Tesla's hidden treasure

[CME]

With a large fleet of autopilot/self driving cars on the road, Tesla may just created its most valuable resource yet-- road, traffic, driving data. If properly strategized and planned, this can be the most powerful weapon for Tesla to maintain its competitiveness.

A good self driving algorithm or AI needs to be built on a huge amount data, it took Google self driving cars more than 3 years to reach 1 million miles mark, Tesla now has unparalleled advantage in this field. As more and more self driving cars appearing on the road, the need for ever evolving self driving program and thus data is almost certainty.

A good self driving AI should also be region and country specific, many other factors such as local customs , weather, road conditions all have their effects. A good driving algorithm developed in Silicon Valley probably wont' work well in NYC.

Then there's smart navigation, imagine your car suggest you change lane to avoid potholes or debris ahead, or change route to avoid road construction, congestion. Some of these functions are already available in Waze, bought by Google. Waze offers real time traffic information such as road hazards, police, and delays. However it requires users' manual inputs, for Tesla, these information can be automatically entered and shared by computers. With sensors and camera, the information can be more accurate, timely and complete.

As a Tesla beta tester (aka customer), every mile you drive influences not only the environment, but also the future of human transportation :smile:

 

[Doug_G]

Waze is already far more extensively deployed - millions of Android phones out there...

 

[tdelta1000]

That's true Doug.

 

[cinergi]

Waze is already far more extensively deployed - millions of Android phones out there...

Question is -- is it this "high resolution" GPS Elon talks about such that it knows exactly where you are, down to the lane?

 

[Johan]

I'm with CME on this - the data Tesla can collect is far higher resolution and much more complex than the Waze app can. I think it will prove extremely valuable to have a first mover advantage here. As CME pointed out: data from 1 million real-life driving miles will be collected within a few weeks. If you're a big data analyst this is like stumbling on a big pot of gold.

 

[brianman]

It's somewhat interesting the stack of "I want in" stuff that other companies will be interested in:
- supercharging
- battery supply
- mapping data with high resolution
- autopilot training data

The "Tesla EV ecosystem" reminds me of Apple, Google, Microsoft in this regard.

 

[TEG]

Just another thought on this theme.... Autopilot ready cars have cameras looking around. They could analyze and report back what they are seeing. What if an "Amber Alert" (California wide alert to look for a car which may be driven by a kidnapper) could have Tesla cars automatically report back if they spotted the license plate of a vehicle being sought? Could be extended to any APB search... Would people object to their car being used as a law enforcement snoop tool? The technology is all there to support it. Along with reading speed limit signs, the car could report cars it sees with expired registrations, broken tail-lights, etc.

 

[notAmeenPerson]

Just another thought on this theme.... Autopilot ready cars have cameras looking around. They could analyze and report back what they are seeing. What if an "Amber Alert" (California wide alert to look for a car which may be driven by a kidnapper) could have Tesla cars automatically report back if they spotted the license plate of a vehicle being sought? Could be extended to any APB search... Would people object to their car being used as a law enforcement snoop tool? The technology is all there to support it. Along with reading speed limit signs, the car could report cars it sees with expired registrations, broken tail-lights, etc.

Public areas have no realistic expectation of privacy. However this seems to be a bit invasive. If there's unrest over license plate readers among police in certain jurisdictions this will be a lot worse. And also what protections would there be against subpoenas (for example).

 

[brianman]

What if an "Amber Alert" (California wide alert to look for a car which may be driven by a kidnapper) could have Tesla cars automatically report back if they spotted the license plate of a vehicle being sought?

Or what if it could actually identify the child?

 

[CME]

Or what if it could actually identify the child?

well, facial recognition sounds even more intrusive than license plate reader.

Anyway, it's my belief that much like the Interstate Highway Project to car travelling, having a database of important aspects driving on every road in the world is essential to autonomous cars. The first mover advantage is huge, players late to the game will face near insurmountable difficulties.

 

[TEG]

Public areas have no realistic expectation of privacy. However this seems to be a bit invasive.

What about all those Google/Apple/Microsoft "Street View" type cars already cruising around with camera, uploading everything they see?

They blur our license plates and faces for you and me, but I bet some agencies get to see the full image, including plate searches, face searches, etc.
Privacy and Security - Google Maps
StarChase Unveils Google Street View Enhancements
Google Street View Wi-Fi snooping case: good news and bad news.

 

[Hkpkfan]

Just another thought on this theme.... Autopilot ready cars have cameras looking around. They could analyze and report back what they are seeing. What if an "Amber Alert" (California wide alert to look for a car which may be driven by a kidnapper) could have Tesla cars automatically report back if they spotted the license plate of a vehicle being sought? Could be extended to any APB search... Would people object to their car being used as a law enforcement snoop tool? The technology is all there to support it. Along with reading speed limit signs, the car could report cars it sees with expired registrations, broken tail-lights, etc.

In theory it definitely sounds like a very good thing, but my big brother red alarms are flashing everywhere. Technology like this can be abused and over-reach and I wouldn't want that.

And recently this is off-topic but someone was telling me (and I did read a few articles) about Amber Alerts being abused for more custody cases, court battles, and less actual imminent danger kidnappings.

Going to extremes, but do I want technology to suddenly take control of my car, pull me over to the side, disable the car, lock me into my seatbelt and tell me to standby and wait for authorities to arrive over a mistake in a database that said I had an overdue speeding ticket from 4 years ago when I cross into a neighboring state?

I think technology should go hand in hand with us, but I get leery about giving carte blanche to authoritative bodies and just hoping they decide not to go too far with it.

 

[DriverOne]

Well heck, in that scenario it could just drive you straight to the prison and drop you off with the warden. But nobody would buy such a car! (Except the prison warden maybe )

Google is collecting GPS data. Presumably Apple is too (heavily anonymized if so). Not many others. Tesla is keeping up with the tier 1 groups here. Big advantage over many car companies who don't get software (have you seen their touchscreens navigation?)

 

[CME]

wow, it looks like they already have a "master plan" in place: Teslas master plan uses its drivers to map every lane on the road - Quartz

 

[rEVhappy]

I absolutely agree and have been thinking about this very thing the past few days. I'm sure by the end of the month, Tesla will have enough big data to vastly improve autopilot if there was an easy way or an algorithm to detect patterns in driver and car behavior. Add in machine learning and the car improving its abilities over time, and Tesla will be the first to market with a truly game changing autonomous car. Having 2 milestones: first high range mass produced EV as well as the first truly credible autonomous car for sale to the general public will solidify Tesla's standing as the leader in the new era of the auto industry.

Just another thought on this theme.... Autopilot ready cars have cameras looking around. They could analyze and report back what they are seeing. What if an "Amber Alert" (California wide alert to look for a car which may be driven by a kidnapper) could have Tesla cars automatically report back if they spotted the license plate of a vehicle being sought? Could be extended to any APB search... Would people object to their car being used as a law enforcement snoop tool? The technology is all there to support it. Along with reading speed limit signs, the car could report cars it sees with expired registrations, broken tail-lights, etc.

This is where I would absolutely draw the line in the sand and say... nooo way! The last thing I want is Tesla cars to be snitches, hen pecking for minor offenses. If the company goes this route, all the good will I have towards them will be gone in an instant and I will boycott the cars themselves. No one likes a snitch, and trust me, I am not in the minority here. The premise itself of the amber alert awareness is a good one, but it will lead to the slippery slope exactly like the one you mentioned in your last sentence. What's next? Alerting officials of anyone going 5 mph over? Scanning for open containers in all the cars? I'm being facetious here, but I expect nothing less from political hacks and admins finding new ways to generate revenue. This will also leave owners susceptible to vandalism from all the backlash this kinda policy will cause. No freakn way!

 

[YoungStranger]

There's an economic transaction to be made here. All Cars automatically hoovering up data and images as they drive would be computationally expensive and inefficient, as well as the privacy and freedom issues outlined above. But if drivers had the choice to switch on or off, they could sell the data to the network, either for fractions of a penny say for grid references that had not been catalogued in A given period, or even for credits for free use of superchargers as likely model 3 owners would have to pay for use. Another way would be for rental cars and taxis to report more data and images than private owners.

 

[Cattledog]

All of this ties to the SpaceX/Google partnership to create and launch a series of satellites. Among many things their network would enable is to radically increase their ability to send and receive data from their autonomous fleets.

 

[Blurry_Eyed]

Question is -- is it this "high resolution" GPS Elon talks about such that it knows exactly where you are, down to the lane?

Waze doesn't seem to be as high resolution as Tesla's GPS system. When you look at the Tesla app and see where your car is, it seems to be very accurate in it's location. Almost to the parking space level. When I use my iPhone for location tracking (Find Friends, other location aware apps etc.) the resolution for tracking there seems to be more like a 50 or 100 foot radius. With the location accuracy of the Model S GPS system, it seems as if the quality of the data Tesla can gather vs. a phone based GPS data gathering system is orders of magnitude better.

 

[MikeS85D]

Waze doesn't seem to be as high resolution as Tesla's GPS system.

This isn't about Waze, it is about car GPS vs cell phone GPS. In a car there is room for a much larger and better positioned GPS antenna. The car can also run the GPS 24/7 without killing the battery. In short, a car can have a much better GPS than a phone. In a phone, trade-offs and compromises are unavoidable. It's like comparing your cell phone's camera with a Nikon D800. Of course the phone's camera will not be as good.

Now if we could run Waze on the car's screen using the car's GPS, that would be a whole different story.