Info on Autopilot + v7

[gg_got_a_tesla]

We are all probably reading too much into the purported motive behind these serendipitous conversations; Tesla folks have too much on their hands to try to coordinate such leaks.

Good to hear about the quick lock/unlock button and the brake lights display!

 

[hockeythug]

That air pressure testing device is so cool.

 

[Ugliest1]

If you were trying to hide his identity posting the VIN will give that away.

Unless I'm mistaken, that VIN is from the 2nd employee, the one that said he wasn't allowed to talk about much, and then didn't.

 

[ecarfan]

If you were trying to hide his identity posting the VIN will give that away.

It was stated that VIN had MFG plates on it so I would think a VIN search would show the owner as "Tesla Motors".

 

[dsm363]

It was stated that VIN had MFG plates on it so I would think a VIN search would show the owner as "Tesla Motors".

I meant that Tesla knows who is driving that car.

 

[Footbag]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I certainly didn't mean to imply that you were anything other than helpful, and certainly in no way part of any sort of coordinated effort to have the information leak.

As for your point as to how leaking to a random person at a supercharger would result in the info making it to TMC, while it may not be efficient, I'd respectfullly suggest that if Tesla were to repeat that process enough times at enough superchargers, there would be a very high likelihood of the information making it onto TMC.

Nothing implied . And you make a valid point about strength in numbers. I can just say this individual didn't seem to me like (s)he was trying to feed me info, but perhaps (s)he is a good actor.

I wanted to mention that this second time seeing the ip I noticed a small battery gauge roughly where the date time is for us currently. So it seems the large battery indicator we have is going away. Also, fwiw the lock icon I mentioned looks just like the one we currently have on the left of our IP that I only noticed for the first time today.

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If you were trying to hide his identity posting the VIN will give that away.

I wasnt really this second time. He was professional and gave two small tid bits of info and briefly explained the contraption on his wheels, which was far from subtle (and obviously had to do with air pressure) . He also said he couldn't talk about v7, which he essentially did not.

 

[AlMc]

Excellent write up. I greatly appreciate the detail and your time.

 

[donv]

Given that they monitor these forums pretty closely, and are no doubt aware of the rumblings about the lateness of autopilot, I suspect that talking to some people at superchargers with the expectation that it will get back here is not a bad strategy.

They don't have to specifically order the guys to talk about it, just loosen the restrictions on what they can talk about.

Thanks for the writeup!

 

[Footbag]

One last thing. I turned night mode on on my display and that instantly gives a very good impression as to what I saw in v7. Makes me wonder if the v7s I saw were in night mode on purpose.

I'm glad I was able to provide some value to the forum. It was quite an experience driving with you Americans . The wife wants to come back already ( and we haven't even left, just making our way north), selling it to me with the line. "and you can camp out at Superchargers and find out more stuff about upcoming Tesla things" I think she might be on to something!

 

[brucet999]

Great info foot!

very interesting to hear new hardware is requires. Did you ask if you would need to get it retrofitted?

New hardware necessary for Autonomous Driving, he said.

 

[beeeerock]

Lots of interesting stuff, thanks Footbag!

Thinking about the misreading of 110 as 10, I wonder if you took the Coquihalla on your way down? I've been over Kamloops - Merritt and back a few times now and find that the camera typically doesn't read the 120 signs anywhere on that route. GPS still has it as 110, and that's what cruise works with. Doesn't seem to matter which lane I'm in, or which way the sun is shining - it just fails, consistently. If I'm not the only one, that stretch of road would be a good piece for them to drive and test on. I've offered my name for the early release program, or whatever they call the beta testing program, but have yet to be called. Given the numbers who'd want to do it ahead of me, that's hardly a surprise.

Glad to hear the brake lights will be shown. I'm constantly wondering whether I look like a two foot driver from behind, or if someone is going to rear-end me because the light hasn't gone on. Getting a feel for how that regen/brake light connection is made will be great.

I don't suppose the speedo had a toggle for Wh/km instead of kW did it?? I'd love to see that made configurable by the driver. It would also be great to see more info managed on the trip meters... average speed, driving time etc... more in line with what the competition typically has shown for decades. All very fine to know the distance and average power consumption, but how that relates to speed is extremely relevant.

 

[brucet999]

Very interesting report. Thanks, footbag. Hope you and your wife had a wonderful vacation overall.

About the mothership notifying the car about dodgy areas vis-a-vis autopilot reliability, I'm sure it'd be based off a database that'd be constantly updated, that too with customer cars navigating through those areas providing upto date feedback to the mothership about condition changes. All anonymized, of course, in order not to compromise customer privacy.

Maybe it would re-route you around I-405 through Denver or somewhere.

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If you were trying to hide his identity posting the VIN will give that away.

That would be the second one, with wheel sensors and driver who was unwilling to answer questions.

 

[dpodoll]

New hardware necessary for Autonomous Driving, he said.

May be released about 2 years from now to entice folks to trade up from Auto Pilot to Autonomous. We traded and vintage 60 for a 70D because we wanted Auto Pilot. Put me on the list for the new sensor suite...

 

[steph280]

I had to make a trip to LAX over the weekend. Elon's comment about poor marking on 405 made me pay extra attention to the markings, and he was right. Portions of the road had almost non-existent markings that even human eyes had difficulties reading, and some portions had fresh tar patches over cracks that could easily be mistaken as lane markings. I can see how this would cause big problems with autopilot software.

I like the idea mentioned in OP: Warn driver of potential auto pilot issues in upcoming portion of road. But this would mean they'd have to construct database of all these data and maintain it, as things such as road repairs could bring up new issues.

As much as I would like to have autopilot now, I can understand the problems they are facing. Certainly not an easy problem to solve.

 

[kuttakamina]

Sure but if a human would have difficulties, it's a bit of a tall order to expect autopilot to work on it too. They should roll it out IMO.
I just hope they don't roll it out with a constant annoying beep or something while its in action.

 

[Blurry_Eyed]

I was on a road-trip from Redmond to the Bay area this past February (2015). Stopped at the Mt. Shasta Supercharger/BestWestern Tree House hotel and saw this black test car. I didn't talk to any of the Tesla team that was there. The black one was the only car with all the test gear on it. All three of the cars were convoying together and there were also support trucks as well.

I snapped these pictures. There were black squares all around the car (the one on the rear of the car looks kind of like a black square that was in one of the Model X pictures in the X forum Mule thread). There was also gear from this company: Start - Ibeo Automotive Systems in the trunk of the car. My theory is that this may be a benchmark car that Tesla is using to gather data about how a very expensive laser scanner system performs vs. the software/hardware systems they are developing. I wouldn't imagine they would use a full sensor suite of laser scanners all around the car as the cost of the system would be quite expensive. But who knows?

 

[brianman]

View attachment 87983

Random data point:
This same wheel contraption was seen outside Palo Alto HQ (we took a walk during the party) on a different Model S vehicle. There was a post-it note in the vehicle with a May date saying something to the effect of "don't update the firmware on this vehicle!"

 

[MsElectric]

Sure but if a human would have difficulties, it's a bit of a tall order to expect autopilot to work on it too. They should roll it out IMO.
I just hope they don't roll it out with a constant annoying beep or something while its in action.

Maybe it will go woof woof when you take your hands off the steering wheel

 

[kuttakamina]

Maybe it will go woof woof when you take your hands off the steering wheel

As long as it's a girl doggie woof woof ..

 

[LetsGoFast]

I recognize that gear. Virginia Tech has used it in their self-driving lab. Its the Ibeo LUX Fusion system. Its a multi-plane laser scanner system that generates dot clouds used to identify objects with much greater precision than radar. You can see pictures of the same gear in Paul D'angio's dissertation.