Consumer Reports shows Tesla Autopilot works with no one in the driver’s seat(arstechnica.com)
arstechnica.com
Consumer Reports shows Tesla Autopilot works with no one in the driver’s seat
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/04/consumer-reports-shows-tesla-autopilot-works-with-no-one-in-the-drivers-seat/
7 comments
And Tesla needs to be held accountable for a security system than be easily defeated and puts innocent bystanders in danger.
Why is it Tesla's responsibility to defend the world against idiots? I'm pretty sure the Bart Simpson's of the world have been able to set cruise control and get in the back seat for decades.
The problem I have with Tesla is their mixed messaging: Overstating the capabilities of Autopilot (or FSD) when it suits their marketing efforts and then discounting those same systems as "under development" when they fail or are misused. It's not surprising that people get confused.
It takes gall to sell "Full Self-Driving" as an option for the past 5 years and have so little to show for it. I'm amazed there hasn't been more blowback from buyers.
The problem I have with Tesla is their mixed messaging: Overstating the capabilities of Autopilot (or FSD) when it suits their marketing efforts and then discounting those same systems as "under development" when they fail or are misused. It's not surprising that people get confused.
It takes gall to sell "Full Self-Driving" as an option for the past 5 years and have so little to show for it. I'm amazed there hasn't been more blowback from buyers.
> Overstating the capabilities of Autopilot (or FSD) when it suits their marketing efforts...
Do they? I’m aware of two general criticisms, but I’m not sure they are about overstating the ability of their existing product?
1) Elon’s pronouncements about FSD are usually over-ambitious both in capabilities and timelines... but that’s when he’s taking about what will be coming, not what had already been delivered to customers.
2) People getting upset with the term ‘autopilot’, as they think the term itself implies greater abilities than it delivers in reality. However, afaik Tesla are very specific about its actual ability.
> It takes gall to sell "Full Self-Driving" as an option for the past 5 years and have so little to show for it. I'm amazed there hasn't been more blowback from buyers.
Yes - agree. I’m interested to see how things turn out in the EU, where Tesla have sold a lot of cars but where even the older FSD software is limited compared to other countries (thanks to EU restrictions) and it seems there’s absolutely no prospect of the newer beta FSD being rolled out.
Do they? I’m aware of two general criticisms, but I’m not sure they are about overstating the ability of their existing product?
1) Elon’s pronouncements about FSD are usually over-ambitious both in capabilities and timelines... but that’s when he’s taking about what will be coming, not what had already been delivered to customers.
2) People getting upset with the term ‘autopilot’, as they think the term itself implies greater abilities than it delivers in reality. However, afaik Tesla are very specific about its actual ability.
> It takes gall to sell "Full Self-Driving" as an option for the past 5 years and have so little to show for it. I'm amazed there hasn't been more blowback from buyers.
Yes - agree. I’m interested to see how things turn out in the EU, where Tesla have sold a lot of cars but where even the older FSD software is limited compared to other countries (thanks to EU restrictions) and it seems there’s absolutely no prospect of the newer beta FSD being rolled out.
you kind of answered your own question with the next to paragraphs. Other car manufacturers don't call their adaptive cruise control 'autopilot' or 'full self driving'.
Yes, my point is their responsibility lies in their messaging, not in making it harder to defeat people leaving the driver’s seat.
"Normal" cars don't call their adaptive cruise control 'autopilot' or sell "Full" self driving that doesn't exist yet.
disengaging the autopilot or reducing speed at the wrong time is already occurring quite often with autopilot. If these are unacceptable level of risk introduced by using autopilot, then autopilot should not be used.
disengaging the autopilot or reducing speed at the wrong time is already occurring quite often with autopilot. If these are unacceptable level of risk introduced by using autopilot, then autopilot should not be used.
> Autopilot won't function unless the driver's seatbelt is buckled, but it was also easy to defeat this check by threading the seatbelt behind the driver.
At some point personal responsibility and liability should be taken into account. Every single safety system can be defeated with enough effort, and the system should always balance convenience & reliability with safety (a "too good" driver attention monitor would often have false positives making the entire system a pain to use, or introduce risks of its own by disengaging the autopilot or reducing speed at the wrong time).
There's nothing preventing someone from doing the same in a normal car without driver assist but we don't have a problem with that because both survival instincts and the resulting liability deters people from making stupid actions. Same with drink driving - while there are definitely accidents (that are then dealt with by the law), in aggregate, most people behave sensibly.