In 2 Years "Summon" Will Drive Model S WHEREVER YOU ARE!

[ecarfan]

Are they saying this can be done with current hardware?

No, not the way I interpret what Tesla posted. I believe the meaning is to say that a few years from now, new Teslas will have the capability for full autonomous driving, with no one in the driver's seat.
The post does not say that the legal and regulatory environment will allow full autonomous driving, only that new Teslas will be have that capability.

 

[taurusking]

What about charging? LA to NY is a long distance. Will car charge itself in supercharger locations?

 

[ecarfan]

Last year Tesla posted a video of a prototype "snake" charging cable that could automatically plug in to a Tesla charge port. Hands free.
Clearly Elon is aware that for a Tesla to autonomously drive long distances it needs to be able to charge itself without human intervention.
There is also the possibility of using inductive charging.
Remembered, we are talking about a few years from now. Not about what the cars and the Supercharger network can do today.

 

[mspohr]

Are they saying this can be done with current hardware?

Jalopnik has more information
The car currently has sensors to achieve that cross-country goal,” Musk said. “But you’d need more hardware and software, you’d need more cameras, more radars, redundant electronics, redundant power buses and that sort of thing.“Right now, the driver is Plan B. If something goes wrong with the electronics, it falls to the driver. In the car [driving without a human behind the wheel], it’ll need to fall to another set of sensors in the car.”
On top of that, Musk said Tesla will indeed do a version of the creepy robot snake charger that we saw a prototype of earlier this year. They’ll try to make it less creepy, he added, but it’s also “sort of fascinating in its creepiness.”

Coast To Coast In A Tesla With No Driver Within 24 To 36 Months, Says Elon

 

[TexasEV]

What about charging? LA to NY is a long distance. Will car charge itself in supercharger locations?

That's the idea.

 

[Mark Z]

If the "summoned" vehicle can avoid hail storms, I would be impressed.

Car dealers in the Midwest would love their cars to avoid hail damage. Can you see a lot full of vehicles departing for a covered parking structure? Now that's progress.

 

[Jool]

I, for one, welcome our autonomous Tesla overlords.

But seriously, I would love to see that much technology in a personal vehicle. What a time to be alive...

 

[1208]

SUMMON WARS: 2 people with a key/access to the car who are in different locations try to summon it. It heads to one location, the other notices and summons, the car turns back, then the original summoner notices and resummons. The Tesla ends up going back and forth down the same road until it runs out of energy.

On the plus side people can become 1 car families again.

 

[halg]

Can the car charge itself automatically? How does it charge for the long trip from NY to LA?

 

[pete8314]

SUMMON WARS: 2 people with a key/access to the car who are in different locations try to summon it. It heads to one location, the other notices and summons, the car turns back, then the original summoner notices and resummons. The Tesla ends up going back and forth down the same road until it runs out of energy.

On the plus side people can become 1 car families again.

You have the makings of a Channel 5 game show right there. Copywrite it, pronto!

 

[mspohr]

Can the car charge itself automatically? How does it charge for the long trip from NY to LA?

That (slightly creepy) flexible charge cable thingy that they demonstrated a few months ago can be set up to charge the car automatically.
It would be good to install these at all superchargers so that if there is a wait, you can just leave your car and it will charge when it's your turn.

 

[ecarfan]

Can the car charge itself automatically? How does it charge for the long trip from NY to LA?

Look up thread just 5 posts before yours and you will find your answer.

 

[MikeBur]

My biggest skepticism comes from the fact that we still have side mirrors and not cameras. If we can't even get legislation to build without mirrors within six years, what makes us so confident we can get autonomy done?

Additional sensor/camera packages may not require mirrors, though the existence of mirrors does not stop the addition of additional sensor/camera packages...

 

[Cobbler]

A good scenario for a new Hollywood buster: a pc nerd manages to hack the Tesla-cloud in 2021 and gets control over the entire Tesla-fleet. Tesla-cars become zombie-EV's, all safety features down and killing everyone on their road, a real Carmageddon :biggrin:

 

[Johan]

In 2 Years "Summon" Will Drive Model S WHEREVER YOU ARE!

2 years = 730 days = 17520 hours.

Some people at Tesla are going to have to put in a lot of work to achieve that goal time wise. I'm talking engineers, programmers and lawyers!

But hey, a win should feel like a win right?

On a related note this kind of statement from Elon makes me cringe a little. But I'm starting to understand his "overpromise - underdeliver [but still be way ahead of everyone else because of the way he doesn't let his vision and imagination get limited by traditional beliefs about what is possible]".

 

[Gizmotoy]

It's surreal to see promises of self-driving cross-country trips when Model S/X lack so many basic features.

The legal implications of a car coming to pick you up from across the country are staggering. There's no way they'll be resolved in 2 years. I'd be surprised if cars were permitted to drive without human occupants across all states in even 10 years. If your Tesla causes an accident on the way to you, who is at fault? Unlike a few other automakers, Tesla has so far disclaimed responsibility. The whole thing is a giant quagmire.

The man knows how to keep Tesla in the news, though.

 

[mspohr]

It's surreal to see promises of self-driving cross-country trips when Model S/X lack so many basic features.

Are you referring to cup holders?

 

[MikeBur]

Are you referring to cup holders?

No feeding him after midnight... Sorry, always wanted to say that to Gizmo. They'll get it if no one else ;-)

in all seriousness, I am a big believer in BHAGs though as I liken to say too often during a work day: "the impossible we do on a daily basis, though miracles take a while longer.". I didn't realize it, until just trying to find the source of the quote that this is very similar to the US Army "The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer.”

I laud the attempt, and just hope that we get a large percentage of the "promised"

 

[Discoducky]

If the "summoned" vehicle can avoid hail storms, I would be impressed.

Car dealers in the Midwest would love their cars to avoid hail damage. Can you see a lot full of vehicles departing for a covered parking structure? Now that's progress.

Pretty straightforward scenario for the connected fleet that uses weather data as a part of its decision algorithm. I would expect this behavior for violent weather.

 

[jeff_adams]

Pretty straightforward scenario for the connected fleet that uses weather data as a part of its decision algorithm. I would expect this behavior for violent weather.

Pretty surreal scene that would be.

*Imagine sitting in your car on the way out of town to escape an impending hurricane. In the heavy traffic, you notice swarms of brand new driverless vehicles leaving dealership lots and clogging roadways. Your nightmare of overwhelmed highways and superchargers coming true before your eyes*