I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords

Minor glitches.

I’m in the UK. My software update (2018.21.9) completed this morning. 2018 Model S 100D.

 

On an ‘A’ road drive today in dry, clear weather using Autopilot on a stretch of straight, clear, flat well marked road at 40mph the car suddenly and for no apparent reason tried to swerve off the road sharply, I had to grab the wheel (my hands always rest lightly on the wheel while AP is engaged) quickly to get the car back on track. This happened twice 45 minutes apart in similar conditions.

 

There was no break in the white lines and no apparent reason for it to do this.

27 Replies to “I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords”

  1. The autopilot’s nickname is Darwin after all, i.e. it will Darwin you if you are dumb enough to trust it.

    If on the other hand, if you don’t trust it and keep your hands near the wheel at all times then this takes more effort and concentration than just driving. Not only must you still pay attention to the road and other drivers, now you must be hyper alert that your car doesn’t Darwin you into a cement block, oncoming traffic, or off a bridge. Why would someone want to do this?

    Can’t fix stupid, but it can certainly be removed.

  2. I have no problem with Tesla over this –

    1) Tesla has never represented that the autopilot means “self-driving”; and for those who think it is, it’s (on occasion, quite literally) their funeral; and

    2) This guy is aware and doesn’t trust it, and keeps hands on the wheel, hence this was of interest but not an incident. Wonder why the others did trust it with their lives?

    “Well, it SAYS it will…” – it’s called ‘advertising’.

      1. – Why do you suppose when aircraft are on autopilot, there’s always a real pilot at the controls?

        Aircraft have had some form-or-other of autopilots since at least the second world war; they’re far more advanced than Tesla’s. But pilots (and airlines, who tell them what to do) don’t trust them either.

  3. A co-worker’s wife flew to Toronto on Monday to purchase a Model 3. She was on a waiting list but Tesla called her months earlier than expected. It seems Tesla is pushing the delivery schedule in Ontario because Doug Ford has promised to end the green rebate. I guess Tesla knows that once the $14,000 incentive is gone sales will crater.

  4. Funny, I saw about 7 people do this today just commuting in to work….. I also saw two guys run a red light. One guy miss a pedestrian by about a foot, a woman going 50 in an 80 zone, another woman who couldn’t maintain her speed or control through gentle curves and then there was the guy bump-drafting me.

    Perhaps they could all use software reboots, too.

    1. I can make driver errors on my own, I don’t need the additional task of preventing kamikaze attacks by my vehicle.

    2. You know what? If you get a huge, ugly pickup truck, almost all of these people will magically stop bothering you.

      It is miraculous how peaceful a commute can be, when all the maniacs stop cutting you off or tailgating you. The truly incompetent ones will change lanes to get away from you. The aggressive ones will instinctively assume your ugly paint job means you will use your bumper on them, and they will choose easier, safer prey.

      Sheer intimidation. Works awesome. I have even seen this work on the cab drivers in New York City. When I drove a car, they were cutting me off almost every time. In the hideous truck, they didn’t cut me off even once. In Toronto it works on the cabs too, but there are some drivers in Toronto who are so utterly oblivious that they will still pull out in front of you. Fear is a powerful motivator, but there appear to be some people too stupid to be afraid.

      What’s going to be interesting is how traffic reacts to the driving robots. They drive like a little old man. Super slow, super careful, and the occasional left-turn in front of on-coming traffic with no warning given. I predict people will bully the sh1t out of them.

      1. In Boston, back in the day, I had a rust and Bondo, 2 Door Chevy Nova with a wire coat hanger antenna no hub caps. Bad shocks, and squeaky leaf springs. Never washed it, nor the windows. Mild muffler leak, some blue oil smoke. Bruins sticker. The street bum of cars. Used to passive agressive dare BMW Master Of The Universe types.

        1. Mine was a Chevy S-10 pickup, white cap, rusty fenders with aluminum plates pop-riveted around the back wheel wells. The traffic of Manhattan parted before me like the Red Sea.

          Its not necessarily the size. Its more that they know you don’t care about body damage. >:D

          Older model F-250 crew cab, long box. Now you’ve got the height, the mass, and you still don’t care if they dent it. Even the stunned doofi of Toronto fear the Beast. I don’t get where I’m going any faster, but at least they don’t actively cut me off.

      2. A dump truck works even better although you wouldn’t believe all the idiots that would tail-gate me.

        As for Tesla owners, they are a cult that get what they deserve and pay heavily to get it!

        1. Oh, I believe it. I’ve seen them do it on the QEW at 70mph, and they don’t move even when the truck hits a bump and showers them with gravel.

          But who cares? Its a DUMP TRUCK. You’ll be picking that Honda out of your duals, and wondering how it got there.

  5. Self-driving cars are robots on wheels. The thing about robots is that they don’t care if they kill you.

  6. One of the amazing things about our automobile culture is that we all (with rare exceptions) … follow the rules. When a light turns red … 99.99997% of drivers, STOP. Most drivers stay in their lanes, and maintain the “flow of traffic”. And for the most part, when drivers deviate from these rules … we can see telltale clues of their aberrant behaviour. I have come upon drunk drivers, and even sleeping drivers (head nodding, and running off the road). In ALL these cases, my attentiveness WARNED of impending danger which I was able to avoid. And this attentiveness is born of my very first driving lessons when I was taught “high aim steering” … to scan the horizon … and NOT stare at the bumper directly in front of you. So-called “self-driving” cars cannot do this … AT ALL. Self-driving cars will NEVER be able to AVOID dangerous situations … but simply react to them. Your autopilot’s reaction times will be … after the fact, and too LATE to save you.

    All you need to know to be a good (safe) driver …
    http://eps.berkeley.edu/~brimhall/EPS118/documents/SmithSafetyRules.pdf

    Ironically, Tesla (and all the self-driving gurus) want to eliminate every single one of these rules … to make you … “safer”.

    1. It’s amazing how many of those rules become an absolute necessity when you start riding a motorcycle. You have no protection so all you have left are agility and awareness.

      1. I rode a bike during my college years … how I survived the Bay Area drivers … is completely down to those rules. I cannot count the number of times I was … merged … out of my lane … despite the additional lesson of; “never loiter in another drivers blindspot”

      2. Oh! And of course THE most important driving RULE of all … “slow-er traffic keep right”!!! aka the BASIC SPEED LAW. For SPEED organization. For safety. If your self-driving-eco-signaling toxic waste dump of a vehicle is running at 60mph in the LEFT lane … I will give your onboard computer a shitload of … “input” to deal with. SLOWer traffic KEEP RIGHT.

  7. As I’ve said before I’m bullish on automotive AI in the short run, but it’s not ready for public roadways and anyone using it on such should be charged with criminal negligence.

  8. tesla motors is learning from the Chirese:
    the customer is now in charge (pun intended) of ‘quality’ control (or lack of any ‘control’)

  9. Airplanes have collision detection and avoidance systems. Self driving cars will have them too, ultimately.

    1. At what range are aircraft systems detecting and avoiding potential collisions? Compared to drivers training, how thorough is the training of pilots, despite their aircraft being equipped with such systems? How fast can a “self driving” car climb or dive to avoid a collision?

    2. Aircraft will tell you that another aircraft is coming. It is still up to the pilot to decide what to do.

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