Live data from Hacker News

Tesla whistleblower casts doubt on car safety

bbc.co.uk

1–10 of 19 posts

Re: Tesla whistleblower casts doubt on car safety

#3
It’s a car, so it’s not perfectly safe when users do not follow safe driving instructions. No surprise there.

Like any car, drivers have to keep their hands on the wheel and their attention on the road situation, and stay in control at all times.

Until FSD is not in beta, there’s no use pointing out that a bad driver can do bad things because that is true in any car.

Saying the system is not ready may be true, but it’s not anything we don’t already know.

If the point is that some drivers need better education, then sure, this is definitely a special case of that and worthy of close attention.

Re: Tesla whistleblower casts doubt on car safety

#4
I have worked in SW for the automotive industry for 10 years. The amount of times we where stopped from implementing features or had to roll them back and the number of delays because a test showed a decrease in safety was frustrating but I do feel safe driving my daughter around in the cars I worked on because off it. With the cybertruck, just the transition to 48V electrical system means ALL electronic components had to re-engineered, and for an established manufacturer this would mean huge costs and time to retest everything.

Re: Tesla whistleblower casts doubt on car safety

#5
post #3

It’s a car, so it’s not perfectly safe when users do not follow safe driving instructions. No surprise there. Like any car, drivers have to keep their hands on the wheel and their attention on the road situation, and stay in control at all times. Until FSD is not in beta, there’s no use pointing out that a bad driver can do bad things because that is true in any car. Saying the system is not ready may be true, but it…

It's okay for Tesla to put you at risk because others wrongly do so as well?

Re: Tesla whistleblower casts doubt on car safety

#6
post #5
post #3

It’s a car, so it’s not perfectly safe when users do not follow safe driving instructions. No surprise there. Like any car, drivers have to keep their hands on the wheel and their attention on the road situation, and stay in control at all times. Until FSD is not in beta, there’s no use pointing out that a bad driver can do bad things because that is true in any car. Saying the system is not ready may be true, but it…

It's okay for Tesla to put you at risk because others wrongly do so as well?

His point was that the Driver will put you at risk though.

Re: Tesla whistleblower casts doubt on car safety

#7
post #3

It’s a car, so it’s not perfectly safe when users do not follow safe driving instructions. No surprise there. Like any car, drivers have to keep their hands on the wheel and their attention on the road situation, and stay in control at all times. Until FSD is not in beta, there’s no use pointing out that a bad driver can do bad things because that is true in any car. Saying the system is not ready may be true, but it…

The problem is that humans are bad at sitting there paying attention while they're not actively engaged, which is what's required to use FSD safely. Also, FSD has essentially no benefits if you use it safely. If you listen to someone talk about what they want FSD for, they'll probably tell you they want to be paying attention to something other than driving or that they want to sit in a more comfortable position where their feet aren't on the pedals and/or their hands aren't on the steering wheel.

The current Tesla FSD beta has no purpose other than as a tech demo, but people absolutely treat it as if it's ready to be your chauffeur while you take a nap in the back seat.

Re: Tesla whistleblower casts doubt on car safety

#8
post #6
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's okay for Tesla to put you at risk because others wrongly do so as well?

His point was that the Driver will put you at risk though.

I understand that - what does that have to do with Tesla?

Re: Tesla whistleblower casts doubt on car safety

#9
post #3

It’s a car, so it’s not perfectly safe when users do not follow safe driving instructions. No surprise there. Like any car, drivers have to keep their hands on the wheel and their attention on the road situation, and stay in control at all times. Until FSD is not in beta, there’s no use pointing out that a bad driver can do bad things because that is true in any car. Saying the system is not ready may be true, but it…

The problem is that humans are bad at sitting there paying attention while they're not actively engaged, which is what's required to use FSD safely. Also, FSD has essentially no benefits if you use it safely. If you listen to someone talk about what they want FSD for, they'll probably tell you they want to be paying attention to something other than driving or that they want to sit in a more comfortable position wher…

Speak for yourself but I have no problem at all staying engaged when my life is on the line. And FSD beta with me supervising is I must admit a way safer driver than myself alone.

The biggest delta is probably follow distance in edge cases.

I generally try to keep good follow distance pretty religiously, but FSD does it better. And I’m not talking about the amount of distance. If anything it is closer on average then I would be. I’m talking about the edge case moments when overtaking or getting over to an exit; it is consistently, assiduously, safe at points where I might take a risk and it will not. It also sees way more than I can.

Also, it does not have an ego.

And it lets me detach my ego involvement with how another driver is behaving. Related, it handles stop and go absolutely amazingly and completely removes the stress of the experience.

Re: Tesla whistleblower casts doubt on car safety

#10
post #3

It’s a car, so it’s not perfectly safe when users do not follow safe driving instructions. No surprise there. Like any car, drivers have to keep their hands on the wheel and their attention on the road situation, and stay in control at all times. Until FSD is not in beta, there’s no use pointing out that a bad driver can do bad things because that is true in any car. Saying the system is not ready may be true, but it…

The problem is that humans are bad at sitting there paying attention while they're not actively engaged, which is what's required to use FSD safely. Also, FSD has essentially no benefits if you use it safely. If you listen to someone talk about what they want FSD for, they'll probably tell you they want to be paying attention to something other than driving or that they want to sit in a more comfortable position wher…

> The current Tesla FSD beta has no purpose other than as a tech demo

This is a bizarre take. FSD beta is many things beyond a demo. To name a few, it’s gathering data, it’s testing the system and improving, and it’s training other drivers, pedestrians, and governments how to live in a world that has FSD cars on the road.

Post reply on HN