giving me the warm fuzzies.
He drove his car off the road. He is the driver. Autopilot just keeps you in the lane. I do not think you understand what the technology does and doesn’t do.
You seem to think it drives the car all by itself and you can just nap.
All it does is assist the driver. When a user uses autopilot, it reduces accidents by 30%.
Neither he nor Autopilot noticed that the road was ending and the Model S drove past a stop sign and a flashing red light.
Of course, autopilot didn’t do anything in this scenario. It isn’t supposed to do anything in that scenario.
About a quarter of the time, taking my kid to school, on the exact same stretch of road, my car beeps loudly at me and tells me that corrective steering was applied to keep me in the lane. I wasn’t out of the lane, but it’s not especially well marked in that area. And, though the car says that, I’ve never felt it jerk the steering wheel or anything.
There are a few spots where I get phantom breaking. It is the same place every time.
People seem to think autopilot is FSD. It isn’t. It just assists the driver to make the car safer.
The one road pattern it struggles with is when the lane splits off. That causes some jerky behavior.
Yep…he’s the driver. The unfortunately named “Autopilot” systemn seems to lure SEVERAL people in Tesla’s to play video games, read, sleep, have sex and do pretty much whatever. This guy just happened to live. I would MUCH prefer that Tesla had named it the “Driver Assistance System”, which at least indicates that the driver is still an integral part of driving the car. But that’s kind of boring.
And I fault Tesla for putting something in their cars that would allow a person to take their hands off the steering wheel and eyes off the road…and they can watch it for a while change lanes and turn and slow down and all that other cool stuff…and then fall into a 'I’ll just take a quick second to check my stocks" moment while driving. THEN they hit me. I don’t have much family left, but I can assure you “They weren’t using Autopilot as it was intended” won’t help them get over the tragedy if I’m hit.
It kind of reminds me of a “fix” on early DC8’s that would deploy ground spoilers while in the air. That fix was a placard that basicly said “don’t use this in the air”. Kind of like the ass covering "please pay attention when driving " alert when starting up a car.
You can’t fix stupid.
It tells you that everytime you activate it.
It disables if you do.
When I used to ride the bus to work, well before Driver Assist was in any vehicle, we used to see all kinds of people doing all kinds of things during rush hour.
You sure can’t. But you can work around stupid. Start by NOT calling the damned thing “autopilot”. That way, stupid people might not think of using it as an…autopilot.
Yep…the cover your ass warning…just like my car tells me to pay attention when I’m driving every time I start it. Do you still read that warning every time it comes on.
You’d think that Tesla might see that so many of their cars on “autopilot” are driving under semis or flying down roads that end or hitting barriers because the driver was sleeping or watching a movie. And apparently, the Tesla can be tricked fairly easily.
They don’t see many. Tesla has fewer crashes than the average car.
Tesla says Autopilot nearly 10x safer than average car, as two die in Texas (thedriven.io)