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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

#81

Post by nateguchi »

staunch wrote: post #14
greglindahl wrote: post #7

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?

It's my understanding that Lidar is a lot more sensitive to bad weather

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

#82

Post by mblakele »

jccooper wrote: post #69
cjensen wrote: post #43

"Mostly self-driving" just seems crazy to me. As soon as the car is able to drive on a major highway, you're going to have "asleep at the wheel" issues, and the car cannot simply hand back control to the driver. There have been times when I've misjudged my level of tiredness. Drifting out of lane is a good marker that you've screwed up and need to pull over immediately and sleep. Does Tesla have some way to determine…

Trains (which are mostly self driving) have a button the operator must push once in a while to prove he's awake.)

If it's working: http://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/PR20150206.asp... describes a head-on collision between two trains. Apparently a handy new automation feature on one train fooled the vigilance device.

Then there are all the jokes about using a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_bird in situations like that. And then there's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv9JYqhFV-M to hack the Mercedes ALA.

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

#83

Post by dakrisht »

hkmurakami wrote: post #55
cjensen wrote: post #43

"Mostly self-driving" just seems crazy to me. As soon as the car is able to drive on a major highway, you're going to have "asleep at the wheel" issues, and the car cannot simply hand back control to the driver. There have been times when I've misjudged my level of tiredness. Drifting out of lane is a good marker that you've screwed up and need to pull over immediately and sleep. Does Tesla have some way to determine…

Toyota definitely has technology to detect whether the driver is asleep and wake up the driver. (I am not sure if this technology has hit the market yet so I can't comment on what the implementation is) You can then wake up the driver by actuating the seat or sounding an alarm.

Mercedes-Benz has had this technology for maybe 5 years now.

The car will audibly, visually and via haptic feedback through the steering wheel alert a driver if the vehicle detects they are getting drowsy. Nothing new here.

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

#84

Post by Retric »

zanny wrote: post #65
waterlesscloud wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

But we are in a community currently in recoil from remote workers. On HN in the past week I have seen at least half a dozen front page articles about how remote doesn't work or how to do work life balance when remote. If people just cannot function without having their molecules in physical proximity to their bosses molecules you still get stuck with the dumb commutes.

Currently, most offices only need face time ~10-4 most days, but if your driving your out of touch with coworkers in normal business hours which is a hard sell. So often people only get to miss one of those segments either the show up ~10 most days or leave by 4pm most days but not both. Or, they might miss 1-3 days a week depending on meetings etc.

Now, suppose your self driving car let's you work while in the car. So, your still in the office from ~10-4 and get daily face time, but your only working 8-6. From a work life balance that's effectively zero commute time vs a killer 2h each way, with the added benefit that you get to avoid some of the peak traffic times.

The upside is it makes vary long commutes viable, the downside is it's it's vary energy expensive but with electric cars that's far less of an issue.

No to mention things like effective valet parking everywhere.

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

#87

Post by nateguchi »

dakrisht wrote: post #79
nateguchi wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's quite a few manufacturers that have this technology other than Mercedes

Not all of it, some of it - yes. In particular, the Blind Spot assist systems are prevalent in a few different manufacturers. The more advanced "self-driving" systems are all Mercedes-Benz technology that is part of their high-end vehicles (and not a standard option). Remember, Mercedes-Benz holds over 80,000 patents on this stuff and more coming all the time. There's no doubt they are pioneers in vehicle safety syst…

Well, just glancing at Volvo's website, their V40 car has Imminent impact braking, pedestrian collision avoidance, active cruise control (same as distronic plus), lane keeping assistance and blind spot assist.

Additionally they have automatic parking.

Missing from this is only the driver alertness detection.

EDIT: relevant link http://www.volvocars.com/uk/explore/pages/innovation-areas.a...

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

#88

Post by TeMPOraL »

ForHackernews wrote: post #64
orblivion wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Particularly since they didn't price the cars to include this feature.

I mean, the cars are insanely expensive already. I think they're priced to include plenty.

The pricing includes R&D costs for the next, cheaper model. That's the basics of Tesla's strategy - start with high-end, let the rich bankroll the neccessary work to bring electric cars to the masses.

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

#89

Post by TeMPOraL »

jasonlingx wrote: post #70
kzrdude wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It makes sense that exactly tesla might not want to be the first company to launch that technology. A major failure would be an existential risk to them (just from publicity and momentum).

He's already stated his desire for Tesla to be the first to market with autonomous vehicles.

With the capability to enable it by just a press of a button at Tesla HQ, he can wait for the last possible moment and still be first.

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

#90

Post by AnthonyMouse »

Shivetya wrote: post #63

I am not sure I agree on the two hundred mile threshold, maybe for the family commuter car. however no electric of that range will ever replace the car for trips to grandmas. let alone the price differential between an equivalent gas powered car is going to have to be a lot closer to justify the limitations of an electric.

You're missing the self-driving feature. Once there are self-driving cars there will be cheap self-driving cabs. That's what you take to grandma's house. And of course the cab can run on gasoline. Or run on electricity and when it runs out of power it stops somewhere you can get some food and a freshly charged cab.
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