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Apple engineer killed in Tesla crash had previously complained about autopilot

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Re: Apple engineer killed in Tesla crash had previously complained about autopilot

#761

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let the car go park itself while I walk into the restaurant. Let the car go fill itself up with gas at night while I am soundly asleep.

> Let the car go fill itself up with gas at night while I am soundly asleep. I'm bearish on both self-driving and the universal adoption of electric cars, but everyone will be plugging their car in at home long before they can make one that drives itself to the gas station.

>everyone will be plugging their car in at home

Absolutely not. Having to wait for hours to get a few kms of driving distance is way too much of a friction point for EVs to ever be more than a novelty, in addition to the usual complaints of people with only street parking, garages without outlets, etc. Either we'll get the battery-swap situation rolling or invent a faster charging tech, but either way there'll be some sort of "station" in the picture.

Re: Apple engineer killed in Tesla crash had previously complained about autopilot

#762

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Handwriting recognition works very well if you can capture the actual strokes used while writing and not just the end result.

That's great, but I would wager that nearly 100% of all writing ever done in human history was done without capturing the strokes while writing. Therefore, while this added accuracy is great, it is virtually useless for most written work.

While that's true, having the ability to capture strokes now allows machine-learning models to better determine what potential strokes were used to make a specific shape. Just because we didn't have it for everything doesn't mean it's not useful for adding accuracy to the past.

Re: Apple engineer killed in Tesla crash had previously complained about autopilot

#765
post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This resonates with me, and of course the classic xkcd on electronic voting https://xkcd.com/2030/

The difference is that electronic voting is a bad idea in principle, regardless of the implementation. Fully self-driving cars might actually be possible, but probably not with current software and hardware.

Do you mind explaining why it is a bad idea in principle? It feels like if we have a decent implementation (a big ask, to be sure), it would be safer and more convenient than the actual way.

Re: Apple engineer killed in Tesla crash had previously complained about autopilot

#766

Tesla says autopilot works but that driver should be ready to intervene. This is terrifying - like having a kid riding shotgun that might just reach out and turn the wheel while you are on the highway. Anyone who has driven with autopilot, how quickly might it react to a perceived obstacle? Would it take a hard turn into a median faster than a person could reasonably react if it thought there was something in the roa…

I have a model 3 with autopilot and it takes very little pressure in the opposite direction on the wheel to disengage autopilot before it gets very far.

Re: Apple engineer killed in Tesla crash had previously complained about autopilot

#767

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I don't understand the sad conclusion of the story in the article. The driver knew that AutoPilot had issues with that stretch of the freeway and was able to repeat the issues on several occasions but still thought it best to be on his phone, while driving 71 mph, at the mercy of AutoPilot? Especially considering that he was an engineer who had expressed concern over this, it seems silly to me that he wou…

> ...but still thought it best to be on his phone, while driving 71 mph, at the mercy of AutoPilot? > Records from an iPhone recovered from the crash site showed that Huang may have been using it before the accident. Records obtained from AT&T showed that data had been used while the vehicle was in motion, but the source of the transmissions couldn't be determined, the NTSB wrote. One transmission was less than one m…

I disagree. He was informed enough about the technology and aware enough of its limitations to write extensively about it. Tesla and all other assisted driving technologies all give the user a warning to stay alert and maintain control of the vehicle. He was clearly distracted somehow because he was relying on the technology.

Also:

> Recovered phone logs show that a strategy game called “Three Kingdoms” was “active during the driver’s trip to work,” the NTSB said. Investigators said the log data “does not provide enough information to ascertain” whether Huang “was holding the phone or how interactive he was,” though it said “most players have both hands on the phone to support the device and manipulate game actions.” Huang’s data usage was “consistent” with online game activity “about the time of the crash,” according to the NTSB.

Re: Apple engineer killed in Tesla crash had previously complained about autopilot

#768

I avoid new technology, exactly because I'm an engineer. I wonder if that is just me, but when new technology is introduced and hyped, I usually take a quick look at implementations, research, and talks just to get an idea of what the state of the art really is like. As a result, I have become the late adopter among my group of friends because the first iteration of any new technology usually just isn't worth the iss…

This is why I don't understand the sad conclusion of the story in the article. The driver knew that AutoPilot had issues with that stretch of the freeway and was able to repeat the issues on several occasions but still thought it best to be on his phone, while driving 71 mph, at the mercy of AutoPilot? Especially considering that he was an engineer who had expressed concern over this, it seems silly to me that he wou…

He was an engineer - he probably wanted to try and "solve" the problem (isolate the car's behavior and see what inputs are causing the incorrect reaction) and engineer a solution. As an engineer, I can understand this drive. He probably felt he was on top of it because he knew of the bug.

Re: Apple engineer killed in Tesla crash had previously complained about autopilot

#769
post #751

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I don't understand the sad conclusion of the story in the article. The driver knew that AutoPilot had issues with that stretch of the freeway and was able to repeat the issues on several occasions but still thought it best to be on his phone, while driving 71 mph, at the mercy of AutoPilot? Especially considering that he was an engineer who had expressed concern over this, it seems silly to me that he wou…

Why was Autopilot driving above the speed limit? Or does Tesla allow you to set the speed?

It allows you to set the speed but only up to 8 mph above the posted speed limit (or something like that).

Re: Apple engineer killed in Tesla crash had previously complained about autopilot

#770

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have coworkers who regularly take meetings or text chat/email while driving. It makes me uncomfortable. I have tried hinting that it's a bad idea, but don't feel comfortable telling them directly (don't think it would do anything except harm our relationship due to me questioning their judgement) or reporting to HR (fear of retaliation, some of the coworkers are senior to me in the management chain). On the other h…

"Are you driving right now? We can reschedule to something more convenient for you? I don't want you to get pulled over."

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