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Elon Musk: Tesla cars will have “autopilot mode” by summer

nytimes.com

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Re: Elon Musk: Tesla cars will have “autopilot mode” by summer

#171

Post by im3w1l »

JulianMorrison wrote: post #101
tro2102 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the first step to that solution, though - if all cars are self-driving optimally, that 2-4 hours rush becomes much shorter.

Automated cars can in principle make subtle, shockwave-damping decisions in high density flow, zip together neatly at on ramps and make space for lane crossers at off ramps. And bonus, they can also in principle be doing useful things rather than occupying parking lots. I expect a slow phase change to car-as-public-transport that never stops rolling when it isn't in maintenance.

Way more cars are needed during rush hour than other times, so I think even in the future cars will stop rolling.

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla cars will have “autopilot mode” by summer

#172

Post by mark_integerdsv »

tensor wrote: post #161
EC1 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you trying to accomplish with this line of questioning. Yes, people fail. What's your point?

His original point was that people are crediting Musk with what is actually the success of the engineers working there. The public loves to give credit to figureheads. Naturally, this upsets the people actually doing the innovation who get ignored.

This comes up a lot on various forums.

The more technical the crowd the more you hear this kind of thing but it really does bear mentioning that if these engineers could be doing it without these figureheads then really, they should do that.

They fact that it's plausible has no bearing on the fact that it is often simply not the case.

Why did Apple nearly fail before Jobs return?

Why are Tesla and SpaceX a direct result of one mans vision?

I'm not saying that no one else is involved in these businesses, I don't think anyone is stupid enough to assert that these are not examples of fantastically great organisations made up of brilliant engineers and probably project managers and lawyers and all of the other parts that make up a great companay but yet the fact remains that the 'figurehead' is there.

Why is that if these 'figureheads' serve no purpose other than to court the media?

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla cars will have “autopilot mode” by summer

#173

Post by mkal_tsr »

dang wrote: post #170
throwaway12347 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was a product manager [1]. Before that, he worked as a finance guy [2]. He was not an engineer. [1] https://www.crunchbase.com/person/patrick-breitenbach [2] https://www.linkedin.com/in/pbreitenbach

Doxing is not allowed on Hacker News.

This information is very easily found from searching based off their username. Is HN actively preventing people from registering with usernames that are on other sites and services? If not, what are the limits and connections between one's username and one's username on other websites? Further, what is the limit between one's username and full name and/or projects that are indexed on every major search engine? Should we not title this post "Tesla CEO" else we dox that individual?

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla cars will have “autopilot mode” by summer

#174

Post by mark_integerdsv »

So torn on this because I fall into the chest beating, love to drive my car set but I also remember how much reading I got done when I was younger and used to use the train to commute.

Having that time back is a very seductive proposition.

What I do wonder though is what's the point of having your own car, if all cars are autonomous then isn't that essentially a tram system? How long would it take before there are established routes and taking your car to a given location is no different to hopping on any one of the other cars that are heading there anyway?

Surely the one of the first businesses to be radically impacted by widespread autonomous vehicles is the taxi industry?

I can't see an outcome where pretty soon it's not just a fancy tramway.

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla cars will have “autopilot mode” by summer

#175

Post by mkal_tsr »

EC1 wrote: post #162
tensor wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His original point was that people are crediting Musk with what is actually the success of the engineers working there. The public loves to give credit to figureheads. Naturally, this upsets the people actually doing the innovation who get ignored.

That's exactly what I mean. Why state the incredibly obvious? Is there anyone who actually thinks Musk sat there and built the Tesla in his basement? Am I supposed to reach out and personally shake the hands of each engineer? The engineers "thank you" comes in many forms. The fulfillment of the job. The privilege to work on cutting edge tech. The satisfaction of their customers. Their salary and so on and so forth.

> The fulfillment of the job

Irrelevant

> The privilege to work on cutting edge tech

Irrelevant

> The satisfaction of their customers

> Their salary and so on and so forth

Irrelevant, that is/was part of their contract regardless of outcome (otherwise R&D departments wouldn't exist, failure tolerances wouldn't exist, etc).

Musk merely gave directive, he didn't implement or do this R&D on his own. Calling this Musk's success is like saying Einstein design and built the atom bomb thus he is solely responsible for the death of many a Japanese. But society doesn't take that point of view, instead only that he contributed to it, not that he owned it through and through. A good leader leads their subordinates, but they are not the sole factor in their subordinates achieving success. If a leader does not recognize their subordinates, they will soon find they have no subordinates to lead.

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla cars will have “autopilot mode” by summer

#176

Post by acqq »

JulianMorrison wrote: post #33
AceJohnny2 wrote: post #21

Every time Elon Musk makes this kind of announcement, his engineering departments groan. As I understand, they have folks actively managing Musk trying to prevent him from promising the moon :)

Too late, he promised Mars.

Anybody knows if any needed equipment is actually installed in his cars? From what I've understood with Google cars, the cars would need quite a lot things like high tech radars.

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla cars will have “autopilot mode” by summer

#178

Post by dang »

mkal_tsr wrote: post #173
dang wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doxing is not allowed on Hacker News.

This information is very easily found from searching based off their username. Is HN actively preventing people from registering with usernames that are on other sites and services? If not, what are the limits and connections between one's username and one's username on other websites? Further, what is the limit between one's username and full name and/or projects that are indexed on every major search engine? Should…

It doesn't matter how easily the information is found.

By "doxing" I meant posting someone's personal details as a way of attacking them. None of us would want that done to ourselves, and we owe the same consideration to others.

Nor is it needed for substantive discussion, which is the purpose of HN threads.

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla cars will have “autopilot mode” by summer

#179

Post by martin_bech »

threeseed wrote: post #104
Cookingboy wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are already cars that have this feature, he should look into them. What Tesla is releasing at this stage brings absolutely nothing new to the table.

Absolutely. It's been around for at least a year or two. My Landrover has this technology as an option as do most brands e.g. BMW, Mercedes. Tesla is merely playing catch up this in regard.

Did it come as and over the air upgrade for all exisisting vehicles, with a promise of more upgrades along the way, and an even better upgrade of free long distance fueling?

Re: Elon Musk: Tesla cars will have “autopilot mode” by summer

#180

Post by yason »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #21

Every time Elon Musk makes this kind of announcement, his engineering departments groan. As I understand, they have folks actively managing Musk trying to prevent him from promising the moon :)

It's the engineers' job to resist with good reasoning.

It's the visionary's job to convince them that we people only think the impossible things are impossible.

That's basically how I do my internal dialogue. I shoot down an idea of mine because it's too brittle, vague, and difficult. But I still want to build that something. So, I keep thinking and end up saying to myself, "Well, maybe I could do something that's like an ugly partial implementation, just leaving out the hardest things: it won't be what I want but I can write something that resembles it." And then I write the first prototype and end up having something here to play with. However, I still keep wanting more and maybe I get an insight that allows me, having first played with the first build, to make a better approach with a new set of tradeoffs but such that will get me closer to what I want. Gradually I approach what I want, possibly never quite reaching that point, but still getting closer and closer.

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