Is the Older Generation Ready for Tesla?

If *I* owned a Tesla (which I don't), the very first thing I'd do is disable ALL of the AUTOPILOT crap...just as I did the ONSTAR crap on the Cruze that we previously owned.

It's off by default when you get it....You have to enable it....

Good news...

Link to article about a guy being killed in a Tesla S:

http://www.impomag.com/news/2016/07/feds-investigate-tesla-autopilot-system-after-first-fatal-accident

Navy Seal was killed last month in Florida driving the Tesla S. Camera couldn't tell the difference between a tractor-trailer and.......the sky. (Big difference I'd say!)

Doesn't seem to be much chatter about it. Wonder why??

Some drivers aren't any better in the front seat than in the back.

In some larger metropolitan cities, they already have alternatives to (non-personal) driver-less transportation.

(They call them subways, trolleys, buses, cable cars, taxis, and the like...)

Unscrupulous persons will just call the occupants of so-called self-driving vehicles as their next prospect(s) to be robbed... or hijacked entirely...

Older generation ready ? This was the ultimate expression of self control and freedom . So now we sit in a wheeled vehicle and look at our cell phones ? This obsession with reliance is taking on some very real steps backwards in my opinion . My 1972 Firebird back in 1978 gave me wings .

the hood decal was not capable of flight. flashback to chemical experimentation perhaps?

A metaphor Fred . And yes that was some decal ! Have a great weekend and 4th .

It looks like driver error by the truck driver who tried to turn through oncoming traffic and did not properly estimate the speed of the oncoming Tesla. This must have been a road without controlled access.

Examination of the Tesla logs by Tesla will show if the car braked at all, or if the man braked at all, or if the car went into the truck at speed. The logs will also show the speed at impact.

I am not sure of the speed with which the Tesla would recognize an obstruction, but any sort of radar will have no trouble differentiating between open shy and a truck wall.

A video camera might not spot any color difference between truck paint and sky 'paint', but the camera autofocus would spot it if the loop speed of the autofocus is fat enough or if autofocus is even enabled?? (since autofocus has a 1-2 seconds delay in resolving distance - at speeds travelled it may well be useless and thus be off above certain speeds.

A lot more will emerge on this accident over the following months, I assume the NHTS will gag Tesla on data release?

When was there ever a Welch in charge at GM? (Jack Welch was at GE.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/01/business/self-driving-tesla-fatal-crash-investigation.html

In its news release it (Tesla) said, “Neither autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor-trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied.”

I'm not sure, if the driver was killed, how they knew if he noticed the truck or not. He did not apply the brakes, but he might have confidently assumed that the car would brake, and only too late realized that the system isn't perfect.

you realize that Tesla monitors and keeps ewcords on all its cars and can "shut them off" with a keystroke whenever they want, right, you don't own the entire car

And that is scary, too. If they can do that without knowing what kind of traffic situation you are in, it could be quite dangerous.

IMHO, this technology is not ready for prime time. An experienced human driver would see a truck ahead preparing to turn and instinctively slow down and prepare to react should the truck turn in front of the car. I suspect that autopilot doesn't think that far ahead.

just for you//////////

https://forums.teslamotors.com/en_CA/forum/forums/you-know-tesla-has-ability-remotely-disable-your-car-and-i-saw-their-factory-software

Yea, but that was back in 2014.......they have all matured since then.

Why didn't their software intervene to save that guy's life then?

The evidence is in: If you buy their false promise you put your life in the hands of remote software that isn't even fully tested.

The customers are expected to risk their lives and do the testing for Tesla - same as Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Paypal etc.

Joshua Brown, Who Died in Self-Driving Accident, Tested Limits of His Tesla

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/02/business/joshua-brown-technology-enthusiast-tested-the-limits-of-his-tesla.html

They will never be able to have a self-driving car that is risk free. Even trains wreck.....

It's bad enough we have bad drivers on the roads causing accidents. So now, big brother government/car manufacturers think THEY can do a better job? (And they will still blame YOU when there is a failure in the/their equipment......Guaranteed to happen!!)

Different companies, even the U. S. government, think they can devise sensors and software that will do a better job than most drivers. I doubt it seriously. Too many things to fail. Even software that can fail.

Can you imagine learning that your loved one is DEAD, because the other idiot rider (not driver) failed to clean the dirt off his vision camera lens.....or there was corrosion in the connector to the radar sensor.....or that there was a recall on the software, and it wasn't updated.....?? Or, because the interface from the electronics to the braking system or steering system failed....because the mechanic at the dealer didn't do his job.......?

Or, going to jail, because your car caused the accident......and caused by the fact that you refused to purchase a newer car with better self-driving equipment/sensors/software?

YES!!!

And all of the others beginning to populate the realm.

Most exciting to me.

Stu.

I am sorry Fred, but, I think I gonna rate this post of yours 11/10.

It doesn't take too diligent a search on YouTube to find hundreds of videos of people gleefully rolling down the road with that really stupid "look ma, no hands" expression on their faces. misusing the technology in direct defiance of explicit instructions. This is typical "I'm indestructible", personal fable type behavior we used to see in the teen years that would quickly disappear before the twenties due to proper education in the ways of the real world.