Tesla Model S Autopilot Features

A common phrase in aircraft cockpits nowadays is &quot;What the heck is it doing now?&quot; as pilots have migrated from actually flying the plane to simply being glorified systems managers.<p>While planes have become so, so, so much safer because of all this automation, pilots uncertainty regarding autopilot functioning is a major concern nowadays, and the reason for several accidents.<p>There are very interesting HCI challenges around properly communicating to the pilot&#x2F;driver &quot;what the heck it is doing&quot; and clearly communicating just how much control the human has or doesn&#x27;t have at any given point.<p>This &quot;announcement&quot; certainly doesn&#x27;t inspire any confidence that they have really thought this through deeply enough (I think they probably have, but it should be communicated like it). As a huge Tesla fan, I can&#x27;t help but feel like I need to hold my breath now and make sure something terrible doesn&#x27;t happen because of this, and it ends up leading to even more regs setting us back on the path to full car automation.

While the over-the-air update is novel, these features all exist on current luxury and even some middle class vehicles as part of driver assistance option packages.<p>They&#x27;re typically called Lane Keeping Assistant, Adaptive Cruise Control, Blindspot Warning, Automated Parking, Traffic Sign Recognition, etc.<p>The emergency steering bit is interesting, though no further details are provided, as it requires the car to ensure that there is a safe space to steer into, which is dicey for a forward collision emergency braking system, so I&#x27;d conjecture it is connected to the side collision warning, and allows collision avoidance if there is enough space in the current lane.

What sensors does the Model S have? I&#x27;m surprised that Tesla sold a car with enough sensors for semi-autonomous operation without the actual software until now.<p>For those with more knowledge about cars, how does the sensor array in the Model S compare with similar models from companies such as BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz? I&#x27;m interested in knowing if it&#x27;s software or the already installed hardware holding back recent luxury cars from similar capabilities.<p>Also, does anyone know anything about the (digital) security features of the Tesla? This announcement from Tesla makes it clear that the actual control of the vehicle can be modified by an over the air software update. With the recent Jeep hack[0] in mind, does any know if something similar is possible on a Tesla, or if there are some safeguards such as signed updates? As one of the most computerized cars on the market, I tend to think that the Tesla cars might also be some of the most (maliciously) hackable cars on the market.<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wired.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;07&#x2F;hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wired.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;07&#x2F;hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-high...</a>

Releasing driving assistance features as a &#x27;<i>beta</i>&#x27;? What on earth does that mean here? Are the features ready to use or not? Do Tesla warrant that they work and are safe?<p>Maybe they expect drivers to treat it like beta software - &quot;Please don&#x27;t use these features in production cars. Make sure you keep backups of all drivers and passengers in case of bugs.&quot;

&gt; Tesla requires drivers to remain engaged and aware when Autosteer is enabled. Drivers must keep their hands on the steering wheel.<p>Which sense of &quot;must&quot; is used here? The car seems to play an unwinnable game with the driver: keep your hands on the wheel or I&#x27;ll...what? Disengage autosteer and perhaps crash? With no enforcement mechanism, drivers are incentivized to &quot;abuse&quot; (aka &quot;use&quot;) the system as much as it allows.

I was surprised to find that the Autopilot feature is a paid $2500 upgrade, according to one source.[0] I&#x27;m not surprised that Tesla is charging for the upgrade, but that in all the press and enthusiast coverage of Tesla, I don&#x27;t recall it being mentioned before.<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.caranddriver.com&#x2F;elon-take-the-wheel-we-test-teslas-new-autopilot-feature&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.caranddriver.com&#x2F;elon-take-the-wheel-we-test-tes...</a>

All these controls sound very similar to those in my current year Mercedes...although i would be hopeful that the autosteer on offer here is better than the Distronic plus &quot;lane assist&quot; in the Merc, which while OK, does not do a great job on less than gentle turns above 50km&#x2F;hr (but its actually great below that speed - to the point I wonder why i&#x27;m even in the seat, in particular in stop-start traffic situations). It certainly sounds similar from the &quot;hands must be on the wheel&quot; requirement.<p>I look forward to the next step up from all the car makers, which is clearly the car driving on its own in a much more confident way, with the driver simply there to manage exceptions as opposed to being &#x27;assisted&#x27; by technology as is with the current implementations.

The auto-park feature would be super handy, but I don&#x27;t see an auto-unpark feature... I look forward to seeing Teslas stuck in amazingly small parking spots!

This seems insanely dangerous to me. They&#x27;re introducing a feature which could, potentially, cause massive highway accidents, but providing documentation that amounts to little more than a glorified README file?:<p>&gt; Auto Lane Change<p>&gt; Changing lanes when Autosteer is engaged is simple: engage the turn signal and Model S will move itself to the adjacent lane when it’s safe to do so.<p>A single sentence! What&#x27;s the point of having drivers license lessons and testing if the fundamental operation of the vehicle can change so drastically?<p>Am I being a luddite, or does anybody else feel this way?

Videos are starting to show up on youtube.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=3yCAZWdqX_Y" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=3yCAZWdqX_Y</a><p>VERY impressive.

How is this different from Mercedes-Benz&#x27;s &quot;self driving?&quot;

This is fantastic. I&#x27;m psyched, not just because of the cool technology, but also because it will finally spur the public to demand more frequent and accurate road striping.<p>Massachusetts has terrible road striping; it seems as though they get around to it about every four or five years, waiting until the lanes and ramp markings are beyond dangerous. This has been irritating me for years. And then they seem to use some kind of cheap paint that wears off quickly. Public works job security, I suppose.<p>But automated lane navigation will require clear markings. Hundreds of thousands of deaths later, we just might finally get a safer road system. Pathetic, but better late than never, I guess.

Here&#x27;s a video of version 7 in action that someone linked in &#x2F;r&#x2F;selfdrivingcars last night. Not super-informative, but interesting to watch anyway.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Cw7Esg-txR0&amp;feature=youtu.be" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Cw7Esg-txR0&amp;feature=youtu.be</a>

Yo if anyone at tesla is reading this, can you implement a feature for the car to move over into the far side of the lane when people are lane-splitting? People already do it manually on the highway, but if this car also did it would be neat. thx and look twice for motorcycles.

&gt; Drivers must keep their hands on the steering wheel.<p>This seems odd, my understanding was that drivers needed to &quot;check in&quot; every so often, not handle the wheel at all times.

Note two words absent from the OP: &quot;Speed limit&quot;.<p>This machine will keep pace with traffic. OK. Does that mean it will break speed limits? Unless it is scanning for each and every potential road sign, it simply cannot be respond to arbitrary&#x2F;temporary limits. The determination of the legal limit on a piece of road is a complex task. Road construction, local conditions, sunrise&#x2F;set, time of year (school zones) and even weather can be a factor. And let us not forget &quot;Speed limit X when children on road&quot;. You need some serious cpu time to work out whether that person walking along the road is a schoolgirl or a construction worker.<p>Imho any system not capable of determining the speed limit accurately is a legal liability. Have fun with the tickets.<p>&gt;eliminating the need for drivers to worry about complex and difficult parking maneuvers.<p>No. Parallel parking is not a complex nor difficult maneuver. It is total beginner territory. No lives are at risk. With a decent bumper, even risk of property damage is minimal. Anyone not capable of learning to parallel park probably shouldn&#x27;t be behind the wheel of much anything. Anyone buying this car to avoid such mundane tasks isn&#x27;t someone with whom I want to share the road.

This is similar to what other high-end cars have, lane-keeping and smart cruise control, usable only in freeway-type situations. &quot;Drivers must keep their hands on the steering wheel.&quot; Mercedes calls this &quot;Active Lane Keeping Assist&quot;, and has offered it for several years now. Here&#x27;s someone using it with a can taped to the steering wheel to defeat the &quot;hands on steering wheel&quot; requirement.[1] All the major manufacturers have demoed this.<p>This is NTSB level 2 automation, (Combined Function Automation).[2] (&quot;An example ... is adaptive cruise control in combination with lane centering.&quot;) Google is at level 3 (Limited Self-Driving Automation), and going for level 4 (Full Self-Driving Automation).<p>The big problem at Level 2 is keeping drivers from using it when they shouldn&#x27;t. Level 2 doesn&#x27;t understand intersections at all, for example. Or pedestrians, bicycles, baby carriages, deer, snow, etc. That&#x27;s why the major manufacturers are being so cautious about launching it into a world of driving idiots.<p>Volvo has now officially taken the position that if an autonomous car of theirs gets into a crash, it&#x27;s Volvo&#x27;s fault and they will accept liability.[3] Now that Volvo has said that, other car manufacturers will probably have to commit to that as well.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Kv9JYqhFV-M" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Kv9JYqhFV-M</a> [2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nhtsa.gov&#x2F;About+NHTSA&#x2F;Press+Releases&#x2F;U.S.+Department+of+Transportation+Releases+Policy+on+Automated+Vehicle+Development" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nhtsa.gov&#x2F;About+NHTSA&#x2F;Press+Releases&#x2F;U.S.+Departm...</a> [3] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.extremetech.com&#x2F;extreme&#x2F;215832-volvo-well-take-the-blame-if-our-self-driving-cars-crash" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.extremetech.com&#x2F;extreme&#x2F;215832-volvo-well-take-th...</a>

To me a big issue is the perception of the autonomous driving mode to other road users. How will other drivers and pedestrians know that this car is being driven automatically and treat it accordingly?<p>In the Bosch video[1] (also linked elsewhere on this thread), the system jumps out of autonomous mode at the first junction. The driver has to re-engage it. Drivers who are not closely monitoring the car situation might not realise what&#x27;s going on and take 5-10 seconds to realise they need to re-engage autonomous mode or to take over fully.<p>Some following-drivers will get agitated by this, in the same way that some do with elderly or learner drivers and make silly impatient manoeuvres. If the state of the autonomous car is clearly communicated to other road users then they might be prepared to make allowances.<p>During this transition phase of mostly human drivers vs. autonomous drivers it will be these situations that frame people&#x27;s perception of the merits of autonomous vehicles.<p>That and how the systems react to dangerous swerving or lane changing or conflict situations where collisions are impossible to avoid. The &quot;Google system&quot; or the &quot;Tesla system&quot; will be tested millions of times a day and face intense public scrutiny whereas human drivers are treated individually.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;KwD1hjlbhwU" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;KwD1hjlbhwU</a>

&quot;Autosteering (Beta)&quot;<p>That must be the single most frightening use of the Beta label in history.

Any thoughts on the potential manufacturer liability for software bugs that lead to accidents?<p>Certainly there are a lot of precedents with anti-lock braking systems, cruise control, etc. But this stuff seems like such a massive expansion of complexity of software control I wonder what will go down in the courts when the inevitable happens.

Unfortunately little mention of front collision avoidance (braking), an important safety feature, which I&#x27;ve waited for on Teslas must be years now.<p>In the forums there&#x27;s always the guy that says we should &quot;drive better&quot; instead. With that logic, there&#x27;s little use for safety features at all.

Anyone know how well the lane change feature works in heavy traffic?

Are they going to take responsibility for accidents like Volvo will? While none of the features revealed are new to the industry he does a great job of marketing it. The ace Tesla has is that over the air updates, something the other manufacturers will need to work out, hopefully with an industry wide standard that can be regulated properly to insure safety, security, and liability.

As someone who spends a fair amount of time traveling between countries that drive on different sides of the road... I am always getting the turn signal and windshield wipers mixed up. So I doubt I can use the auto lane change feature.

&quot;Drivers must keep their hands on the steering wheel.&quot;<p>This video would seem to indicate otherwise?<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=3yCAZWdqX_Y" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=3yCAZWdqX_Y</a>

This is a cool technical achievement, but I don&#x27;t see the practical use nor does it seem like a big win for tesla drives. So it allows drives to <i>kind of</i> tune out while driving on the freeway?

Is it smart enough to not change to a lane going in the opposite direction or change to a &quot;lane&quot; that is actually a ditch off the road?

I wonder how the parallel parking system copes with tailgaters rendering a specific spot untenable.