Tesla Autopilot v8.0--highway interchanges

[Tam]

Tesla Autopilot with new v8.0 software update is able to handle highway interchanges

"That means that with v8.0, Autopilot will be able to automatically (always under the driver’s supervision) drive from one highway to another with the simple activation of the turn signal."

I don't have Autopilot so may I ask what's the difference with v7.x now?

Currently, if you are on a third lane from the left and the most 2 left lanes would connect to a highway interchange, don't you do the same as the article suggested: turn your left turn signal on and your car would move to an exiting lane on the left to go to a highway interchange anyway?

I would imagine a potential problem if the car is running at 65 MPH and the interchange posted speed is 25 MPH due to a sharp curve (I-605S to CA-91E,) I am not sure Autopilot can automatically adjust such a drastic change of speed at an interchange.

 

[ecarfan]

Currently, if you are on a third lane from the left and the most 2 left lanes would connect to a highway interchange, don't you do the same as the article suggested: turn your left turn signal on and your car would move to an exiting lane on the left to go to a highway interchange anyway?

Currently when you change lanes with AP it needs the lane you want to change into to have clear markings on both sides so that as the car exits the lane you've been traveling in as it moves into the new lane it can figure out where the sides of that new lane are and center itself in the new lane.

If you are in a lane and want to take an exit ramp from that lane, and when your lane markings end on the side with the exit ramp and you try to make an automatic lane change into that exit ramp lane, unpredictable things may happen.

The Electrek.co article you linked to is saying that AP 8.0 will be able to handle that scenario.

I think someone in the Tesla Autopilot beta testing program is feeding Electrek information about V8.0. They aren't supposed to do that. I don't see where else Electrek could be getting their information from.

 

[Tam]

...clear markings on both sides...

Thanks for the explanation. I can see the improvement now.

For lanes that forces drivers to turn or exit, there's no difference in old and new feature because the lane markings are present on both sides of a car as in "Right Lane Must Exit" sign below:

However, if a lane is not a forced exit/forced turn lane (you can either go straight or exit), such as there is no continuous line markings for the left side of your car to lead it to the exit as below, this is the where the exit-to-interchange-highway function is improved:

 

[ecarfan]

However, if a lane is not a forced exit/forced turn lane (you can either go straight or exit), such as there is no continuous line markings for the left side of your car to lead it to the exit as below, this is the where the exit-to-interchange-highway function is improved:

Yes, that is what the Electrek.co article appears to be saying. And it is assumed that this new AP capability will be possible because AP will be using new high resolution maps to navigate those lane changes and freeway interchanges.

I think AP V8.0 is going to be incredible and put Tesla far far ahead of the competition. I also expect that V8.0 is going to provide us with more crazy stories of drivers reading books and taking naps and there will be accidents that will be blamed on AP when in fact it was the drivers fault.

But Elon is determined to advance autonomous driving technology in the face of negative media stories and irresponsible driver behavior.

 

[Tam]

...They aren't supposed to do that...

Tesla could either proactively and directly communicate to owners or it can risk owners to rely on Tesla trade secret leaks.

Tesla was quite an active participant in Model X non-foldable second row seats leak. It even posted pictures of boxes and bicycle on the website while the leak was developing.

Another leak was 48A vs. 72A charger. They are called "leak" because most Tesla staff at that time denied they had any hint about these info. Tesla went along with the leak and played the game of Easter Egg if you wanted 72A charger at that time.

I am not a fan of information embargo. Sooner or later, info will come out any way.

 

[ecarfan]

I am not a fan of information embargo. Sooner or later, info will come out any way

Yes, when the product (in this case AP V8) is released we will all know about it.

Nothing you described in your post just above is relevant when it comes to the terms that the Autopilot beta testers (the "Early Access Program" participants) agreed to: they are not supposed to talk to the media or to anyone about the software they are being given access to for testing purposes.

All the AP V8 info that Electrek is writing about in the past few weeks is very likely coming from a beta tester.

 

[chillaban]

I am not a fan of information embargo. Sooner or later, info will come out any way.

Yes, when the product (in this case AP V8) is released we will all know about it.

Nothing you described in your post just above is relevant when it comes to the terms that the Autopilot beta testers (the "Early Access Program" participants) agreed to: they are not supposed to talk to the media or to anyone about the software they are being given access to for testing purposes.

All the AP V8 info that Electrek is writing about in the past few weeks is very likely coming from a beta tester.

Put it another way: Companies like to be able to control their message, and be the first to introduce you to what their people have been working on for over a year while everyone whined about the lack of visible progress. Plus, this information leaking out early allows competitors to change their roadmaps and put competition on the market. Even a half-baked "feature" that sounds similar to yours released a few months early will steal your press thunder.

What really happens to beta programs when NDAs are violated and leaks happen is that the company starts having second thoughts about continuing beta programs, which is arguably bad for the quality of the release for all of us. Or they'll start spending extra money and time on security for beta programs and hare-brained approaches to guarding them -- time and money that could be spending on the product itself.

Nobody forces you to be in the early access program. I think people in the program should respect its legal terms, as much as all of us are dying to know what's in Tesla OS version 8.

 

[Tam]

"Soon" means a few weeks for the release and later today for the blog.

See for yourself:




1h
Elon Musk

✔@elonmusk
Major improvements to Autopilot coming with V8.0 and 8.1 software (std OTA update) primarily through advanced processing of radar signals


Follow
Elon Musk

✔@elonmusk
Writing post now with details. Will publish on Tesla website later today.

8:25 AM - 31 Aug 2016

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Follow
Elon Musk

✔@elonmusk
We need to do one more minor rev on 8.0 and then will go to wide release in a few weeks

8:27 AM - 31 Aug 2016

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[PatFor]

So am I eagerly awaiting the arrival of my MS 75D. As a soon to be owner, I have read extensively the blogs posted here and listened to Talking Tesla, Ride the Lightening etc. and I understand that the upgrade to the autopilot will rely a great deal on the fleet information being provided by Tesla drivers. My concern lies in the fact that I live in South Carolina. We barely have too superchargers and not one in the middle of the state and I am guessing very few Teslas being driven here as well. It seems that the "learning process" will be readily available to drivers in California due to the number of Tesla drivers but we are bereft.

So how much information will be needed so that overhead sign won't cause an unnecessary stop? Will we here in the Deep South experience a much longer learning curve due to a lack of driver information? Is this a problem or am I just obsessing because I have nothing else to do until I take delivery next week? BTW delivery will take place In another state as we have no service centers or stores here.

Thanks for the learned input.

 

[Saghost]

So am I eagerly awaiting the arrival of my MS 75D. As a soon to be owner, I have read extensively the blogs posted here and listened to Talking Tesla, Ride the Lightening etc. and I understand that the upgrade to the autopilot will rely a great deal on the fleet information being provided by Tesla drivers. My concern lies in the fact that I live in South Carolina. We barely have too superchargers and not one in the middle of the state and I am guessing very few Teslas being driven here as well. It seems that the "learning process" will be readily available to drivers in California due to the number of Tesla drivers but we are bereft.

So how much information will be needed so that overhead sign won't cause an unnecessary stop? Will we here in the Deep South experience a much longer learning curve due to a lack of driver information? Is this a problem or am I just obsessing because I have nothing else to do until I take delivery next week? BTW delivery will take place In another state as we have no service centers or stores here.

Thanks for the learned input.

The question isn't "how much information will be needed so an overhead sign doesn't cause a stop." That should never happen, unless a new sign is added to an existing route that happens to be in a position that looks dangerous.

The question is "how much information is needed before the car will start braking on radar alone?" Until the car has whitelist tiles it is confident of for the route you are driving, it will operate very much like it does today - you just won't have that extra layer of protection for things the camera doesn't recognize as dangerous.

Tesla hadn't been clear about how many times a route had to be driven to finalize the whitelist - they keep using the word several.

My guess is that even if no one else is driving in your area, after you've driven the route half a dozen times you'll be covered - but it is just my guess.

 

[MP3Mike]

My guess is that even if no one else is driving in your area, after you've driven the route half a dozen times you'll be covered - but it is just my guess.

I'm curious about that too. Does it just take several passes, even by a single car, on a route/road to whitelist it, or does it require several different Teslas passing through that route/road to whitelist it? (Requiring different cars to complete the whitelist would help prevent someone from being able to mis-train the system, but could make it take a very long time to get some roads whitelisted.)

 

[Saghost]

I'm curious about that too. Does it just take several passes, even by a single car, on a route/road to whitelist it, or does it require several different Teslas passing through that route/road to whitelist it? (Requiring different cars to complete the whitelist would help prevent someone from being able to mis-train the system, but could make it take a very long time to get some roads whitelisted.)

More unknowns. My guess is that they just want several passes for consistency and one car can clear a route over time, but they really haven't said one way or the other.

Unless there are significant differences in the hardware performance between different cars or a hacked car feeding completely false data, mis-training the system with a single car seems like it would be difficult.

I guess in theory you could find a suspicious looking road sign and repeatedly stop for it and pull around it.

 

[Tam]

...My guess is that they just want several passes for consistency and one car can clear a route over time, but they really haven't said one way or the other...

I also speculate that Fleet Learning doesn't mean you have to be in an area congested with Tesla.

There were reports that the car kept wanting to do unintentional freeway exits but after a few passes of the same routes, it seemed to learn not to.