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

nytimes.com

31–40 of 254 posts

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

#31

Two points in the article bring up an interesting thought- Will autonomous highway driving make the recharging stops more or less annoying? If you're not actively driving the car, will you have less fatigue and so less need or desire for a 30 minute recharging break every few hundred miles?

On long trips now, is it the driver or the passengers who are more interested in rest stops?

Depends on the drivers and the passengers. But there's a difference between a 5-10 minute restroom stop and a 30 minute recharging stop.

Random thought- the drivers on long distance trips self-select for people who like to keep going.

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

#33

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.

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

#34
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, these Teslas will only self-drive on private property. Or if you fall asleep at the wheel. Source: listened to the call this morning.

The private property restriction is only for Batmobile mode where you summon the car and it drives to you all by itself. The autopilot / cruise control 2.0 / lean back mode where it handles all the driving on the highway, but you're still behind the wheel.. That's the main thing. I'm also curious whether there are state law issues.

Do they use GPS location to determine private property? Curious if I could get out of the Tesla in my driveway and have it park itself in the (narrow) garage.

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

#37
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Judging by the article, "under optimal conditions" is an exaggeration. There was no citation of problems during traffic conditions. My father sits through 2-4 hours of Los Angeles rush hour each day, and this is absolutely a game changer for someone like him. This is stellar.

This is solving the wrong problem. Car self-driving through 2-4 rush hours does not solve the problem. Not having 2-4 rush hours would.

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

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

#38
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why, yes, this blog posting from October 10, 2014, said that: http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/dual-motor-model-s-and-autop...

> Every single Model S now rolling out of the factory includes a forward radar, 12 long range ultrasonic sensors positioned to sense 16 feet around the car in every direction at all speeds, a forward looking camera, and a high precision, digitally controlled electric assist braking system. Does anyone know how their system might compare to the spinning Lidar thingamajigs Google uses on their cars?

The lidar that google uses provides a huge amount more information. Add that to the detailed maps that the google vehicle uses and it's pretty clear that these vehicles aren't really trying to do the same thing. Google's trying to handle fully driverless operation but Tesla's going for a more immediately commercializable middle ground.

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

#39
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Judging by the article, "under optimal conditions" is an exaggeration. There was no citation of problems during traffic conditions. My father sits through 2-4 hours of Los Angeles rush hour each day, and this is absolutely a game changer for someone like him. This is stellar.

This is solving the wrong problem. Car self-driving through 2-4 rush hours does not solve the problem. Not having 2-4 rush hours would.

Get your job to let you work from the car on the way into the office for whatever face time you need, and you're on your way to cutting down the total time devoted to your job/commute.
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