Uh oh, another Tesla autopilot crash fatality

[wdb]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

HA! I'll be re-telling that one.

Actual pilot complaints sent to the mechanics… - Golf Hotel Whiskey

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by freebeard

...all of the data processed by these sensors is fed back to a central hub so that all Tesla cars can learn from it, called Fleet learning.

So they don't even actually know how their "autopilot" works, they're just throwing data at a big neural net, and hoping something useful sticks. I can just imagine what a liability lawyer could do with that: "Would you please tell the jury exactly how your system is programmed to avoid collisions, Mr. Musk?"

[Xist]

People also insist cars can shift better than humans can.

Maybe, but not production automotive transmissions.

[freebeard]

Single-speed drivetrains are teh future.

Germany Proposes ‘Black Box’ For Autonomous Cars

[sendler]

Good video from an autopilot user showing do's and don'ts.
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https://youtu.be/LKRG7aZ4sPo
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKRG7aZ4sPo

[freebeard]

That is an interesting take on Autopilot.

• Constuction zones and temporary/changing lane markers.
• The trade-off between lane-following and lead vehicle-following gives some insight into the logic involved.
• Express lanepoles, whatever those are.

The Tesla roadmap has Autopilot in beta until it is '10x safer' than humans.

Which it already is or not depending on how you muster the statistics. Lives saved (like crime prevented by guns) won't show up in the statistics, but there is already anecdotal evidence. AEB ≠ Autopilot.

Originally Posted by jamesqf

So they don't even actually know how their "autopilot" works, they're just throwing data at a big neural net, and hoping something useful sticks. I can just imagine what a liability lawyer could do

'Fleet learning', if it even employs neural nets, operates on the back end. The result would be delivered to individual Tesla's through a software update. If the lawyer[s] can penetrate that, and bring a jury along with them on the journey, then that's ...awesome?

The deep problem with fleet learning is privacy. If you decline to participate when you buy the car then features are disabled. But they don't know about those late-night runs to dispensaries just across the state line.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by freebeard

The Tesla roadmap has Autopilot in beta until it is '10x safer' than humans.

Which humans, though? Contenders for automotive Darwin Awards? The average (sub)urban commuter, who wouldn't know how to drive a vehicle without automatic transmission? The good drivers who make it into accident statistics only when the other guy's at fault? (I mean, there's not much you can do when someone rear-ends you at a red light.)

If the lawyer[s] can penetrate that, and bring a jury along with them...

Except the plaintiffs' lawyers don't have to penetrate it, they just have to keep hammering on the fact that Tesla's engineers can't explain how it works.

[freebeard]

I originally wrote that as 'hue-mons', but then I reverted to the mean. "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers" -- Shakespeare

Actually, I'll bet the Tesla engineers can keep explaining how it works just as long as the attorney can keep diverting attention to 'how it works' from why it made that particular decision.

Federal regulator says car makers

On Friday, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Mark Rosekind told an audience in Detroit, Michigan that car makers “cannot wait for perfect” when it comes to developing and deploying self-driving car technology. The Wall Street Journal reported that Rosekind said automation would “save people’s lives” in a time when auto fatalities have been up 8 percent since 2014.

Rosekind’s comments come after a man using Tesla’s autopilot system fatally crashed into a left-turning truck in Florida.

Face it, loss of privacy trumps barratry.

[redpoint5]

The trend will always be to trade liberty for the feeling of safety (and rarely, actual safety). We all know what Ben Franklin has to say about that.

...I just received a memo stating that employees with access to chemicals will be subjected to a background check every 3 years... it sounds like the government is now in control of who is allowed to work, and where. Of course, this enormously expensive program will do nothing to improve the safety of anyone, but at least the government has a new tool to arbitrarily harass people in new and creative ways.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

(I mean, there's not much you can do when someone rear-ends you at a red light.)

Disagree! Rear crash avoidance is a basic defensive technique taught to 16 year-olds. (By good driving schools.)

I've used it once in my life - to avoid becoming paste on the front of a semi that barelled too fast into a freeway construction zone bottleneck stop, tire smoke billowing from its locked wheels.