Tesla autopilot avoids a merging idiot in a pickup

Gibson99

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On the surface this would seem to be a 'win' for the Tesla. But I'm still not convinced that AI is a viable solution to driving problems. I must wonder many things: What if the second lane was occupied- what would the AI have done then? If the Tesla suddenly braked, a car behind it could have rear-ended the Tesla. Or that car could have been rear-ended when it braked to avoid the Tesla, ad nauseum. What if the sudden steering input caused the Tesla to lose traction and spin out of control? What if the Tesla hadn't sensed the pick-up when the Tesla driver might have expected it to? The Tesla surely wasn't at fault here not was it's driver but when you look beyond the obvious what seems to be a 'win' may not be. And Tesla's cautioning it's drivers to not expect the car to do all the thinking and driving isn't enough to solve the issue; in fact we've seen many times where Tesla drivers let the car crash them. If we are going to hold the driver responsible for safe operation of their vehicle then we should also hold Tesla fully responsible for any erroneous actions it's cars take without the driver's input.


While I'm glad there wasn't a crash here, the offending pick-up will continue to pull the same stunt now that a crash was avoided, so has this technology really saved anyone from anything or has it simply delayed the inevitable and reassigned who will be the victim? If an alert driver did the same avoiding maneuver on their own that resulting question would be the same, so how exactly is the Tesla AI any better than us?

Food for thought ;)
Phil
 
Or maybe the autopilot nearly caused a crash, while a human driver would have smoothly changed lane to make space before there was a problem, or slowed a little instead of "overtaking" the vehicle trying to merge, I'm sure I would have taken action sooner, although on a UK road I would have had visibility of the other vehicle sooner. The sudden reaction by both vehicles on a wet road could have resulted in either one of them spinning followed by a pile up.

Some day the autonomous pilot will be safer than human pilots, just as they are in aircraft today, but until they are capable of taking 100% control, I don't think they should be taking any control other than emergency assist tasks like anti-lock braking and stability assist. The anti-lock brakes are better than humans because they can sense more info, like exact wheel speeds for each wheel and they have more control, like being able to brake/free individual wheels. The same will become true of auto steering some day, currently it is inferior.
 
I'd be happier seeing video that shows the tesla lane changing move was safe, no other vehicle intruded on, turn signal used, etc.

Whipping into the next lane to avoid an intruding vehicle is not a good default reaction.
 
Lets hope the Tesla have better situational awareness than some humans have, but i also think it have a computer should not be so stupid it change into a occupied lane, something many people would do in a heartbeat, even without outside interactions.
But yes would be interesting to see what kind of distances a Tesla consider safe, and if the other side lane are occoupied if it then slam on the brake instead.
 
IWhipping into the next lane to avoid an intruding vehicle is not a good default reaction.

If I can recall correctly, and it gave me a chuckle, you said something to the effect that hitting one self with a hammer to would be a better move than doing blind lane changes or swerves to avoid collisions in front.
 
Consumer reports says Tesla's auto pilot is far less competent than a human driver

Tech Crunch's article on the matter.
"Just monitoring automation is a harder human task than driving the car,”

Like I said, until the autosteer can take 100% responsibility, there are going to be a lot of problems with drivers not doing their job of checking its every move, and it should be banned.
 
It's not going to happen until the systems work well enough, and interact well enough, that traffic looks like there is a 50 foot coiled spring between each vehicle, front, back, and sides, if you looked at it from overhead. Riding in one will be boring as hell for anyone who has actually driven, and I guess people will not tolerate how slow the trip is, overall. Maybe by the time they get the land systems working, the road ragers will be in the sky, driving hover camaros or something?
 
I'd be happier seeing video that shows the tesla lane changing move was safe, no other vehicle intruded on, turn signal used, etc.

Whipping into the next lane to avoid an intruding vehicle is not a good default reaction.
I would assume if the system is smart enough to detect a vehicle on the right side it can do the same on the left side and not make that specific maneuver.
 
Wait, tech companies don't cover up problems with electronic stuff? (Boeing 737Max?)
:)

People aren't smart enough to avoid doing that move, and do it every day.
 
Wait, tech companies don't cover up problems with electronic stuff? (Boeing 737Max?)
:)

People aren't smart enough to avoid doing that move, and do it every day.
Does Boeing count as a tech company?

The 737 first flew back in 1967, before the microprocessor was invented, and although they have added some tech to the new Max version, that is what is making them fall out of the sky after they designed it to override the pilot's hydraulic controls.
 
tech----ish. Not all spruce and fabric for a while.

They dropped to two pilot certified crew on I think all planes, now those two have little to do to keep them awake for most of the flight.
 
If I can recall correctly, and it gave me a chuckle, you said something to the effect that hitting one self with a hammer to would be a better move than doing blind lane changes or swerves to avoid collisions in front.


Most people won't believe me, but I avoided more head injuries today.

This is in Toledo, OH, the Jeep Factory are the white buildings on the left of the screen, and a load of new jeeps is entering the interstate on an on ramp.
I have to take the next ramp to the right. I am loaded heavily, so not sure I can accelerate, pass the car carrier, and get back into the right lane for the exit...plus there is other traffic...SPEEDING.
Novel approach, I slow down, let the car carrier come in front of me, but you can see one of the 'honk and swerve' truckers dodge the car carrier with a turn signal he should have been able to see far in advance.
These are the dumb asses who will kill you, and who will honk at me for slowing down, and look at me like I'm crazy for not lurching into the next lane to pass the car carrier.


 
Second truck came up fast, the kind of guy that don't see other vehicles slow down and think " there might be a reason for this"
So they just plow thru, and in some cases this mean plowing thru humans with or without cars.
 
Most people won't believe me, but I avoided more head injuries today.

This is in Toledo, OH, the Jeep Factory are the white buildings on the left of the screen, and a load of new jeeps is entering the interstate on an on ramp.
I have to take the next ramp to the right. I am loaded heavily, so not sure I can accelerate, pass the car carrier, and get back into the right lane for the exit...plus there is other traffic...SPEEDING.
Novel approach, I slow down, let the car carrier come in front of me, but you can see one of the 'honk and swerve' truckers dodge the car carrier with a turn signal he should have been able to see far in advance.
These are the dumb asses who will kill you, and who will honk at me for slowing down, and look at me like I'm crazy for not lurching into the next lane to pass the car carrier.


So, had you been driving a Tesla truck on autopilot, would it have considered that you were "loaded heavily", and the power of your engine, and the acceleration potential of the joining truck, and distance to your exit, and the speed of the trucks behind, etc.?

Or would it have just stayed in your current lane at constant speed and caused huge inconvenience and danger to the joining truck, like it did in the first post until forced to change lanes, which in your case doesn't look like an option?
 
I think the concept is to have various vehicles communicate with each other, one of the reasons for the pushes for 5g.
For the automated vehicle thing to work, they'll have to dumb down driving quite a bit. Not much decision making, probably a lot of complete stoppages until some body hits a reset button, somewhere.

I don't think there is any way to duplicate a good driver with electronic stuff, but it's easy to replicate the ability of most drivers. (and run into each other) :)


Here's another recent 'lane change' fiasco.

I've moved to the left lane due to a highway department truck with flashing lights on the shoulder ahead.

Supertrucker McMoron is not going to even break his speed a little, and passes in the right lane, followed by McMoron JR.






I'm so used to this, I expect it, and watch for it.
 
It will be a thing of beauty to see a row at cars at a intersection set off at the exact same time, instead of you in the last car have to sit there for 30 seconds before you can finally get going.
It will be a little unnerving to see a convoy of 10 trucks drive close to bumper to bumper down the highway.

 
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It will be a little unnerving to see a convoy of 10 trucks drive close to bumper to bumper down the highway.
That is going to be an expensive pile up if something goes wrong with the first truck and it hits something so stops faster than the others can brake!
Or if the first truck brakes hard and the 2nd doesn't get the message because someone transmits interference from their CB radio at just the wrong time.

Here's another recent 'lane change' fiasco.
Jnr was following far too close to know what was happening ahead, I can't count even 1 second separation, and he is not driving something that will stop easily!
You did the right thing, wonder if they actually understood why you did it.
 
Most US states have a law requiring you to move over a lane, or slow down, when there is an emergency vehicles, and sometimes it includes the road maintenance trucks.
It kind of varies how much other drivers do it, maybe depending on the amount of ticketing going on?

It's pretty stupid to run over a cop or maintenance worker in daylight, standing next to a vehicle with flashing lights, but they get killed often.

Here's a guy who almost rear ended a truck, a few hours ago.



If I can survive two more weeks among these morons, I'm retiring.

(y)
 
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