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Comma.ai will ship a $999 autonomous driving add-on by the end of this year

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21–30 of 116 posts

Re: Comma.ai will ship a $999 autonomous driving add-on by the end of this year

#21
post #15

I would love nothing more than for Bay Area congestion to be solved by self-driving cars, but I take this announcement with a grain of salt because it lacks any mention of liabilities and regulatory hurdles. Unless the management can answer the difficult questions, unforeseen difficulties likely await anyone who installs this device in their car. Insurance companies may refuse to cover accidents caused by the device,…

Autonomous driving isn't really regulated though. Google's Chauffeur is the only autonomous software I'm aware has even passed a state driving test.

That's a good point, although what I'm more concerned with is industry pushback against third-party self-driving upgrades, similar to how ECU tampering voids the warranty of most cars.

Re: Comma.ai will ship a $999 autonomous driving add-on by the end of this year

#22
post #13
post #6

If it really works like they say and can be added to any car, that's pretty huge. I'd definitely buy one. I wonder what it takes to install it ...

They mentioned the car has to have built in radar already.

My understanding is that this will only work with late-model Honda/Acura with LKAS & ACC packages, they hack into these systems for control. http://automobiles.honda.com/sensing/

Re: Comma.ai will ship a $999 autonomous driving add-on by the end of this year

#23
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It only works with vehicles which have built-in capability of auto steering and braking

What do you mean by "auto steering and braking"? Does this simply turn on settings that already exist in the car or does this actually control the car through fly by wire commands? If it is the latter, is this something that car manufacturers actively support third parties doing? To the layman like me, that seems like a huge potential liability.

The latter. I remember listening to an interview with George where he chose Honda/Acura because they're "generally hands off about these kind of things" meaning aftermarket mods.

Re: Comma.ai will ship a $999 autonomous driving add-on by the end of this year

#24
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It only works with vehicles which have built-in capability of auto steering and braking

What do you mean by "auto steering and braking"? Does this simply turn on settings that already exist in the car or does this actually control the car through fly by wire commands? If it is the latter, is this something that car manufacturers actively support third parties doing? To the layman like me, that seems like a huge potential liability.

Zipcar routinely starts and stops cars by satellite; OnStar pulls speeding fugitives over for the cops. In the 'this is bad' domain, some people say Michael Hastings was killed by remote software exploit of his car.

Re: Comma.ai will ship a $999 autonomous driving add-on by the end of this year

#25
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Autonomous driving isn't really regulated though. Google's Chauffeur is the only autonomous software I'm aware has even passed a state driving test.

That's a good point, although what I'm more concerned with is industry pushback against third-party self-driving upgrades, similar to how ECU tampering voids the warranty of most cars.

Autonomous software is a lot more complex than the software the ECU uses (which is still complex), so there may be a genuine argument against allowing people to modify cars not designed for autonomous driving. It definitely raises a really serious liability question.

Even with those systems working exactly as designed, there are some serious liability questions I don't think anyone has really answered yet.

Re: Comma.ai will ship a $999 autonomous driving add-on by the end of this year

#27
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It only works with vehicles which have built-in capability of auto steering and braking

What do you mean by "auto steering and braking"? Does this simply turn on settings that already exist in the car or does this actually control the car through fly by wire commands? If it is the latter, is this something that car manufacturers actively support third parties doing? To the layman like me, that seems like a huge potential liability.

I believe Honda have given them permission to do this. The unit communicates digitally with Hondas built in systems.

Re: Comma.ai will ship a $999 autonomous driving add-on by the end of this year

#28
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It only works with vehicles which have built-in capability of auto steering and braking

What do you mean by "auto steering and braking"? Does this simply turn on settings that already exist in the car or does this actually control the car through fly by wire commands? If it is the latter, is this something that car manufacturers actively support third parties doing? To the layman like me, that seems like a huge potential liability.

[deleted]

Re: Comma.ai will ship a $999 autonomous driving add-on by the end of this year

#30
post #10

“It is fully functional. It’s about on par with Tesla Autopilot,” Hotz said. It doesn’t have a lot of sensors as the Comma One relies on built-in car front radars and comes with a camera. This seems a bit precarious.

My car, a Passat 2016 has both of those and does an okay job keeping itself in the lane and such. Only with VW would be more aggressive about updating their cars firmware. They've got all the components to be pushing forward. But just like all the other car companies they'd rather wait until 2017 models to make any improvements.
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