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The aircraft autopilot is pretty much the same thing. It steers on the designated lane, maintaining attitude, and relies on the pilot to be aware of conditions.
by manicdee 9y ago
The aircraft autopilot is pretty much the same thing. It steers on the designated lane, maintaining attitude, and relies on the pilot to be aware of conditions.
It operates the controls but relies on the human operator for supervision. Pilots talk about “flying in the magenta” and exactly the same thing applies to Tesla Autopilot.
Believing that autopilot means something different is the bullshit attitude that has to change.
Warren Van Der Burch gave a classic presentation, Children of Magenta: https://youtu.be/pN41LvuSz10 https://youtu.be/pN41LvuSz10
- in_cahoots 9y agoI think the main difference is that, on an airplane, a momentary (less than 5 seconds) lapse in judgment isn’t going to down the plane. Pilots know when they have to be heavily engaged — during takeoff and landing — and when to let autopilot take over. Here, if you zone out for a few seconds at any point in your trip you could easily kill yourself and others.
- manicdee 9y agoA lapse of judgement is potentially going to cost lives in a plane too. You have an overly romanticised notion of air safety if you believe otherwise. Pilot Error is what they call it, including euphemisms such as “controlled flight into terrain” meaning the pilot was in control and doing everything wrong. There are two people flying the plane, with rigorous training and controlled work hours. Air safety, as they say, is no accident.
- nightski 9y agoAn aircraft autopilot is not designed to automatically avoid collisions with other traffic or animals. It's purpose is only to maintain course, speed, and altitude. In VFR conditions while autopilots are useful continuous scanning of your surroundings is necessary. Meanwhile a Tesla "autopilot" is designed to drive in traffic with other vehicles.
- manicdee 9y agoThe aircraft autopilot can also fly a route and handle everything from takeoff to landing, but pilots don’t rely on it to do so. Tesla Autopilot can keep pace with surrounding traffic and stay between marked lines but does not recognise stationary obstacles. They are very much the same in that they automate the mundane parts of the operation of the vehicle. They are also the same in that they do not know how to handle conditions outside their operating envelope.
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- jsjohnst 9y ago> An aircraft autopilot is not designed to automatically avoid collisions The A380 begs to differ... http://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press-releases/en/2009/08/easa-certifies-new-autopilot-flight-director-tcas-mode-for-a380.html http://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press-releases/en/2009/08/eas...
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- nightski 9y agoYes I was aware of TCAS. There are some cool technologies out there. I am pretty sure out of all aircraft with autopilots, the amount with this technology is extraordinarily low. Especially if you are considering only personal aircraft and not ones designed to carry over 1,000 passengers.
- jsjohnst 9y agoThe topic of conversation in this thread is about the system that the general population thinks about when they hear “airline autopilot”. Most folks would naturally think of commercial passenger planes and their (believed) capabilities.
- falcolas 9y agoJust a quick note - most of the larger aircraft with autopilots are most often flown under IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), which means that there is someone else (Air Traffic Controllers) managing all of the routing and collision avoidance for them. Even pilots in IFR conditions are doing little more than maintaining a particular altitude and heading. This means that a aircraft and vehicle autopilot have very different requirements. They are not, at all, doing the exact same things.