Tesla knew Autopilot caused death, but didn’t fix it::Software’s alleged inability to handle cross traffic central to court battle after two road deaths

  • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    Didn’t, or couldn’t? Tesla uses a vastly inferior technology to run their “automated” driving protocols. It’s a hardware problem first and foremost.

    It’s like trying to drive a car with a 720p resolution camera mounted on the license plate holder versus a 4k monitor on the top of the car. That’s not a perfect analogy, but it’s close enough for those not aware of how cheap these cars and their tech really is.

  • dub@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    A times B times C equals X… I am jacks something something something

    • tool@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      A times B times C equals X… I am jacks something something something

      Narrator: A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don’t do one.

      Woman on Plane: Are there a lot of these kinds of accidents?

      Narrator: You wouldn’t believe.

      Woman on Plane: Which car company do you work for?

      Narrator: A major one.

      • droans@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        When you’re selling a million cars, it’s guaranteed that some of them will have a missed defect, no matter how good your QC is.

        That’s why you have agencies like the NHTSA. You need someone who can decide at what point the issue is a major defect that constitutes a recall.

      • uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        11 months ago

        All of the major ones. On the other hand, the Pinto’s gas tank exploded less ofteb than competing models in the era, and wasn’t the only design with the lowered gas tank.

        Look up the You’re Wrong about podcast on the Ford Pinto which is a great deep dive on car development. and product investigative reporting.

    • Ultraviolet@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Here’s how to do self driving cars in a reliable way. First, instead of cameras that try to use road markings designed for human eyes, use specially designed roads with guide rails on them to ensure it follows a safe path. Second, for added convenience, these roads could also power the cars so you don’t need to stop to charge. Then we could even connect those cars together to increase efficiency. To mitigate the cost, no individual has to own them, they can stop at fixed points to pick up and drop off passengers, charging an affordable rate for each trip, or monthly/annual passes for frequent users. Maybe we could call them trains.

  • harold@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    but im saving the planet and making sure elon gets a cut of my money

  • skymtf@pricefield.org
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    11 months ago

    I feel like some people are such Tesla fanboys that they will argue when I say Tesla FSD is not real and never has been.

    • _stranger_@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Probably because calling something “not real” is infuriatingly vague.

      Feel free to expand on your position, I actually do want to know what “not real” means in this context.

      If you mean, from a semantics perspective, that FULL means it should be a completely independent and autonomous system, bravo, you’ve made and won the most uninteresting form of that argument.

      • Liz@midwest.social
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        11 months ago

        I mean, don’t call your service something it’s not? Words should have meaning? Tesla’s Autopilot is very impressive, but it’s not fully independent, and that’s okay. Honestly if it had an accurate name people wouldn’t attack it so much. Other manufacturers are gaining similar capabilities but no one is complaining that their cars aren’t perfect either.

        • _stranger_@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Yeah that’s a really tired argument. I agree, they should call it whatever will stop people from arguing about the name. Something super generic and meaningless and uncreative that doesn’t encourage conversation. Something like Blue Cruise, ooh, or super cruise!

          At least then 99% of the complaints wouldn’t be about the least possible interesting part of it

      • renohren@partizle.com
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        11 months ago

        [comment clarification: I confused Autopilot and FSD]

        Yeah they should have called it level 2 autonomous driving, like most other mass market car makers do (except Mercedes which have level 3 on the roads). People could then compare the different limits and clearly see what brands are or are not at the forefront of the tech.

        • Zink@programming.dev
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          11 months ago

          I did not know that about Mercedes, so I had to go read about it. Level 3 is huge because that’s when the system is approved to not have constant human monitoring. It’s the difference between being able to read a book or use your phone on a boring trip, even if it might not get you fully door to door on many trips.

          It can’t drive you home drunk, and you can’t sleep in your car (you have to be available to take over when requested) but it’s a huge jump in most practical usage.

          • renohren@partizle.com
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            11 months ago

            Realisticaly, i think FSD has the potential to be level 3 officially and probably some car makers have the tech to do it too BUT in the EU, if the car has a level 3 autonomous driving, the car maker becomes legally responsible of accidents when the driving conditions are met ( most EU states limit it to highways). For the time being,only Mercedes had the courage to try it (probably because they have ample knowledge of driving assistance through their trucking production.)

    • Ocelot@lemmies.world
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      11 months ago

      I have nearly 20k miles on tesla’s FSD platform, it works amazingly well for something thats “not real”. There are countless youtube channels out there where people will mount a gopro in their car and go for a drive. Some of them like AIDRIVR and Whole Mars Catalog pretty much never take over control of the car without any drama. Especially in the past ~6 months or so of development it has been amazing.

  • gamer@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    I remember reading about the ethical question about the hypothetical self driving car that loses control and can choose to either turn left and kill a child, turn right and kill a crowd of old people, or do nothing and hit a wall, killing the driver. It’s a question that doesn’t have a right answer, but it must be answered by anybody implementing a self driving car.

    I non-sarcastically feel like Tesla would implement this system by trying to see which option kills the least number of paying Xitter subscribers.

    • Liz@midwest.social
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      11 months ago

      At the very least, they would prioritize the driver, because the driver is likely to buy another Tesla in the future if they do.

    • Ocelot@lemmies.world
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      11 months ago

      Meanwhile hundreds of people are killed in auto accidents every single day in the US. Even if a self driving car is 1000x safer than a human driver there will still be accidents as long as other humans are also sharing the same road.

      • Oderus@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        When a human is found to be at fault, you can punish them.

        With automated driving, who’s to punish? The company? Great. They pay a small fine and keep making millions while your loved one is gone and you get no justice.

        • Meissnerscorpsucle@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          punish and justice are synonymous… edit WOW bad typo should have read punish and justice are NOT synonymous.

  • golamas1999@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Full Self Driving is such a sim name. The feature is level 2 advanced cruise control.

  • fne8w2ah@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Yet Phoney Stark keeps on whinging about the risks of AI but at the same time slags off humans who actually know their stuff especially regarding safety.

    • Ocelot@lemmies.world
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      11 months ago

      Tesla Autopilot has nothing to do with AI. It is a lane keep assist system with cruise control.

  • chakan2@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    It’s time to give up the Tesla FSD dream. I loved the idea of it when it came out, and believed it would get better over time. FSD simply hasn’t. Worse, Musk has either fired or lost all the engineering talent Telsa had. FSD is only going to get worse from here and it’s time to put a stop to it.

    • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      The article isn’t talking about FSD, these accidents are from 2019 and 2016 before public availability of FSD. Of course, “Full Self Driving” ain’t great either…

      The whole article is kind of FUD. It’s saying engineers didn’t “fix” the issue, when the issue is people are using Autopilot, essentially advanced lane keep, on roads it shouldn’t be used on. It doesn’t give a shit about intersections, stop signs, or stop lights. It just keeps you in your lane and prevents you from rear ending someone. That’s it. It’s a super useful tool in it’s element, but shouldn’t be used outside of freeways or very simple roads at reasonable speeds. That said, it also shouldn’t be fucking called “autopilot”. That’s purely marketing and it’s extremely dangerous, as we can see.

    • q47tx@lemmy.worldB
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      11 months ago

      Exactly. Until the next maybe 2 decades, it should only be called driver assist.

    • silvercove@lemdro.id
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      11 months ago

      Then you should call it driver asist, not autopilot.

      Also Tesla’s advertisement is based on “having solved self driving”.

    • Ocelot@lemmies.world
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      11 months ago

      That is precisely why autopilot is called a driver assist system. Just like every other manufacturer’s LKAS.

        • Ocelot@lemmies.world
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          11 months ago

          How is that confusing? If you look at the capabilities an airplane autopilot does, it will maintain altitude and heading and make turns at pre-determined points. Autopilot in an airplane does absolutely zero to avoid other airplanes or obstacles, and no airplane is equipped with any AP system that allows the pilot to leave the cockpit.

          Tesla autopilot maintains speed and distance from the car in front of you and keeps you in your lane. Nothing else. It is a perfect name for the system.

  • Nogami@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Calling it Autopilot was always a marketing decision. It’s a driver assistance feature, nothing more. When used “as intended”, it works great. I drove for 14 hours during a road trip using AP and arrived not dead tired and still alert. That’s awesome, and would never have happened in a conventional car.

    I have the “FSD” beta right now. It has potential, but I still always keep a hand on the wheel and am in control of my car.

    At the end of the day, if the car makes a poor choice because of the automation, I’m still responsible as the driver, and I don’t want an accident, injury, or death on my conscience.

  • _stranger_@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    There’s like three comments in here talking about the technology, everyone else is arguing about names like people are absolved of personal responsibilities when they believe advertising.

  • Ocelot@lemmies.world
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    11 months ago

    Since when has autopilot, especially in 2019, ever had the ability to deal with “cross-traffic” situations? It always has been a glorified adaptive cruise with lanekeeping and has always been advertised as such. Literally the same as any other car with LKAS. Tesla’s self-driving software wasn’t released to the public until 2021/2022.

    Meanwhile about 120 people died in traffic related accidents today in the US.

  • PatFusty@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    The driver was also not even paying attention to the road so the blame should be on him not the car. People need to learn that Tesla’s version of autopilot has a specific use case and regular streets is not that.