Hacker Built a Self-Driving Car In His Garage - Bloomberg

[ecarfan]

This was written by the guy that Elon let interview him for his biography. Maintaining supplier relationships is part of maintaining a stable platform as you build a company. If your suppliers don't trust your future relationship, they do not partner with you on solutions.
Leaving them out there to swing in the wind implies maybe there is truth to the article. If Tesla/Elon had not clarified, especially considering the viewership this is getting, I would have been disappointed in the company.

Absolutely. Of course Elon had to clarify. His email to Hotz that was quoted in the Bloomberg article (if it was quoted accurately) was just one genius trash talking to another. Not to be taken literally.
Very interesting article. Obviously Hotz is gifted. But a lot of very smart people invent really cool things that never become products

 

[Config]

I'd rather he just hack the Tesla and make it faster and better, then sell his improvements to elon to provide us in the next software update

Since the Tesla is practically a computer perhaps we just need to 'overclock' it and it will be faster;-)

 

[Soolim]

Since the Tesla is practically a computer perhaps we just need to 'overclock' it and it will be faster;-)

We already have enough clocks! Even a huge analog one.

 

[Stoneymonster]

Probably not in public domain. But if it works better than S in some private farm road is good news for competition.

- - - Updated - - -



That is why Tesla AP is still in BETA?

I don't see this as competition, I see it as a toy. There's a long road between "it worked once" and "product".

 

[Branzo90D]

I don't see this as competition, I see it as a toy. There's a long road between "it worked once" and "product".

Exactly. Sure, this guy has talent, but taking one car and making it work in a limited geographic locale is quite different from making hundreds of thousands of "autonomous" vehicles that can be expected to be safe "99.9999% of the time" as Elon has said.

He is having some fun and keeping his name out there. Beyond that, it is like a college robotic car project IMO.

 

[Config]

Tesla Motors: We're Sticking With Mobileye Car Tech - Fortune

 

[Stoneymonster]

Exactly. Sure, this guy has talent, but taking one car and making it work in a limited geographic locale is quite different from making hundreds of thousands of "autonomous" vehicles that can be expected to be safe "99.9999% of the time" as Elon has said.

He is having some fun and keeping his name out there. Beyond that, it is like a college robotic car project IMO.

Yup, there are scores or hundreds of people doing similar or better things in universities all over the world. They just didn't jailbreak the iPhone.

 

[Soolim]

I don't see this as competition, I see it as a toy. There's a long road between "it worked once" and "product".

His "toy" may not be the final product. But I hope other company could use his "toy" and be more competitive in AP cars. That is the essence of my word "competition".

 

[Stoneymonster]

His "toy" may not be the final product. But I hope other company could use his "toy" and be more competitive in AP cars. That is the essence of my word "competition".

That's what I'm disputing, that there is anything novel or new here. He took some off the shelf vision parts, a lidar and a Linux box and made a path solver. Big deal.

 

[Soolim]

That's what I'm disputing, that there is anything novel or new here. He took some off the shelf vision parts, a lidar and a Linux box and made a path solver. Big deal.

And is it true that Elon made a significant offer for him to move to Tesla, and to displace Mobileye which Tesla quickly "clarified"? If what he is doing is inconsequential, why would Elon made that offer?

 

[Stoneymonster]

And is it true that Elon made a significant offer for him to move to Tesla, and to displace Mobileye which Tesla quickly "clarified"? If what he is doing is inconsequential, why would Elon made that offer?

Elon was messing with him.

 

[qwk]

Elon was messing with him.

I really doubt it. Given that Elon made a public tweet seeking smart individuals to help with autopilot, means that he is desperately(using twitter was smart BTW)looking for help.

 

[Stoneymonster]

I really doubt it. Given that Elon made a public tweet seeking smart individuals to help with autopilot, means that he is desperately(using twitter was smart BTW)looking for help.

Shrug. That's how I read it. There's no faster way to lose the entire remaining autopilot staff than to parachute in some hotshot egotist and pay him millions.

 

[qwk]

Shrug. That's how I read it. There's no faster way to lose the entire remaining autopilot staff than to parachute in some hotshot egotist and pay him millions.

Good point. It is unlikely that he could solve all of the autopilot problems all by himself, but he would most likely teach Tesla's software department a thing or two about a thing or two....

 

[bonnie]

Huge difference between someone who can hack something together and a software engineering team. And either you know that or you don't.

I've rolled my eyes countless times at CEOs and others who have decided this whiz-kid hacker can outperform a team and show them how it's done. Because 100% of the time, they delivered something that appeared at first to hit all the requirements ... and then fell apart. Not maintainable. Not documented so that someone else could work on it. Hooks for future enhancements left off, requiring massive redesign.

All show. Great for prototypes to show off to investors to get money.

 

[qwk]

Huge difference between someone who can hack something together and a software engineering team. And either you know that or you don't.

I've rolled my eyes countless times at CEOs and others who have decided this whiz-kid hacker can outperform a team and show them how it's done. Because 100% of the time, they delivered something that appeared at first to hit all the requirements ... and then fell apart. Not maintainable. Not documented so that someone else could work on it. Hooks for future enhancements left off, requiring massive redesign.

All show. Great for prototypes to show off to investors to get money.

This is not entirely true. There are some people that are smart enough to accomplish what engineering teams cannot. It's rare, but it does happen.

 

[MikeL]

This is not entirely true. . . It's rare, but it does happen.

All the time - in the movies. :wink: sorry, couldn't resist

 

[Cosmacelf]

Both the hotshots and the engineering teams are needed. The hotshots to show it can be done and to provide the barebones architecture/algorithm for it, and the team to make it bulletproof, maintainable, and add all the necessary features to flesh it out.

Kinda like scientists and engineers. Some scientist somewhere cobbled together some fancy lab gear to show that MRI imaging would work, and then a team of engineers made the first product.

 

[bonnie]

Both the hotshots and the engineering teams are needed. The hotshots to show it can be done and to provide the barebones architecture/algorithm for it, and the team to make it bulletproof, maintainable, and add all the necessary features to flesh it out.

Kinda like scientists and engineers. Some scientist somewhere cobbled together some fancy lab gear to show that MRI imaging would work, and then a team of engineers made the first product.

The two skill sets are not mutually exclusive.

The ideal is to have a senior team member who is also the brilliant architect. The problem with the prima donna hacker types is that they don't always understand the consequences of some of their decisions, because they forget that most of the people on the team very well could have been the smartest in THEIR class, too. Think 'kid raised on a pedestal' type of personality. I've seen future generations of products torpedoed because the ImBrilliantAndIKnowIt guy didn't think beyond his goal of showing how fast he could get the product up and working and refused to hear input from others.

 

[Krugerrand]

Please. As well as legitimising it, correcting an article that contains direct quotes from Tesla on the subject makes it look like Mobileye can't look after themselves and need Uncle Elon to step up for them.

Um....no.