Live data from Hacker News

Autopilot on Cars for $999

comma.ai

41–50 of 298 posts

Re: Autopilot on Cars for $999

#41

Is it correct Comma.AI sees this as the following statement below appears to say, or am I missing something? If so, why would anyone be using this product outside of a test environment that’s fully controlled? — “Any user of this software shall indemnify and hold harmless comma.ai, Inc. and its directors, officers, employees, agents, stockholders, affiliates, subcontractors and customers from and against all allegati…

98% of that is boilerplate language for any product you use.

The uppercase is legalese to wiggle out of responsibility.

Re: Autopilot on Cars for $999

#42

wait so many normal cars now have steering motors that you can actuate via OBD?? Is that just leveraging the lane keep assist feature on these modern cars? How much can that hardware steer for you?

Yes, this is usually leveraging the LKA feature. Depending on the manufacturer/car the LKA generally has a torque limit (to allow the driver to override the system by hand, and prevent wrist injuries from steering input) and an angle limit.

Most cars (none, that I am aware of) do not allow the steering motor to be actuated over the OBD port, the CAN bus containing the steering/LKA sits behind a diagnostic gateway that doesn't pass steering messages. You need to tap into this CAN bus, which in the Comma product is accomplished by the connector at the rearview mirror (usually used for the stock lane-keeping assist camera).

Re: Autopilot on Cars for $999

#43

Okay, anecdotes aside... What level of autonomy does this provide? Is it just basically lane assist?

I've seen a few videos of it. It really is just a half step up from active lane keeping. It will proactively keep you centered and manage your speed with no interaction, whereas normal lane keeping only kicks in if you are about to drift out of the lane.

Re: Autopilot on Cars for $999

#45

wait so many normal cars now have steering motors that you can actuate via OBD?? Is that just leveraging the lane keep assist feature on these modern cars? How much can that hardware steer for you?

Most modern cars have something like lane assist yes, which moves the steering wheel for you. Many have automatic parking which also moves the wheel. So yeah it's built in anyway.

Re: Autopilot on Cars for $999

#46

Is it correct Comma.AI sees this as the following statement below appears to say, or am I missing something? If so, why would anyone be using this product outside of a test environment that’s fully controlled? — “Any user of this software shall indemnify and hold harmless comma.ai, Inc. and its directors, officers, employees, agents, stockholders, affiliates, subcontractors and customers from and against all allegati…

It is still very early in its development stage so they do not want much liability.

Nobody ever wants any liability if they can help it. But they shouldn't be marketing a product if they can't stand behind it.

Re: Autopilot on Cars for $999

#47
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know for sure Tesla and Uber has. Seems like Comma's product requires your attention through driver monitoring whereas Tesla's product is non existent in this area. And with Uber the driver was distracted. edit: Downvoters, i'm a bit confused here, so Tesla and Uber hasn't killed anybody then?

Tesla has something like 4 billion miles driven with Autopilot. This apparently has 35 million miles. (It isn't a direct comparison, but the overall rate in the US is around 1 death per 100 million miles driven). Anyone who uses these numbers to even imply this is safer than Tesla knows nothing about statistics. It is way too early to draw any conclusions about Comma's safety. It is also probably too early to even dr…

> It is way too early to draw any conclusions about Comma's safety.

I definitely would not consider any car with adaptive cruise control without driver monitoring, especially one that touts self driving capabilities.

Re: Autopilot on Cars for $999

#48

Okay, anecdotes aside... What level of autonomy does this provide? Is it just basically lane assist?

I've seen a few videos of it. It really is just a half step up from active lane keeping. It will proactively keep you centered and manage your speed with no interaction, whereas normal lane keeping only kicks in if you are about to drift out of the lane.

Honda LKA keeps you centered and lets you take your hands off the wheel.

Re: Autopilot on Cars for $999

#49
post #24

*$1,199 once you add in the required car harness to, you know, connect it to your car.

Adding the self driving option to a Tesla model 3 or S is up to what, like $3000 now? (on top of whatever extra tech package you have to add too) This is pretty competitively priced. A lot of folks spend more than that just on upgrading the stereo in their car.

Re: Autopilot on Cars for $999

#50

wait so many normal cars now have steering motors that you can actuate via OBD?? Is that just leveraging the lane keep assist feature on these modern cars? How much can that hardware steer for you?

Since the early 2000's most cars have been using a drive-by-wire system for steering. They aren't exposed on OBD2 though, that's just for legacy emissions. Most are on a CAN bus but there isn't some big standard to control them all--it's very much a manufacturer by manufacturer thing right now.

This is only partially true - the only cars which used "real" drive-by-wire (wheel -> computer -> steering actuator) were a few Infiniti vehicles, and even then they had a clutch which could re-engage a physical steering column.

Rather, a few cars in the early 2000s and many since the early 2010s or so offer electric power steering assist: the steering wheel is still very much connected by a physical steering column to the steering rack, and normal steering input is purely physical - there's just also an electric motor attached to the rack to provide the usual power steering boost. And, that power steering assist can be controlled over a non-diagnostic CAN bus to facilitate LKA.

Post reply on HN