Photo: Screenshot
Along with its yet unparalleled maximum range, kind of paralleled acceleration, and its Supercharger network, Tesla's other strong selling point was the Autopilot.
The system has raised a lot of discussions over the years, making the news mostly for all the wrong reasons. People have died using it, and while the company can't be held responsible legally, the stain on the Autopilot name remains. Speaking of the name, that was one other talking point as people argued it was misleading, giving owners a false sense of complete security while in use. However, the title stuck, which is why we're still talking about Autopilot and not something else.
Elon Musk famously decided to go for a hardware set up that ditches the more expensive (and bulky) LIDAR and only uses cameras, radars, and ultrasonic sensors instead. The decision was questioned by the rest of the industry at the time, but the company's CEO remained adamant. So far, he hasn't been proven wrong, but it's clips like the one below that show the system is far from the level of accuracy advertised by Musk.
The Model 3 in the video runs on the latest version of AP hardware and the owner claims the car does the exact same thing in that spot over and over again. Unlike other cases where the AP lost its bearings, this road has crystal-clear markings. According to the ongoing Reddit thread, the owner has sent Tesla a report but didn't get any feedback.
What seems to happen here is that the system prefers to guide the car along the yellow dividing line, and not the white one to the side. This brings the Tesla on a left-bound lane, and when that's gone, the EV is left cruising down the wrong side of the road. It doesn't look like there's much traffic in the area and the driver clearly chose a safe moment to demonstrate the issue, but given the right circumstances (a distracted driver and cars coming the other way), we could be looking at a more grim outcome.
The real issue here is the discrepancy between what Musk alludes to and what Tesla (and any sane person) officially says. The company is making sure to clarify that it's not a full-on autonomous driving system yet, while the CEO says you could probably use it for a cross-country trip without any issues. Both statements are correct, and yet only one of them is right. I'll let you decide which one.
Elon Musk famously decided to go for a hardware set up that ditches the more expensive (and bulky) LIDAR and only uses cameras, radars, and ultrasonic sensors instead. The decision was questioned by the rest of the industry at the time, but the company's CEO remained adamant. So far, he hasn't been proven wrong, but it's clips like the one below that show the system is far from the level of accuracy advertised by Musk.
The Model 3 in the video runs on the latest version of AP hardware and the owner claims the car does the exact same thing in that spot over and over again. Unlike other cases where the AP lost its bearings, this road has crystal-clear markings. According to the ongoing Reddit thread, the owner has sent Tesla a report but didn't get any feedback.
What seems to happen here is that the system prefers to guide the car along the yellow dividing line, and not the white one to the side. This brings the Tesla on a left-bound lane, and when that's gone, the EV is left cruising down the wrong side of the road. It doesn't look like there's much traffic in the area and the driver clearly chose a safe moment to demonstrate the issue, but given the right circumstances (a distracted driver and cars coming the other way), we could be looking at a more grim outcome.
The real issue here is the discrepancy between what Musk alludes to and what Tesla (and any sane person) officially says. The company is making sure to clarify that it's not a full-on autonomous driving system yet, while the CEO says you could probably use it for a cross-country trip without any issues. Both statements are correct, and yet only one of them is right. I'll let you decide which one.
HW 3.0 AP still has some work to do from r/TeslaModel3
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