Tesla's autopilot - "unsupervised wannabe" - Volvo says...

[Laserbrain]

To be fair, the Tesla Autopilot is not perfect either:

The picture is taken from the "3 day old import P85D crashed while using TACC" thread.

Concerning the Mercedes autopilot in the (€45k+) E-class. It really looks pretty much the same like the Tesla autopilot to me.

The Mercedes version seems to be more annoying by reminding the driver a lot more often to put his hands on the steering wheel. But it works at higher speeds (which is only relevant on the german Autobahn) up to 210 kmh (~130 mph) for lane keeping/adaptive speed control and 180 kmh (~110 mph) for automatic lane change. Mecedes' summon feature lets the driver swipe his smartphone like an idiot or the car stops - lol. But if I understood the reviewer right, the Mercedes autopilot adjusts the speed not only to cars in front of it, but also to curve radiuses - in advance. I think that is a feature which is currently missing on the Tesla - but I guess this is the next feature Tesla will implement.

In case somebody is interessted in the Mercedes E-class autopilot, here is a pretty detailed review (in english) - the autopilot part starts at 31:27:

 

[Pruitt]

Are you "happy" with AP as it is right now, May 3, 2016? Meaning if they don't improve it any more at all you will be satisfied?

Yes I am. It certainly meets my expectations, based on my perception of what Tesla promised.

To me they haven't delivered on their promise yet. ... I also don't hate my Tesla - just the autopilot function that I feel was sold as a much more capable system that was delivered to me. But I appreciate your opinion, thanks.

Fair enough. But to be candid, some of your posts do come across that way. No offense intended...

I don't think the capabilities of this version of autopilot can be extended too much more because of hardware limitations, but I think its operation can be smoothed out a bit more in terms of the occasional "jinking" back and forth in the lane (very unnerving at times), and heavy braking when someone relatively far down the road slows to turn off (there's way more room than necessary between the turning car and my car when the heavy braking starts. Coasting and a gradually increasing application of the brakes would generally suffice. I'm sure the system could calculate this easily).

 

[Pruitt]

I assume that's a joke. Because if not, wow. Can you imagine living in a world where a company reads your Yelp reviews or something and puts your name in their computer, then refuses to do business with you if you criticize them? Well, I guess that's where we're headed, maybe. But talk about an awful world - that would be horrible. Nobody could complain about anything. Business's would rule by default. You would have to take whatever they sold without recourse of any kind if consumers lost all power. Sounds like something from a George Orwell novel.

Now here we're in complete agreement.

 

[gsxdsm]

Mercedes autopilot adjusts the speed not only to cars in front of it, but also to curve radiuses - in advance. I think that is a feature which is currently missing on the Tesla - but I guess this is the next feature Tesla will implement.

Tesla adjusts speed to curves.

 

[thegruf]

Are you "happy" with AP as it is right now, May 3, 2016? ...

Yes, I am.
Yes AP 2.0 will be better.
and AP 3.0 will be better still.

I do not understand people who spend thousands of dollars on a car when they dont know what it does, then complain because it doesn't deliver on something discussed.

If it is that important to you, then you should have waited for it to come out first, then test driven it until you were satisfied you understood its capabilities and whether they matched your requirements.

Volvo competitive FUD is a valid thread title, your endless complaints about a feature you should have tested first add nothing to the thread.

 

[TonyFast43]

Interesting article/real world test of the 2016 Volvo XC90 semi self driving capabilities.
Semi-driving the semi-autonomous 2016 Volvo XC90

So is this Level 1 autonomous or a really basic Level 2? Sounds like they're taking baby steps at the moment...

 

[brianman]

Tesla adjusts speed to curves.

... and I don't like it at all. I wish I could turn it off.

 

[Discoducky]

... and I don't like it at all. I wish I could turn it off.

It should have settings like FCW has settings.

 

[Discoducky]

To be fair, the Tesla Autopilot is not perfect either:

The picture is taken from the "3 day old import P85D crashed while using TACC" thread.

Concerning the Mercedes autopilot in the (€45k+) E-class. It really looks pretty much the same like the Tesla autopilot to me.

The Mercedes version seems to be more annoying by reminding the driver a lot more often to put his hands on the steering wheel. But it works at higher speeds (which is only relevant on the german Autobahn) up to 210 kmh (~130 mph) for lane keeping/adaptive speed control and 180 kmh (~110 mph) for automatic lane change. Mecedes' summon feature lets the driver swipe his smartphone like an idiot or the car stops - lol. But if I understood the reviewer right, the Mercedes autopilot adjusts the speed not only to cars in front of it, but also to curve radiuses - in advance. I think that is a feature which is currently missing on the Tesla - but I guess this is the next feature Tesla will implement.

In case somebody is interessted in the Mercedes E-class autopilot, here is a pretty detailed review (in english) - the autopilot part starts at 31:27:

Do you have a source that shows this was occurred under TACC?

 

[wdolson]

Do you have a source that shows this was occurred under TACC?

The entire thread is there:
3 day old import P85D crashed while using TACC

I just skimmed the first post. He claims it was under TACC.

It was in Turkey where Tesla doesn't sell cars right now and possibly some difference in the street layout confused the system, but it should have stopped in time if it had TACC on. However, it's possible TACC was not on and he was trying to blame someone else for his poor driving. We can't know for sure.

 

[Breezy]

I thought the Volvo in that video wasn't actually equipped with pedestrian detection? Surely we aren't spreading "FUD" here at TMC.

 

[stopcrazypp]

The entire thread is there:
3 day old import P85D crashed while using TACC

I just skimmed the first post. He claims it was under TACC.

It was in Turkey where Tesla doesn't sell cars right now and possibly some difference in the street layout confused the system, but it should have stopped in time if it had TACC on. However, it's possible TACC was not on and he was trying to blame someone else for his poor driving. We can't know for sure.

I remember that thread. It was the classic ACC corner case of the car it was following moving away from the lane and a stationary car in front. People pointed out in the manual it specifically says that TACC can't handle this situation. Also, the AEBS system can't be relied on to brake to a complete stop in this case either (the manual says explicitly that it is designed to reduce the impact, but won't necessarily prevent impact).

 

[GoTslaGo]

That was also older software (recall post indicated 6.2 or 6.3).

 

[KZKZ]

I searched for "wannabe" and didn't see a post about this article.

I share the feelings of the author. I thought there was no way a car company could release an autopilot function and at the same time demand that the driver basically retain responsibility for driving. It just doesn't make sense. I'm posting this because its good to see I'm not the only one. Let the flaming begin!!!

Volvo autonomous car engineer calls Tesla’s Autopilot a ‘wannabe'

Reading through this article in hindsight, after the unfortunate Florida AP fatality gives a new perspective of what the Volvo engineer was warning about.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

Wake me up when the Volvo system can brake for pedestrians as well as a lowly Subaru system.

That's not in response to the "not equipped" story, but in response to the testing done that pitted the Subaru AEB system to other systems.

And no the Tesla would not fair really well when it comes to stopping for pedestrians either.

But, it illustrates a huge problem with the claims that a manufacture makes versus the reality. The reality is these systems aren't as good as the manufactures say when they talk about them. They're all just full of it.

At this point of time you'd have to pay me a lot of money to stand in front of either a Tesla, MB, Audi, BMW, Volvo, or Subaru.

The Volvo especially since that video of them testing it by running it into one of their suits is scary. It was mind boggling how trusting the suit was of it, and it just creamed into him.

 

[TaoJones]

Um, the only time my car brakes for pedestrians is when it's in Summon mode. As far as I know.

It does a much better job into and through curves than it did when Autosteer was first launched. Then again, it's been over a half-year and it *should*.

I would like enhanced pedestrian/curb kiddie reaction (not to be confused with recognition). I suppose we'll get it with AP2.0 to an extent.

And so it goes.

 

[KZKZ]

The picture is taken from the "3 day old import P85D crashed while using TACC" thread.

[/MEDIA][/QUOTE]

Is this photo for real?

That much damage to the Tesla and a lowly Ford Focus looks that good after being rear ended after being rear ended by a car that weighs almost twice as much?

 

[iffatall]

The front of the car is designed to crumble - in most cars including Tesla - to reduce shock to the cabin. Typically, the rear car will almost always look more damaged from the front in such crashes.

 

[KZKZ]

The rear of cars have crumble zones too.

It's odd that the Tesla, which probably weighs twice as much as a Focus, faired so poorly against a car weighing half as much.

 

[wdolson]

If the Tesla braked at the last second, its bumper would have slid under the Focus's bumper and the Tesla would have had much worse damage while the Ford would have suffered little.

I had an accident like that once. Someone two cars ahead of me stopped for no reason on the freeway and I was braking so hard the nose of my car slid under the bumper of the car in front of me. By the time I made contact, I was only going about 5-10 mph. The grill on my car was destroyed and the hood got a bad crease, but the car in front had no damage at all.

A Tesla is already a fairly low car, if it nosed over at the last second as the driver finally hit the brakes, he could have easily slid under the Focus's bumper.