Interesting UK Autopilot news

[Dilly]

Two years into owning my M3P I was reflecting on how little my driving experience has changed from previous decades. My EV still has four wheels that sit on conventional tyres. It has an accelerator pedal, a brake pedal and a steering wheel. I drive it pretty much exactly as I drive any other car.

Sure, there are subtle changes such as the fact that with regenerative braking I use the brake pedal much less. But this is evolutionary rather than revolutionary. The autonomous features of my car are implemented better by other manufacturers. The headlights and windscreen wipers are a hugely regressive step.

When am going to see this Tesla revolution? One thing I can guarantee is that Teslas, along with all other cars, will need a steering wheel for many years to come.

Musk has just said that the $25,000 Model 2 will likely not have a steering wheel…

…but presumably, because of global warming, it will have a rudder.

 

[Yev000]

Musk has just said that the $25,000 Model 2 will likely not have a steering wheel…

…but presumably, because of global warming, it will have a rudder.

Where/When did he say that?

 

[MrBadger]

As T321 has said, if you could double the density in a CAV only lane, this is actually a pretty cheap way of increasing throughput compared to adding lanes.

I cant remember the exact distance between vehicles, but remember it being pretty scary - possibly 20cm at motorway speeds. Thats quite an increase in potential capacity and relatively simply - far more simple than FSD.

Whilst the general view was favourable one comment that received some applause and laughter was “isn’t CAV just a very expensive train”. I suppose that in a sense that is true but many in the audience saw the merit of the idea. Lord knows, the shortage of lorry drivers could be made a thing of the past.

Obviously CAV is more than just platooning. Our group worked on traffic control systems et. al. and we had already readied up for the core of V2I and since then I have seen a number of systems in various states of readiness so V2I is real in limited form. Another real form of V2V is platooning of trucks, a project that I nearly got involved in but did get to read all the project documentation. That project seems to have suffered as a result of Covid which is probably more beneficial as at the time very few trucks would have been equipped with the relevant hardware needed to support it which is actually quite basic and far simpler than that needed for full autonomy - just lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control, plus a new box of tricks that would easily interface with those systems. As with likes of basic Autopilot, these systems will become a standard fit. Alas, not a solution to the shortage of lorry drivers as each vehicle would still need its dedicated driver on board at all times although at a guess, possibly not accumulating in-cab hours so quickly so maybe of some benefit. IMHO, the rail network is probably a good place to put these truckloads of goods, at least for longer trips - l recently heard a stat that a train load would remove 30+ trucks from the road. No idea if the rail network is in a position to cope though. I suspect not fully.

I hope that Tesla will fully embrace CAV as its an exciting party to be part of.

 

[pgkevet]

Musk has just said that the $25,000 Model 2 will likely not have a steering wheel…

…but presumably, because of global warming, it will have a rudder.

He's all about saving money on parts- piece of string to the front axle or push with your feet...
Or

 

[Dilly]

Where/When did he say that?

cant link to it but it’s on Electrek news feed

 

[Wol747]

>>One thing I can guarantee is that Teslas, along with all other cars, will need a steering wheel for many years to come.<<

The operative word is "wheel".
And "Stalks".

 

[Adopado]

>>One thing I can guarantee is that Teslas, along with all other cars, will need a steering wheel for many years to come.<<

The operative word is "wheel".
And "Stalks".

Maybe he just means like the Plaid… which doesn’t have a “wheel” but has a yoke. Or perhaps he was just having a joke (a yoke joke).