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Is Autopilot that much better than Competitors?

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What is so difficult about this.

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That's it is one line somewhere between. You can't assume everybody reads every line. In addition it is worded differently in Germany so it says new autopilot stuff will be enabled over the air and currently only emergency braking and lane keeping is enabled. So it doesn't even mention stuff listed in your link so even if you see that line it's now obvious what's included and what isn't.
 
That's it is one line somewhere between. You can't assume everybody reads every line. In addition it is worded differently in Germany so it says new autopilot stuff will be enabled over the air and currently only emergency braking and lane keeping is enabled. So it doesn't even mention stuff listed in your link so even if you see that line it's now obvious what's included and what isn't.

What I just showed is on the US order page.

There's also this on the Model S page (and those two places are basically all the public facing info Tesla has on their website about Autopilot):

Screen Shot 2015-04-11 at 1.37.56 PM.png


You most certainly can assume that people read the order page and the literature Tesla has posted about the Model S. Tesla doesn't have to take out a full page ad in the New York times pointing out that some things are still being rolled out. If you're ordering the car and can't be bothered to read the information Tesla posts and are upset about this I really don't have much sympathy.

I will admit the wording has been improving, but I think this is largely a factor of initially almost nothing was implemented so Tesla basically was saying nothing was implemented.

I think almost all of the confusion comes from the media who can't seem to even be able to reliably copy information from Tesla's website and are constantly wrong about all sorts of details. That I think is largely because the media isn't used to the idea that car features get added over time later. There really is nobody else doing OTA updates like Tesla is. The last time I went looking the best I could find was some minor infotainment over the air updates.
 
My Infiniti Q50 does hands free. Only problem is it can only handle slight curves. I'm hoping the Tesla can handle any curve.

The Q50 does hands free as a byproduct of lane keep assist, and by that I mean it does lane keep assist fine, putting you back in the lane if you drift out, but it does hands free poorly as that isn't the intended result. It basically bounces between the left and right line... not overly aggressive bouncing mind you, more a slow "i'm going ever so slightly right... oops, there is that line, i'm going to go ever so slightly left... oops there is that line, repeat".

Still, it was pretty cool to go 'hands free' in a car for quite a distance when we had our Q50 <great car, wife hated it, i loved it, wife no longer has it>. I hope (and fully expect) that what Tesla delivers will be much more refined.
 
One thing Tesla is saying is their autopilot will incorporate GPS. I can see the Q50 doesn't. In the Q50 if you're in the right lane and come up on an exit the car will sway to the right because the right line goes away. I assume Tesla will know because of GPS to line up with the left line while passing a freeway exit.
 
I think the main difference (to answer the thread title question) is that with Tesla you won't have to purchase a new car to get AutoPilot enhancements (assuming you have one with the correct hardware to start with).
 
Digging out a post that's five months old and getting all worked up about it? What's the matter? Fanboy enthusiasm overload? :smile:

The issue with Tesla is that's difficult to understand for a customer who doesn't follow this kind of forum what the car actually delivers, what may be delivered by firmware update, what's hype and what is downright bunkum. Tesla's German homepage claims that the Model S parks itself on its own at a Supercharger stall, that it parks itself in your garage and that it will leave your garage and wait in front of your door - all that without any driver being in the car. To my knowledge the car does nothing of this.
They have now added some disclaimer that these things will be implemented over time, yet it is difficult to see for a normal customer to see what the car really does do and there is no way to find out when the other features will be added. Tesla may count itself lucky that competitors haven't initiated legal action because of deceptive advertising already.
Frankly I hope you are correct, that German auto makers do have a tech lead but cannot put it into production. Elon will take note and push his team even harder to bridge this gap. This will hopefully be a Tesla vs German autos arms race of sorts with us, the consumer, being the winner! :smile:
But honestly until the Germans learn to do over-the-air updates like Tesla, they eventually will lag behind. Tesla will be able to perform major autopilot updates 3-4 times/year as compared to the Germans' once/year. I don't see how one can overcome that over time.
 
Today, Sunday, NYTimes has story titled "Hands-Free Cars Take Wheel, and Law Isn't Stopping Them"

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/b...ke-wheel-and-law-isnt-stopping-them.html?_r=0

Some experts say since laws in many states don't mention hand-free-driving, it is legal until prohibited. Tesla declined to comment.

In the story, an Audi test vehicle follows the car ahead, but only up to 30 mph.

The Infinity Q40 lane-following behavior described in posts above sounds inferior to what Tesla is doing. I agree frequent firmware updates from loads of feedback from both car logs and driver comments is the key to robust Autopilot behavior that will easily surpass the competition. A friend who has a Q50 has never tried the hands-off feature.
 
The Infinity Q40 lane-following behavior described in posts above sounds inferior to what Tesla is doing. I agree frequent firmware updates from loads of feedback from both car logs and driver comments is the key to robust Autopilot behavior that will easily surpass the competition. A friend who has a Q50 has never tried the hands-off feature.

I'm the same way. It's kinda' ironic that, being a techie that deals with "Big Data" (which is exactly what these car logs are) for a living, I'm still not inclined to fully trust an automated, software-driven system for mission-critical situations such as autopilot for cars. I've barely used the TACC and was actually even more alert and stressed when I had it on. I'd use Autopilot on long drives between cities on relatively deserted highways but, not within city limits; there are way too many variables (including Canada Geese and chick crossings in my neighborhood) that only a human brain (or something on the order of Ultron) can handle. I do love the advance collision warning and auto-braking systems but am a skeptic when it comes to true autopilot.
 
My guess is that Tesla is using the data collected from thousands of autopilot-equipped Model Ss to construct virtual 3D maps of tens of thousands of driving situations and will be more quickly able to design response protocols for collision avoidance as well as optimization of common driving situations. Sure, auto-park and lane changing are part of the scheme, but the collection of user data will make it work better and better over time. Since the vast majority of car accidents are caused by driver error, I'd rather trust the car.
 
My guess is that Tesla is using the data collected from thousands of autopilot-equipped Model Ss to construct virtual 3D maps of tens of thousands of driving situations and will be more quickly able to design response protocols for collision avoidance as well as optimization of common driving situations. Sure, auto-park and lane changing are part of the scheme, but the collection of user data will make it work better and better over time. Since the vast majority of car accidents are caused by driver error, I'd rather trust the car.

I don't buy this. The telemetry they'd need to collect from the cars to be useful is non-trivial in size. The cars don't have a lot of storage. Or a particularly fast network connection. I do believe that Tesla has a huge advantage with their networked cars, but I'm pretty certain the current vehicles aren't going that far.
 
Looking at WiFi traffic, my P85D has been uploading more data to Tesla lately compared to when I first got it. It's still not a lot of data, like 10MB at a time sometimes. I'm sure they're gathering *some* kind of data... but I wouldn't go as far as 3D mapping.
 
Quite a passionate thread. I'm just now about to take delivery of my MS so am excited to see the current safety features in it but also have set my expectations to be pleased if we do see some of that highway self driving at most - that seems feasible. As far as the other items that just don't/and never will make sense with current infrastructure (not necessarily the car's fault):

- Pulling out of garage and being ready for me would be nice as our garage is tight, but it can't do this since they recommend keeping the car plugged in, plus there are days its raining/snowing quite a bit outside of the garage.
- Parking, not going to be useful beyond the typical spot parking assist we have in many cars already. Although, I would love this if you don't have to switch between D/R physically which seems possible only with Tesla. Always seemed stupid due to mechanical reasons that I had to put my old car in Reverse, then stop, then Drive, then sometimes Reverse again. If MS does all of this then awesome. Leap frogs the competition in parking in spots.
- Parking, no way it'll park in garages or lots. I think here in Chicago for example. There are crazy garage layouts, spots in lots and garages are often reserved or special. Plus, I'd assume that most of us are/will be picky about where we park. Do you want your MS pulling into a tight spot next to a beat up 2-door car with long doors that you just know are going to leave huge dents? ;-)
- Coming out of a spot to get you. Maybe, remotely possible. But to pinpoint exactly where you are will be hard and just if in a close/easy lot. But even with GPS your phone can't always be accurate, Bluetooth doesn't have the range, etc.

Exciting to see what we have though and get this Summer+...
 
Another company to watch is Delphi, the large auto parts maker. Audi has selected them to develop their autonomous computer. Unlike others that have developed limited-feature systems, Delphi is building a centralized sensor fusion system that can evolve with software, much like Tesla. The cross-country autonomous drive in a Audi was apparently a Delphi project. Delphi is using the Nvidia GPU like Tesla.

http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326190

Unlike others, Delphi has quite a bit of technical detail about their radar module:
http://www.delphi.com/docs/default-source/old-delphi-files/b87cda8b-468d-4f8e-a7a8-836c370fc2c2-pdf

Bosch is also developing radar based upon Inifineon chips, but I have not seen similar details.

Costs of radar components are coming down as expensive Gallium Arsinide Ga is replaced by SiGe Silicon Germanium and now pure Silicon. I believe Tesla will likely add more radar modules to the Model S this coming Fall to improve side and rear coverage to augment what the sonic sensors can do.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/transportation/advanced-cars/longdistance-car-radar