Money Mustache on non driving with Tesla

[shalab]

Good article - automated driving is definitely going to be a massive disruptive technology along with electric vehicles.

 

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2016/04/15/tesla-road-trip/

 

[Liberty]

I enjoyed the piece too. Even someone who thinks cars are a waste and goes almost everywhere on his bike was impressed.

[rkbabang]

Another impressive article here. I didn't realize it would take over from you to save you from crashing.

 

Tesla Model S autopilot takes over and saves driver from collision — watch it here

 

[Cageyone]

Sounds too good to be true! Can anyone point to some negative articles on Tesla?

[Liberty]

Another impressive article here. I didn't realize it would take over from you to save you from crashing.

 

Tesla Model S autopilot takes over and saves driver from collision — watch it here

 

 

I've seen other videos of the autopilot preventing near-certain accidents. here's one where a car drives across the lane and the car auto-brakes instantly from 45 MPH and avoids a crash:

 

 

Can't wait until all cars on the road have similar features (including to avoid pedestrians and cyclists), at least until most cars are fully autonomous at much higher levels of safety than human drivers.

[LongTermView]

This is fascinating.  If my future car drives itself such that I can read a book or watch a movie then I won't be as worried about being stuck in traffic.

 

I was talking to a Tesla owner the other night and she said she feels like a kid on Christmas morning after each software update.  I think she said there have been two in the last six weeks.

 

The article says lane changes still have to be initiated by a human:

Planting itself firmly in the center of the lane, the car ascends and descends curvy mountain canyon roads, tracks and responds to other vehicles and obstacles, and will brake and accelerate as necessary to flow with even the most intense traffic. If you flip the turn signal, it will look for a clear spot in the next lane and automatically change lanes.

 

It sounds like Tesla has some advantages over other companies because of all the data they're collecting:

There are well over 100,000* of these cars on the road, and they’re all connected to the Internet and back home to Tesla through a cellular data connection. As their owners drive millions of miles per day, they behave as a giant learning swarm, aggregating the data and sending it back for statistical analysis. In practice, this means the autopilot system learns from experience and improves itself over time.

 

[Guest]

This is fascinating.  If my future car drives itself such that I can read a book or watch a movie then I won't be as worried about being stuck in traffic.

 

 

 

I would assume that when most cars have this feature, that'll be more or less a thing of the past.

[rkbabang]

This is fascinating.  If my future car drives itself such that I can read a book or watch a movie then I won't be as worried about being stuck in traffic.

 

 

 

I would assume that when most cars have this feature, that'll be more or less a thing of the past.

 

Much reduced, yes, but only a thing of the past after there are no longer any human controlled vehicles on the road and no way for a human to take control of any vehicle.  Otherwise there will always be the occasional human causing carnage on the roadways.  This nutcase turned my 20min commute to over 2 hours on Friday:

 

Good Samaritan stabbed and her car stolen Carjacking leads to multiple-vehicle accident and highway shutdown in Nashua

 

[dabuff]

Ever since I started listening to audiobooks during the commute, my perspective on commuting changed drastically. When you get through 2 books a week just sitting in tap and go traffic, you can't help but feel productive.

 

[fareastwarriors]

One day I won't be able to speed up to ram a vehicle? How can be a hero then....

[fareastwarriors]

Another impressive article here. I didn't realize it would take over from you to save you from crashing.

 

Tesla Model S autopilot takes over and saves driver from collision — watch it here

 

 

I've seen other videos of the autopilot preventing near-certain accidents. here's one where a car drives across the lane and the car auto-brakes instantly from 45 MPH and avoids a crash:

 

 

Can't wait until all cars on the road have similar features (including to avoid pedestrians and cyclists), at least until most cars are fully autonomous at much higher levels of safety than human drivers.

 

This is great. The future looks bright. But if I was driving and I see a sea of redlights in front of me even if it's the next lane over, I would start slowing down/braking just in case... Not saying I'm a perfect driver or anything.

[Liberty]

This is great. The future looks bright. But if I was driving and I see a sea of redlights in front of me even if it's the next lane over, I would start slowing down/braking just in case... Not saying I'm a perfect driver or anything.

 

I think the whole point is that nobody's a perfect driver, and even those who are very careful and talented have bad days (tired, bad visibility, etc). In that sea of cars, it only takes one bad driver to cause an accident.

 

Self-driving cars have the potential to have basically instant reflexes and to have unblinking eyes all around (including ultrasound, radar, etc, seeing through fog), as well as eventually ad hoc mesh networking with nearby cars, etc. Can't help but eventually be better than even good human drivers, and even if you're good, do you trust everyone else around you to be as diligent?

[Liberty]

Meanwhile:

[Travis Wiedower]

This is great. The future looks bright. But if I was driving and I see a sea of redlights in front of me even if it's the next lane over, I would start slowing down/braking just in case... Not saying I'm a perfect driver or anything.

 

I was driving an SUV that auto brakes when it senses something in front of the car (similar to Tesla, no autopilot though). Being the curious person I am I had to test it out. While cruising at ~50 I came upon traffic and let the car come to a complete stop by itself. Had my foot hovering over the brake but never touched it. It was definitely scary, but also very impressive. Like Liberty said, you have to realize how much better technology is at this stuff than humans are. Even the best driver in the world can easily get distracted, foot slips off the brake, etc.