Live data from Hacker News

Tesla confirms “Autopilot” crash in Montana

ktvq.com

521–530 of 530 posts

Re: Tesla confirms “Autopilot” crash in Montana

#521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't we talking about a plane? And I said I trust a computer more , not that the presence of a computer is automatically enough. I'm not getting in a manually-controlled plane that's flying centimeters from a hard surface. I will get in some computer-controlled planes doing the same. (At the very least I want a real-time OS and dedicated range sensors. And the confidence of a plane owner who would lose millions of…

The plane is zero centimeters from a hard surface at the beginning and end of the flight.

Seriously?

The implication of the hard barrier is that it's not safe to crash into it. If there are big wheels on enormous shock absorbers making it safe to hit the barrier, then a lot less precision is needed, and you can put almost anything in control, even a heavy clamp that keeps the controls skewed slightly toward the barrier. But that's not the scenario anyone else is talking about.

Re: Tesla confirms “Autopilot” crash in Montana

#522
post #2

From the Article: > The driver in Montana was headed from Seattle to Yellowstone National Park when he crashed on a two-lane highway near Cardwell. ..."It's a winding road going through a canyon, with no shoulder" From the Tesla Owners Manual: > Traffic-Aware Cruise Control is primarily intended for driving on dry, straight roads, such as highways and freeways. ... > Autosteer is particularly unlikely to operate as i…

From the description of "winding road going through a canyon with no shoulder" and near Cardwell, I would say this is MT-2 [0]. I live in this region and have driven this road a few times, it is not a simple road that one can just set cruise control and drive through. There are a few curves that have advisory speeds of 45-mph. I am aware that it is possible to travel well above an advisory speed and be fine but the fact remains, this is a curvy road that requires modulation of speed in order to travel in a comfortable manner.

[0] https://www.google.com/maps/@45.8317611,-111.9106714,3a,75y,...

Re: Tesla confirms “Autopilot” crash in Montana

#523

"It's a winding road going through a canyon, with no shoulder," Shope told CNNMoney. The driver told Shope the car was in Autopilot mode, traveling between 55 and 60 mph" Wow, really? This is not the Autosteer's fault, it's pure negligence

If the autopilot couldn't safely handle going 55-60mph, it should have slowed down to speeds that it could handle. If it couldn't safely handle those conditions, it should have safely slowed to a stop. Failing ungracefully is completely autopilot's (and Tesla's) fault.

55-60 may be too fast for some of the curves in this area. There are curves with an advisory speed of 45-mph. From the description of road and the area, I would guess it is MT-2 between Cardwell and Three Forks (I live in this area).

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.8317611,-111.9106714,3a,75y,...

Re: Tesla confirms “Autopilot” crash in Montana

#524
post #196
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some countries it's illegal to swerve to avoid an animal. I assume this means that they've judged it safer not to swerve.

It usually means if you swerve and cause an accident, it's your fault and you can't blame it on the animal jumping out in front of you.

Probably because it would be impossible to prove that there was an animal there at that time.

Re: Tesla confirms “Autopilot” crash in Montana

#525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Pennsylvania turnpike case hasn't been shown to involve autopilot yet. Tesla's logs have evidence to the contrary.

No, Tesla issued a somewhat deceptive press release to make people think that: "Tesla received a message from the car on July 1st indicating a crash event, but logs were never transmitted. We have no data at this point to indicate that Autopilot was engaged or not engaged. This is consistent with the nature of the damage reported in the press, which can cause the antenna to fail." [1] When that gets trimmed down to a…

Well I was just a little ahead of my time: https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/75369986163612876... . As it turns out the Autopilot was indeed turned off in the Pennsylvania case.

Re: Tesla confirms “Autopilot” crash in Montana

#526
post #524
post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It usually means if you swerve and cause an accident, it's your fault and you can't blame it on the animal jumping out in front of you.

Probably because it would be impossible to prove that there was an animal there at that time.

Many cars have dashcams now, especially Teslas.

But definitely the law could, and probably is, out of touch.

Re: Tesla confirms “Autopilot” crash in Montana

#527
post #194
post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such a value system would be a nightmarish thing so I hope that it doesn't exist yet. Just imagine your car calculating that it should let you die in order to save a group of school children... except that the school children were in fact a bunch of sheep that the system mis-identified. The danger of AI isn't in paperclip optimizers (at least for now), it's in humans over-relying on machine learning systems.

I think such a value system is fine in as much as it preserves the safety of the driver. I'd like my car to make value judgements about what's safer - braking and colliding with an object or swerving to avoid it. I'd rather it brakes and collides with a child than swerve into oncoming traffic, but I'd rather it swerved into oncoming traffic to avoid a truck that would otherwise T-bone me. As long as the system only a…

At the moment our autonomous cars can't manage to avoid a stationary guard rail on the side of the road, so it's a bit premature to be worrying about our cars making moral decisions.

Re: Tesla confirms “Autopilot” crash in Montana

#528
post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>3. Tesla's autopilot behavior after a crash is terrible. It doesn't stop. In the semitrailer crash, the vehicle continued under power for several hundred feet after sheering off the top of the Tesla driving under the semitrailer. Only when it hit a telephone pole did the car stop. This is actually the most distributing part to me. In these situations, graceful failure or error handling is absolutely critical. If it…

I wonder if the dead driver hit the accelerator?

If he had hit the accelerator, you can bet your bottom dollar that Tesla would have mentioned this detail in order to continue the "driver's fault" narrative.

Re: Tesla confirms “Autopilot” crash in Montana

#529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Tesla's sensor suite is inadequate." To me this seems to limit what is possible by software updates. Does that mean that existing Tesla owners will never get 'real' autopilot capabilities by software upgrades, although I assume most expect to get them?

I think Tesla should start some upgrade program for self driving features. One thing that holds me back from buying one of the current cars is that they could get obsolete quickly if the next version has better self driving sensors.

It's amazing to me that anybody could read these stories and still want to be a beta-tester for Tesla's immature autopilot features.

I think I'm the only person around who actually enjoys driving my car.

Re: Tesla confirms “Autopilot” crash in Montana

#530
post #12
post #5

> "As road conditions became increasingly uncertain, the vehicle again alerted the driver to put his hands on the wheel," said Tesla. "He did not do so and shortly thereafter the vehicle collided with a post on the edge of the roadway." If the autopilot's confidence was dropping that rapidly, why did it not slow the vehicle? If it hits zero confidence it should halt completely until the driver restarts the car in man…

I think you'll find suddenly braking in the middle of the road poses its own dangers.

Slowing down smoothly surely must be safer than continuing to power down the road with no confidence where the road actually is!

Hey, while we're at it, why not make the car flash its hazards and call an ambulance for its non-responsive driver?

Post reply on HN