Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tesla Recalls 2M Cars to Fix Autopilot Safety Flaws

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 237 posts

Re: Tesla Recalls 2M Cars to Fix Autopilot Safety Flaws

#4

Post by izacus »

not_your_vase wrote: post #2

We should either stop calling these recalls, or news sites should announce iOS and Android updates in a similar manner also > Apple is recalling 45 Brazilion iPhones and iPads to fix software flaw

Nah mate, fixing your cat photos app is not the same thing as fixing software that killed people.

Re: Tesla Recalls 2M Cars to Fix Autopilot Safety Flaws

#5

Post by mackman »

not_your_vase wrote: post #2

We should either stop calling these recalls, or news sites should announce iOS and Android updates in a similar manner also > Apple is recalling 45 Brazilion iPhones and iPads to fix software flaw

If the FCC mandated Apple deploy an update to reduce phones catching fire then yes, I would use the term recall. For bugs that don’t fall into the safety or regulatory compliance category I would not.

Re: Tesla Recalls 2M Cars to Fix Autopilot Safety Flaws

#6

Post by mrtksn »

not_your_vase wrote: post #2

We should either stop calling these recalls, or news sites should announce iOS and Android updates in a similar manner also > Apple is recalling 45 Brazilion iPhones and iPads to fix software flaw

I actually like the idea, it should be called recall when it's about fixing a bug affecting the function or security of the device.

I know a lot of people who don't update their phones because they believe it's getting slower and their battery degrades faster. In some cases, they might be right because when new futures are added the device can indeed become slower.

It would be nice if we can get fixes and security updates, without adding any new functionality so we can preserve the original workload of the device. I would love to have my iPhone 4s running iOS 6, just secured enough, so I can use it the way it was when I purchased it(I wouldn't care much if Apple services don't work anymore).

Sure, Apple does security only updates for old phones but I actually would like to have the option to do this on the current phones too.

Re: Tesla Recalls 2M Cars to Fix Autopilot Safety Flaws

#7

Post by 4ad »

izacus wrote: post #4
not_your_vase wrote: post #2

We should either stop calling these recalls, or news sites should announce iOS and Android updates in a similar manner also > Apple is recalling 45 Brazilion iPhones and iPads to fix software flaw

Nah mate, fixing your cat photos app is not the same thing as fixing software that killed people.

From a user experience perspective it is exactly the same. The user doesn't have to send their hardware away.

Re: Tesla Recalls 2M Cars to Fix Autopilot Safety Flaws

#8

Post by obtino »

not_your_vase wrote: post #2

We should either stop calling these recalls, or news sites should announce iOS and Android updates in a similar manner also > Apple is recalling 45 Brazilion iPhones and iPads to fix software flaw

Tesla shouldn't call their driver assist system "Autopilot" either, but here we are.

Re: Tesla Recalls 2M Cars to Fix Autopilot Safety Flaws

#9

Post by gwd »

mackman wrote: post #5
not_your_vase wrote: post #2

We should either stop calling these recalls, or news sites should announce iOS and Android updates in a similar manner also > Apple is recalling 45 Brazilion iPhones and iPads to fix software flaw

If the FCC mandated Apple deploy an update to reduce phones catching fire then yes, I would use the term recall. For bugs that don’t fall into the safety or regulatory compliance category I would not.

But "recall" means "calling back"; normally it means having to actually send a physical replacement. Consider three possible problems with autopilot:

1. There's a structural issue that affects camera systems which can't be fixed in a shop; for instance, something which may cause the camera to come loose which results in blind spots, that's due to the structural issue of the car itself. Tesla has to replace 2 million customer's actual cars, destroying the old ones (or perhaps selling them as "refurb but no autopilot").

2. There's an issue that affects camera systems which can be fixed in a shop; Tesla has to pay for repairs for 2 million cars.

3. There's an issue which affects Autopilot which can be fixed in software. They push an over-the-air update automatically and everyone is fine.

These each have very different properties in terms of costs to Tesla and hassle for owners; so it makes sense that there be a different word for them. "Recall" literally means "call back"; I'd argue for only using it in the case of #1.

Re: Tesla Recalls 2M Cars to Fix Autopilot Safety Flaws

#10

Post by izacus »

4ad wrote: post #7
izacus wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah mate, fixing your cat photos app is not the same thing as fixing software that killed people.

From a user experience perspective it is exactly the same. The user doesn't have to send their hardware away.

It actually isn't - hence the "filing". Tesla needs to notify people to update their software, even those that don't have wifi or 4G available for updates for whatever reason.
Post reply on HN