Impressive video of Tesla safety features at work

[Sonny Daze]

Link to Electrek article:

Tesla Autopilot’s new radar technology predicts an accident caught on dashcam a second later

I've been critical of AP here, but this is pretty impressive.

 

[ABC2D]

Scroll down for the full HD video at the bottom of the page.

I was impressed by Tesla's ability to see (at least) one vehicle past the one directly in front

Tesla Autopilot’s new radar technology predicts an accident caught on dashcam a second later

 

[whitex]

NICE! Great example of Tesla technology preventing accidents. This said however, one thing occurred to me while watching this, what if the person had a newer car with AP2 hardware? They'd be in the accident. For all the statistical analysis Tesla likes to give us how many accidents AP will prevent, didn't they calculate that if they released AP2 after at least it has par functionality with AP1 it would save more lives? Or is it an example of a calculated long term statistic, i.e. it's better to not save some people today in return for saving more in the future?

 

[electricity]

My X saved me from a couple accidents allready. Not nearly as severe as this one but still avoided me some damage.

 

[Andyw2100]

Link to Electrek article:

Tesla Autopilot’s new radar technology predicts an accident caught on dashcam a second later

I've been critical of AP here, but this is pretty impressive.

I agree the Tesla software worked very well, and almost certainly prevented the Tesla driver from being another car in the accident.

I do, though, have an issue with the way "electrek" and Fred Lambert explained the situation. The headline and body of the article both state that the Tesla system "predicted" the accident. That's just not true. If you watch closely, you can see that the Tesla system starts alerting before the red car even starts to try to change lanes. The system was alerting because the car in front of the red car was slowing down. You can see brake lights on that car, and the car in front of it.

Yes, it is incredibly impressive that the Tesla system identified a car braking hard that was not visible to the driver. This is, without question, newsworthy. But let's not exaggerate what happened here. (There's no need to. What happened is impressive enough.) The Tesla system did not "predict" the accident. It identified a car that was slowing down dangerously, and then began to brake.

 

[DFibRL8R]

Wow!
I believe this technology will do great things once it becomes widespread. I see insurance costs and highway fatalities both going significantly lower once there is widespread implementation of these enhancements. Bravo Tesla for pushing forward despite the many naysayers.

 

[Andyw2100]

There's nother thread where this is being discussed. I will post what I posted in that other thread:

--
I agree the Tesla software worked very well, and almost certainly prevented the Tesla driver from being another car in the accident.

I do, though, have an issue with the way "electrek" and Fred Lambert explained the situation. The headline and body of the article both state that the Tesla system "predicted" the accident. That's just not true. If you watch closely, you can see that the Tesla system starts alerting before the red car even starts to try to change lanes. The system was alerting because the car in front of the red car was slowing down. You can see brake lights on that car, and the car in front of it.

Yes, it is incredibly impressive that the Tesla system identified a car braking hard that was not visible to the driver. This is, without question, newsworthy. But let's not exaggerate what happened here. (There's no need to. What happened is impressive enough.) The Tesla system did not "predict" the accident. It identified a car that was slowing down dangerously, and then began to brake.

 

[ecarfan]

Wow. That is impressive. Yes one can take issue with the use of the word "predicted", but from the point of view of the Tesla driver in act the Tesla radar did "predict" the accident because it took action before the driver did and may have prevented the Tesla from becoming part of the accident scene.

 

[tsla007]

Safety feature saved this guy from major accident in Netherlands.
Hans Noordsij on Twitter

 

[voyager]

and stops in time. This video went viral very recently. It happened in the Netherlands.

Hans Noordsij on Twitter

 

[kort677]

I hate to sound so cynical, but I don't see anything in that video that is so special, if you're alert and paying attention to the road a crash that far in front of you should be easy to avoid, regardless of AP on or off

 

[Vitold]

I hate to sound so cynical, but I don't see anything in that video that is so special, if you're alert and paying attention to the road a crash that far in front of you should be easy to avoid, regardless of AP on or off

That could be said of most accidents - "if driver was paying attention accident could have been prevented."

On display here is a system that is as fast, if not faster, than human in reaction time.

 

[Andyw2100]

Wow. That is impressive. Yes one can take issue with the use of the word "predicted", but from the point of view of the Tesla driver in act the Tesla radar did "predict" the accident because it took action before the driver did and may have prevented the Tesla from becoming part of the accident scene.

This is the headline on "electek:"

"Tesla Autopilot’s new radar technology predicts an accident caught on dashcam a second later"

The Tesla system did not "predict" that accident. It identified cars braking--a very impressive feat since the cars braking were not visible to the driver--and alerted and braked. I am not trying to take anything away from how remarkably the Tesla system performed. I just don't like hyperbole and inaccuracy, especially from a site like "electrek."

 

[ecarfan]

By detecting the rapid deceleration of the hidden car ahead of the Tesla, AP did for all practical purposes "predict" the accident. After all, there was indeed an accident a fraction of a second after the AP made the alert sound. If that isn't a "prediction" I don't know what is. In effect, when AP detected the hidden car braking it "predicted" that an accident could occur and it applied the brakes.

Consider this: Tesla owner is driving on the highway, everything seems normal. AP is monitoring the car immediately ahead AND the next car beyond that car. Let's call them Car #1 and Car #2. #2 suddenly decelerates, #1 does not (no brake lights visible on #1), AP detects #2 decelerating and alerts and brakes before Tesla driver notices #2 decelerating and before he can apply his brakes. Then #1 brakes but too late and hits #2 at which point it hits the center guardrail and rolls. Tesla has safely brakes to a stop.

My viewing of the video suggests that if the Tesla driver had not been running AP he would have brakes too late and hit #1. I can't know that for sure, but based on the video and the Tesla drivers statement that AP braked before he did, it appears that AP prevented the Tesla from being involved in that accident.

 

[DriverOne]

The Tesla system did not "predict" the accident. It identified a car that was slowing down dangerously, and then began to brake.

I'd say it "detected" the accident occurring out of sight, ahead. It "predicted" that the Tesla would become part of said accident, and did something to avoid that fate.

Impressive stuff. Glad nobody was hurt badly.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

Yes, it is incredibly impressive that the Tesla system identified a car braking hard that was not visible to the driver. This is, without question, newsworthy. But let's not exaggerate what happened here. (There's no need to. What happened is impressive enough.) The Tesla system did not "predict" the accident. It identified a car that was slowing down dangerously, and then began to brake.

I agree, chump, so much of Electrek is marinated in hyperbolic Tesla sauce the tone indeed is a bit uncomfortable to read. I mean, again it is so unnecessary. What is there is special as it is. No need to embellish by Tesla or their followers. Electrek is a very nice site, I wish they'd not be so snarky about non-Teslas and so opposite with Teslas...

I agree the actual feat is very nice.

 

[ecarfan]

I hate to sound so cynical, but I don't see anything in that video that is so special, if you're alert and paying attention to the road a crash that far in front of you should be easy to avoid, regardless of AP on or off

Except that the video shows, in my opinion, that the second car in front of the Tesla braked and decelerated while obscured by the first car in front of the Tesla and the Tesla driver didn't see and react to that second car decelerating until after the AP detected and reacted to it.

AP detected a possible accident before the Tesla driver. AP took action before the Tesla driver did. It "predicted" a possible collision and took action.

You can theorize that the Tesla driver was not paying attention, but the video makes clear that what the AP detected was not visible from the driver's seat.

 

[Andyw2100]

By detecting the rapid deceleration of the hidden car ahead of the Tesla, AP did for all practical purposes "predict" the accident. After all, there was indeed an accident a fraction of a second after the AP made the alert sound. If that isn't a "prediction" I don't know what is. In effect, when AP detected the hidden car braking it "predicted" that an accident could occur and it applied the brakes.

Consider this: Tesla owner is driving on the highway, everything seems normal. AP is monitoring the car immediately ahead AND the next car beyond that car. Let's call them Car #1 and Car #2. #2 suddenly decelerates, #1 does not (no brake lights visible on #1), AP detects #2 decelerating and alerts and brakes before Tesla driver notices #2 decelerating and before he can apply his brakes. Then #1 brakes but too late and hits #2 at which point it hits the center guardrail and rolls. Tesla has safely brakes to a stop.

My viewing of the video suggests that if the Tesla driver had not been running AP he would have brakes too late and hit #1. I can't know that for sure, but based on the video and the Tesla drivers statement that AP braked before he did, it appears that AP prevented the Tesla from being involved in that accident.

I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree.

The Tesla system worked extremely well, but it did not predict that accident. It recognized the cars slowing down, and braked, but the system could not know whether or not the red car would be able to take evasive action and avoid the slowing van. In fact the red car almost did manage to steer into the other lane and avoid the black vehicle. If the driver of the red car had reacted a split second sooner--something the Tesla system had no way of predicting, as it was already sounding before the driver of the red car did anything--there may have been no accident.

You argument that the Tesla may have been in the accident, and that that is what the headline referred to is not valied. The headline clearly states that the Tesla predicted that specific accident, which was caught on dashcam.

Words matter, especially when they are published. The Tesla identified a slowing or multiple slowing vehicles that could not be seen by the driver of the Tesla, alerted, and braked. That is an awesome accomplishment, and needs no exaggeration. But the Tesla is not Nostradamus, and it predicted nothing.

 

[Andyw2100]

I'd say it "detected" the accident occurring out of sight, ahead. It "predicted" that the Tesla would become part of said accident, and did something to avoid that fate.

But that's not how the headline reads. The headline says that it predicted the accident that actually occurred. It did not.

 

[ecarfan]

I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree.

Happily.

Here is a dictionary definition of predicted: "Say or estimate that (a specified thing) will happen in the future or will be a consequence of something" (quoted from define predicted - Google Search )

AP detected a car ahead rapidly decelerating (an event not detected by the Tesla driver). It then "estimated" that a "specific thing" (an accident") would "happen in the future" as a "consequence" of that estimation and it took action by braking.

And guess what? That "thing" did in fact "happen". Therefore, AP "predicted" that event.