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"self-driving car" and "car capable driving itself on highway under optimal conditions" are 2 totally different things. The real excitement comes when I can tel
by acadien 12y ago
"self-driving car" and "car capable driving itself on highway under optimal conditions" are 2 totally different things. The real excitement comes when I can tell my car to go pick up the kids from school or drop me off at the airport and then drive itself back home. Anyways this is a great step in the right direction but its not the game changing tech we're all waiting for.
- DubiousPusher 12y ago"Mr. Musk said in a conference call that the self-driving technology was “technically capable of going from parking lot to parking lot,” meaning through cities as well. But, he said, Tesla will disable the autopilot when cars are not on highways or major roads, citing safety concerns." I think the implication here is that the cars are capable of this but they are taking the smaller step out of legal and liability concerns.
- acadien 12y agoSo what if they're capable? The tech is not available, end of story.
- cblock811 12y agoIf that's the case I think it was a good decision. If anything went wrong I feel like the media would love to fixate on it as they did with the car batteries igniting previously.
- kzrdude 12y agoIt 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).
- jasonlingx 12y agoHe's already stated his desire for Tesla to be the first to market with autonomous vehicles.
- TeMPOraL 12y agoWith 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.
- derefr 12y agoWith a secondary implication that, were the laws updated and the car's hardware "certified safe", they could theoretically just push a software update to enable last-mile autopilot on the car you already own.
- DubiousPusher 12y agoMy thoughts exactly. Hopefully it's true.
- superuser2 12y agoThe real excitement is when I can put those requests in to a network of public infrastructure and have them executed at roughly the same cost as driving for myself.
- thret 12y agoAnd we have our first day, week and month without fatal accidents.
- Hytosys 12y agoJudging by the article, "under optimal conditions" is an exaggeration. There was no citation of problems during traffic conditions. My father sits through 2-4 hours of Los Angeles rush hour each day, and this is absolutely a game changer for someone like him. This is stellar.
- rimantas 12y agoThis is solving the wrong problem. Car self-driving through 2-4 rush hours does not solve the problem. Not having 2-4 rush hours would.
- tro2102 12y agoThis is the first step to that solution, though - if all cars are self-driving optimally, that 2-4 hours rush becomes much shorter.
- JulianMorrison 12y agoAutomated cars can in principle make subtle, shockwave-damping decisions in high density flow, zip together neatly at on ramps and make space for lane crossers at off ramps. And bonus, they can also in principle be doing useful things rather than occupying parking lots. I expect a slow phase change to car-as-public-transport that never stops rolling when it isn't in maintenance.
- im3w1l 12y agoWay more cars are needed during rush hour than other times, so I think even in the future cars will stop rolling.
- nulltype 12y agoI think it is likely that the rush becomes longer
- imranq 12y agothe biggest change would come from carpool adoption
- stevecalifornia 12y agoI bought a new car in Sept 2014. It uses radar to do adaptive cruise control all the way down to stop and go. It also uses camera's to sense the lanes and steer to keep lane. Also handles emergency braking and people cutting me off. So basically, I choose the on-ramp and off-ramp and the car does the rest on the highway. I feel like it's the midpoint between a manual car and an autonomous car. After a few months of using this every day, driving in a normal car feels different than it used to. It's like driving a manual instead of an automatic. The car is a fully loaded 2015 Chrysler 200C.
- ohsnap 12y agoJust curious, do you still keep your eyes on the road with adaptive cruise control? Or do you tend to do other things?
- stevecalifornia 12y agoMentally it's less stressful to get behind another car and just let the computer control the speed and distance the whole way. You stop caring if they are going 55 or 77. I just sit there and listen to podcasts. I stay alert though, and I've avoided the urge to read or something.
- m_mueller 12y agoDo you find this experience pleasant? I mean being behind the wheel, not having anything to do technically, but still having the full responsibility and not being able to dose off or do other things with your eyes than looking ahead for a few hours? Even with podcasts I'd be bored to death I think. I'm glad to live in places where I can just take a train instead, read or even work on the way, and still arrive earlier than if I took the highway.
- saiya-jin 12y agothis is very subjective, but I do find it pleasant, given good car (ie bmw in my case). Even for a full day, but that's obviously tiring a bit. It might come down to personality type - i am not an easy to get bored one, which i consider very helpful in daily matters