Still Waiting for Elon's Blog Post on Autopilot Update...

[thinklabinc]

Delighted that he mentions hardware in Oct-14 on Teslas is sufficient for these and future AP enhancements.

 

[EinSV]

Take home message on safety from the press call:

"The update will make Tesla vehicles three times safer than cars without Autopilot, Musk said during a press call Sunday.​

"I think it will make the Model S and Model X by far the safest cars on the road. I don’t think there would be a car that is even within a multiple of the S and the X," Musk said."
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Elon Musk just announced big improvements coming to Autopilot

 

[m2s2]

It sounds like there is much good stuff in 8, but the way I read reports on how it handles nags is that if the audible "hands on the wheel" alarm goes off three times in an hour -- even if you then immediately shake the wheel -- it locks you out of AP until after you next park. So either 1) we really will have to put hands on the wheel, or 2) we will have to continuously stare at at the display (and not look at the road) to make sure we don't miss the visual warning. Of course I don't think (2) is what Elon has in mind.

How often does an audible nag occur if one is not holding the wheel? Is it a time thing, or does it depend on the road too?

 

[Model S M.D.]

What does the second half of this sentence mean?

• TACC braking max ramp rate increased and latency reduced by a factor of five

TACC latency reduced? Or braking latency?

One issue I have with AP is the delay in acceleration from a standstill. I usually have to nudge the go pedal a little so cars behind me won't start honking at me.

 

[sillydriver]

Yeah, that is what I noticed as well. SlashGear has more of his quotes from the presser.
Tesla Autopilot v8 detailed: Smarter radar in 1-2 weeks

"Autopilot accidents are far more likely for expert users,” Musk points out. “It’s not the neophytes, it’s the expects. They get very comfortable with it, and repeatedly ignore the car’s warnings … The car will beep at them, they tug the wheel. It’ll beep at them, they tug the wheel. It becomes a reflex action.”

And Engadget says it explicitly:

"The update will also penalize inattentive drivers. If the car determines that the driver doesn't have their hands on the wheel and throws its audible warning three times in an hour, it will lock the driver out of the feature. In order to re-enable Autopilot, the car will have to be pulled over and put in park."

 

[KaiserSoze]

"One Tesla, driving one stretch of road, one time benefits all other cars in fleet. Scale that across over 100K cars traveling over 3M mi/day."

Translation: By all means, after you!

 

[sillydriver]

How often does an audible nag occur if one is not holding the wheel? Is it a time thing, or does it depend on the road too?

In one of the Twitter streams pointed to upthread someone said every 3 mins or less depending on conditions.

 

[Todd Burch]

What does the second half of this sentence mean?

• TACC braking max ramp rate increased and latency reduced by a factor of five

TACC latency reduced? Or braking latency?

One issue I have with AP is the delay in acceleration from a standstill. I usually have to nudge the go pedal a little so cars behind me won't start honking at me.

Meaning the car will begin to brake 5 times earlier than before on average. So we should see much smoother braking while on TACC.

 

[NullException]

I believe it's illegal to overtake in the right lane in some European countries.

Undertaking is also considered dangerous driving in the two European countries that drive on the left. Will be interesting to see if it works in the ROI and UK as well, but for overtaking on the left.

 

[sillydriver]

Translation: By all means, after you!

No kidding! I think 8.0 will end up being great, but getting all the fleet learning in, and all the corner cases addressed using a new, unfamiliar primary information source (radar) and integrating it seamlessly with optical information, makes me want to hold off using AP except under very good conditions until fleet experience is gained, bug fix releases come out and things settle down. After all, I wouldn't trust my phone to the .0 release of a new version of IOS, and there's more at stake here.

 

[Az_Rael]

And Engadget says it explicitly:

"The update will also penalize inattentive drivers. If the car determines that the driver doesn't have their hands on the wheel and throws its audible warning three times in an hour, it will lock the driver out of the feature. In order to re-enable Autopilot, the car will have to be pulled over and put in park."

I foresee a lot more folks joining Green1's "no update for me" cause for 8.0.

 

[Cebe]

It sounds like there is much good stuff in 8, but the way I read reports on how it handles nags is that if the audible "hands on the wheel" alarm goes off three times in an hour -- even if you then immediately shake the wheel -- it locks you out of AP until after you next park. So either 1) we really will have to put hands on the wheel, or 2) we will have to continuously stare at at the display (and not look at the road) to make sure we don't miss the visual warning. Of course I don't think (2) is what Elon has in mind.

I've been using AP a lot, and there is no way I'm letting go of the steering wheel. For me, it's more comfortable than keeping my hands on my legs, and certainly more relaxing knowing that a bug won't cost me my car or my life.

 

[KaiserSoze]

Take home message on safety from the press call:

"The update will make Tesla vehicles three times safer than cars without Autopilot, Musk said during a press call Sunday.​

"I think it will make the Model S and Model X by far the safest cars on the road. I don’t think there would be a car that is even within a multiple of the S and the X," Musk said."
​

Elon Musk just announced big improvements coming to Autopilot

This is extremely exciting. I hope he is comparing Teslas with Autopilot to those without, and not just when Autopilot is enabled.

 

[Stoneymonster]

I foresee a lot more folks joining Green1's "no update for me" cause for 8.0.

Which, in my opinion, given the stark safety improvements even without activating AP, would be foolish.

 

[sillydriver]

I've been using AP a lot, and there is no way I'm letting go of the steering wheel. For me, it's more comfortable than keeping my hands on my legs, and certainly more relaxing knowing that a bug won't cost me my car or my life.

I used to argue in various posts that 1) holding the wheel made AP pointless -- you could just as well steer yourself -- and 2) holding the wheel in the same way as when you steer could possibly lead to confusion about whether you were responsible for steering (AP was off) or not, which would be unsafe. But lately, I've been holding the wheel with two fingers while having my elbow on the armrest. The torque generated satisfies the nag feature and the posture is different enough from my normal steering of the car that confusion is unlikely. So I'm backing off my earlier crusade against holding the wheel.

 

[mspohr]

It sounds like there is much good stuff in 8, but the way I read reports on how it handles nags is that if the audible "hands on the wheel" alarm goes off three times in an hour -- even if you then immediately shake the wheel -- it locks you out of AP until after you next park. So either 1) we really will have to put hands on the wheel, or 2) we will have to continuously stare at at the display (and not look at the road) to make sure we don't miss the visual warning. Of course I don't think (2) is what Elon has in mind.

This might be a problem for me. I usually wrap my hand loosely around the wheel and get lots of alerts because I guess I don't fight the wheel enough. Will have to see how it works in practice.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

I will have a unique opportunity with 8.0. I'm going on a long road trip starting on 9/20, Houston, TX -> Palm Springs, CA. I'll be driving back starting on 9/30. Due to the timing of this release, I anticipate that I will be able to drive Houston -> Palm Springs on 7.1 AP, and be able to drive back on 8.0 AP.

I'm very anxious to see the differences between the two. I have a good dashcam, I think I'm going to archive all the footage for the entire trip so if there is anything unique to compare, I'll have it.

I have an inkling to grab a cheap GoPro as well and let it record the Instrument panel at the same time.

 

[Az_Rael]

This might be a problem for me. I usually wrap my hand loosely around the wheel and get lots of alerts because I guess I don't fight the wheel enough. Will have to see how it works in practice.

I sometimes wonder if some people's cars have poorly calibrated sensors on the wheels. I see lots of posts where people can keep a light hand on the wheel with no problem, and others have to have periodic wheel wrestle sessions to trigger the sensor. Its one of those things that could be calibrated wrong, and you would never know it unless you drove a different car.

 

[K-MTG]

Any comments on improved blindspot detection?

I am glad that no hardware upgrades are out yet, makes me feel better about my X purchase.

For fleet learning I would assume Tesla is paying a lot for our LTE, still probably less than what it would cost to stream internet radio though.

 

[EinSV]

This is extremely exciting. I hope he is comparing Teslas with Autopilot to those without, and not just when Autopilot is enabled.

Based on other initial press reports, this appears to be referring to a three-fold improvement for a vehicle with upgraded Autopilot v. same vehicle with no Autopilot (see below). But I wasn't on the call so can't be100% sure.

"Still, Tesla’s Musk says the improvements in Autopilot 8 make the car roughly three times safer than a vehicle without it, and indeed would have been sufficient to prevent the death of Josh Brown in the July crash." Tesla Autopilot v8 detailed: Smarter radar in 1-2 weeks
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