News Tesla S on Autopilot

[Notebook]

This car is on Autopilot. What happens next?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-44460980/this-car-is-on-autopilot-what-happens-next

Must admit it would have took me by surprise.

N.

 

[Artlav]

Yep.

For one, any technology you don't understand is a confusing bunch of witchcraft. I.e. IR water faucets in public bathrooms tend to frustrate a lot of people, but i never had any problems with them - i played with these kinds of sensors and so have a subconscious awareness of what they would react to, while an average person would move their hands more or less at random trying to get it to work.

Same with the "autopilot" functionality - it might be great when you know exactly how it works and what the limits are, but for regular folks who only heard a rough description of the appearance of that particular piece of witchcraft it's not clear just what to expect from it.

For two, assisted driving is largely a bad idea, since it tends to sap your attention even if you are aware of how it works. It would be similar to driving on the highway with the car locked into the treads - nothing ever happens, and then you wake up doing airtime in the field off the road.

 

[Notebook]

Once the car in front had changed lane, why didn't the Tesla lock onto the stationary car, and emergency brake? Would have thought its a common scenario for testing.

I don't like this "assisted" system. As you say, its a half-way house.

N.

 

[boogabooga]

In fairness, a lot of humans would have rear-ended that car, too.

 

[Artlav]

why didn't the Tesla lock onto the stationary car

Actually, the test might be a bit flawed - the car, naturally, was made of some sort of foam which might very well be invisible to Tesla's radar. And i would expect the software to be designed to trust the radar more than the visual input, since the rate of false negative should be extremely low there.

 

[Urwumpe]

Actually, the test might be a bit flawed - the car, naturally, was made of some sort of foam which might very well be invisible to Tesla's radar. And i would expect the software to be designed to trust the radar more than the visual input, since the rate of false negative should be extremely low there.

Actually wrong - it prefers the visual input.

On radar, the expansion joints on bridges appear as ~50 cm high walls on the road, because of their reflectivity. Its a common problem for many radars in cars, quite many ACC systems need a good algorithm to filter those features out - something that you can't do if you have a self-driving car.

If radar would detect something, while the camera can't confirm its existence because the image-processing algorithm decided it is background or dust, the radar would be overruled.

 

[Notebook]

Its the lack of braking that's surprising. Does the assist mode not handle braking?

N.

 

[Linguofreak]

Ars Technica actually did an article on this recently. These cars aren't meant to be fully autonomous, and lanekeeping, automatic emergency braking, and adaptive cruise control are separate systems with separate sensors and no awareness of each other. Lanekeeping uses cameras and emergency braking and cruise control use low-angular-resolution radar. To prevent the car suddenly applying full brakes on the highway for an overpass or a sign beside the road, braking and cruise control ignore stationary objects when traveling at high speed. So if the car ahead of you suddenly brakes, the emergency breaking will detect it and keep you from rear ending him. But if there's a stationary object in your travel lane, automatic braking won't catch it.

 

[RisingFury]

So if the car ahead of you suddenly brakes, the emergency breaking will detect it and keep you from rear ending him. But if there's a stationary object in your travel lane, automatic braking won't catch it.

This is an INSANE system! :facepalm:

So now we have to ask ourselves: Do these partial autopilots save more lives than they end?

The ultimate goal is fully autonomous cars that drive themselves and prevent ~95% of all fatalities, but the in-between part can be very dangerous.

 

[Urwumpe]

This is an INSANE system! :facepalm:

It is. And calling it Autopilot is also pretty insane. The idiots won't know what an autopilot can do. No existing autopilot will decide to change course if there is a problem. None. A terrain-following autopilot will still happily fly you into a powerline, if you are not paying attention.

 

[Donamy]

To work, I think all cars (and deer) need transponders that the system can see.

 

[Urwumpe]

To work, I think all cars (and deer) need transponders that the system can see.

I won't be the one who tries to install a Mode S transponder on a moose....



Seriously a system like AIS would already be great for cars, but that would mean an inertial navigation system has to be mandatory...

 

[Notebook]

Some day the idea of individuals being let loose in a city environment with their own transport system will seem like madness,

 

[Kyle]

The other day I watched someone cross 3-lanes without a turn signal in an intersection, tailgate someone, and then do a u-turn across a solid yellow line into the oncoming lane. And that's not even the worst thing I've seen. Driving in Florida is enough alone to make me think humans shouldn't operate a moving vehicle beyond 30 mph :rofl:

 

[Ripley]

Judging from the many dashcam youtube videos, I thought Russia was the winner in this field.

 

[Kyle]

Judging from the many dashcam youtube videos, I thought Russia was the winner in this field.

Oh, I agree. From what I've seen on the web what I see in FL would be considered polite driving in Russia.

 

[Donamy]

No. Horrible Rhode Island drivers, come to Mass to punish us, because we steal their women.

 

[Urwumpe]

Oh, I agree. From what I've seen on the web what I see in FL would be considered polite driving in Russia.

Seriously. German drivers can be jerks as well. But then, will Teslas Autopilot EVER understand this behaviour below?

(Its so simple. Really.)

 

[Andy44]

Stuff like this is why I'm skeptical of all the talk about autonomous vehicles being "just around the corner".

This technology is pushed out to the public by overly optimistic people like the kind who work for guys like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, and it's not ready yet.

I suppose the good thing about it is that they are gaining real-world experience with it in the field. Unfortunately, I and others whom I care about are in that field with these cars everyday.

It's unrealistic to market something like this, name it an "autopilot", and then expect drivers not to fail to pay attention. Especially in a world where smart phones exist.

As for people not understanding the limitations of the tech, I am reminded of this old classic:

 

[ljetibo]

Judging from the many dashcam youtube videos, I thought Russia was the winner in this field.

That can just mean that no dashcam footage survives an FL crash.