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U.S. opens probe into Tesla’s Autopilot over emergency vehicle crashes

reuters.com

31–40 of 507 posts

Re: U.S. opens probe into Tesla’s Autopilot over emergency vehicle crashes

#31
Did I not just say this before? [0] [1] [2], seems like the safety probe formally agrees with my (and many other's) concerns over the deceptive advertising of the FSD package and its safety risks towards other drivers.

Perhaps this is for the best.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27996321

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27863941

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28053883

Re: U.S. opens probe into Tesla’s Autopilot over emergency vehicle crashes

#32
post #3

This is why I believe the approach of incremental improvement towards full self driving is fundamentally flawed. These advanced driver assist tools are good enough to lull users into a false sense of security. No amount of "but our terms and conditions say you need to always pay attention!" will overcome human nature building that trust and dependence.

I have a Subaru Forester base model with lane keeping and adaptive cruise control. I need to be touching the wheel and applying some force to it or it begins yelling at me and eventually brings me slowly to a stop. I’ve had it for a year now and I cannot perceive of a way, without physically altering the system (like hanging a weight from the wheel maybe?) that would allow me to stop being an active participant. I th…

I own a Model Y and am a pretty heavy Autopilot user. You have to regularly give input on the steering wheel and if you fail a few times it won't let you re-engage until you park and start again.

Personally Autopilot has actually made driving safer for me... I think there's likely abuse of the system though that Tesla could work harder to prevent.

Re: U.S. opens probe into Tesla’s Autopilot over emergency vehicle crashes

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Subaru Forester base model with lane keeping and adaptive cruise control. I need to be touching the wheel and applying some force to it or it begins yelling at me and eventually brings me slowly to a stop. I’ve had it for a year now and I cannot perceive of a way, without physically altering the system (like hanging a weight from the wheel maybe?) that would allow me to stop being an active participant. I th…

That's exactly what my Tesla does. I need a constant torque on the steering wheel or it yells at me and slowly comes to a stop.

Personally I’ve found this to be sufficient in my Forester. Even holding the wheel but not being “there” isn’t enough. The car is really picky about it.

Re: U.S. opens probe into Tesla’s Autopilot over emergency vehicle crashes

#34
post #11
post #6

Judging by the lack of a market reaction this morning, this is mostly immaterial.

Stocks like Tesla have long been divorced from business realities so I wouldn't put too much stake in that

time to short Tesla stocks!

Re: U.S. opens probe into Tesla’s Autopilot over emergency vehicle crashes

#35
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Subaru Forester base model with lane keeping and adaptive cruise control. I need to be touching the wheel and applying some force to it or it begins yelling at me and eventually brings me slowly to a stop. I’ve had it for a year now and I cannot perceive of a way, without physically altering the system (like hanging a weight from the wheel maybe?) that would allow me to stop being an active participant. I th…

> I need to be touching the wheel and applying some force to it or it begins yelling at me and eventually brings me slowly to a stop. > I’ve had it for a year now and I cannot perceive of a way, without physically altering the system (like hanging a weight from the wheel maybe?) that would allow me to stop being an active participant. That's exactly what people were doing with the Tesla. Hanging a weight to ensure th…

If people are consciously modifying their car to defeat obvious safety systems, I have a really hard time seeing how the auto manufacturer should be responsible.

I guess the probe will reveal what share of fatal accidents are caused by this.

Re: U.S. opens probe into Tesla’s Autopilot over emergency vehicle crashes

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Subaru Forester base model with lane keeping and adaptive cruise control. I need to be touching the wheel and applying some force to it or it begins yelling at me and eventually brings me slowly to a stop. I’ve had it for a year now and I cannot perceive of a way, without physically altering the system (like hanging a weight from the wheel maybe?) that would allow me to stop being an active participant. I th…

Tesla had a similar system, and > physically altering the system (like hanging a weight from the wheel maybe?) was exactly what people were doing. But it's also possible to be physically present, applying force, but being "zoned out", even without malicious intent.

>But it's also possible to be physically present, applying force, but being "zoned out", even without malicious intent.

I've occasionally noticed myself zoning out behind the wheel of my non-self-driving car as well.

It's actually very common. [0]

[0] https://www.actuarialpost.co.uk/article/quarter-of-fatal-cra...

Re: U.S. opens probe into Tesla’s Autopilot over emergency vehicle crashes

#38
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stocks like Tesla have long been divorced from business realities so I wouldn't put too much stake in that

time to short Tesla stocks!

Markets and irrationality and solvency quote goes here

Re: U.S. opens probe into Tesla’s Autopilot over emergency vehicle crashes

#39
post #3

This is why I believe the approach of incremental improvement towards full self driving is fundamentally flawed. These advanced driver assist tools are good enough to lull users into a false sense of security. No amount of "but our terms and conditions say you need to always pay attention!" will overcome human nature building that trust and dependence.

It depends. As long as the resulting package (flawed self driving system + the average driver) isn't significantly more dangerous than the average unassisted human driver, I don't consider it irresponsible to deploy it. "The average driver" includes everyone, ranging from drivers using it as intended with close supervision, drivers who become inattentive because nothing is happening, and drivers who think it's a reas…

The average driver breaks multiple laws on every trip. Most of the time no one gets hurt. But calibrating performance against folks violating traffic and criminal laws sets the bar too low for an automated system. We should be aiming for standards that either match European safety levels or the safety of modes of air travel or rail travel.

Re: U.S. opens probe into Tesla’s Autopilot over emergency vehicle crashes

#40
post #3

This is why I believe the approach of incremental improvement towards full self driving is fundamentally flawed. These advanced driver assist tools are good enough to lull users into a false sense of security. No amount of "but our terms and conditions say you need to always pay attention!" will overcome human nature building that trust and dependence.

I actually disagree. (And before you respond, please read my post because it’s not a trivial point.)

The fact that an huge formal investigation happened with just a single casualty is proof that it may actually be superior for safety in the long-term (when combined with feedback from regulators and government investigators). One death in conventional vehicles is irrelevant. But because of the high profile of Tesla’s technology, it garners a bunch of attention from the public and therefore regulators. This is PRECISELY the dynamic that led to the ridiculously safe airline record. The safer it is, the more that rare deaths will be investigated and the causes sussed out and fixed by industry and regulators together.

Perhaps industry/Tesla/whoever hates the regulators and investigations. But I think they are precisely what will cause self driving to become ever safer, and eventually become as safe as industry/Tesla claims, safer than human drivers while also being cheap and ubiquitous. Just like airline travel today. A remarkable combination of safety and affordability.

This might be the only way to ever do it. I don’t think the airline industry could’ve ever gotten to current levels of safety by testing everything on closed airfields and over empty land for hundreds of millions of flight hours before they had sufficient statistics to be equal to today.

It can’t happen without regulators and enforcement, either.

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