Reported autopilot accident

[ICUDoc]

I too have been driving w/o autosteer when it was only TACC. I think the IC should show the original circular speedo with power gauge when it's in "human drive" mode, and then change to the present "toy car" display when in AP. This makes a clear distinction and would give us back our preferred gauge.

Agreed. I found the hysteria over the interface design changes from OS 6 to 7.0 a little over the top, but this would be a very good solution.

 

[catmando]

This is blatantly false : we already have multiple confirmed accidents in a short time span with a limited number of cars on the road due to drivers not being aware that their car wasn't on AP.



I think this attitude is not good enough. Building a safe car means also taking into account drivers who are not entirely responsible with their vehicle. For example, engineers design body strength not just for cars driving under the speed limit, but also take into account drivers who go (well over) that limit.

This brings me to another(but related)issue. My most favorite singer, Jackie Evancho, is turning 16 this year and Pennsylvania allow 16 year old to get their DLs. What is the thinking about allowing brand new drivers to access the autonomous mode? With so little driving experience should she have that access?

 

[tfboy]

I know it's been requested as a future feature request, but I think for those who have the possibility to use AP and who do use it, Tesla should automatically record the video from the front camera. Not necessarily on a driver's USB stick inserted in the console, maybe some other storage built into the car, but for the time being, this could prove to be a great feedback and educational tool, as well as confirming what actually happened. Include telemetry information and whether AP was engaged or not.

Maybe adding telemetry is beyond the car's current processing hardware.

Although I'm a little surprised that Tesla didn't do this when they brought the feature out, if nothing else to gain valuable insight, particularly at the launch time of the feature until more real-world experience can be added to the intelligence. Maybe there are privacy laws that prevent that?

 

[SomeJoe7777]

I know it's been requested as a future feature request, but I think for those who have the possibility to use AP and who do use it, Tesla should automatically record the video from the front camera.

As I understand it, video from the camera is analyzed internally by the MobileEye3 chip, and the only thing sent to the car's systems is the analyzed data. The actual video signal is not available to the car's systems.

 

[green1]

I know it's been requested as a future feature request, but I think for those who have the possibility to use AP and who do use it, Tesla should automatically record the video from the front camera. Not necessarily on a driver's USB stick inserted in the console, maybe some other storage built into the car, but for the time being, this could prove to be a great feedback and educational tool, as well as confirming what actually happened. Include telemetry information and whether AP was engaged or not.

Maybe adding telemetry is beyond the car's current processing hardware.

Although I'm a little surprised that Tesla didn't do this when they brought the feature out, if nothing else to gain valuable insight, particularly at the launch time of the feature until more real-world experience can be added to the intelligence. Maybe there are privacy laws that prevent that?

Not technically possible with current hardware. The video stream is never sent to the rest of the car, it is simply can-bus messages describing what it sees, the processing is handled entirely inside the camera enclosure.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I too have been driving w/o autosteer when it was only TACC. I think the IC should show the original circular speedo with power gauge when it's in "human drive" mode, and then change to the present "toy car" display when in AP. This makes a clear distinction and would give us back our preferred gauge.

Tesla could also add an optional alert that sounds in the event that hands aren't on the wheel when in normal mode.

Great idea. I was hoping it would be that way as well since then it would be nearly impossible to not know if Autopilot was engaged or not.

 

[darrenf]

Do you think it is because of the open space beneath a tractor trailer, that the autopilot doesn't "see" the trailer of the truck? I know the sensors pick up stuff low to the ground (I notice it pinging off the curb all the time), but is there a dead zone along the window level adjacent to the car?

In part. The car certainly doesn't seem to detect the open part behind a tractor trailer in the same way that it does a car or van because in one instance the back of the trailer was almost overlapping my hood when I wrested control away. In my experience my car would have moved over for a car or van.

That said, my car crossed over into the trailer's lane on at least the first of the three occasions which is why I can understand an accident like this happening on AP. It's possible that I was overly cautious after that and that the car would have recovered in the other two instances but it didn't seem so at the time. In all the instances an alarm went off along with a flash of something red on the dash when I took control. At first I thought this was the car noticing an imminent collision at the same instant I did but after having this happen more often I've decided that this is the normal behavior when I take control away from AP aggressively. I think it senses my panic.

 

[NoMoGas]

The tone communicates both distance and rate of approach without having to LOOK at the dash, as the user is already looking in 3 different mirrors, none of which are in the dash.

Huh? That's where ya lost me. I literally back up staring at the camera with the sonar imaging beneath. I don't need more information then that in 90% of reversing scenarios... backing onto a busy road being an obvious exception.

IN ELON I TRUST. Trust of the technology comes once humans admit it's smarter then we are.

 

[AWDtsla]

Huh? That's where ya lost me. I literally back up staring at the camera with the sonar imaging beneath. I don't need more information then that in 90% of reversing scenarios... backing onto a busy road being an obvious exception.

IN ELON I TRUST. Trust of the technology comes once humans admit it's smarter then we are.

*facepalm*