Two men killed in Tesla car crash 'without driver' in seat



DaveH said:
I assume that is a Tesla or some sort of self-drive car, for it to be in this thread?

In my fairly basic ford, I get all sorts of beeps and warnings if the door is not closed properly, if my seat belt is not on (only ever drive without going a short way in a car park or camping field), etc etc. It currently gives an annoying beep on engine start to say the parking sensors are not working.

I think it tells us that even if we have a world of full automation, it will not protect against people who are absolute morons. Does make you wonder if the car could rate the owner and release a gas to remove the problem from society before they have a chance to breed. A new form of Darwinism.
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Yes it’s a model x. I drove off the driveway with the rear door not closed properly and the amount of dinging and warnings going off, I fail to see how this moron got 100 yards down the road without knowing, unless the system malfunctioned in some way.
 
DaveH said:
That is one area that I think is exciting, the idea of being joined up.

Picture a motorway and there is an issue, perhaps a bit of a shed load dropped in a lane. How far ahead can a human see it? A third of a mile? Less? A joined up database or comms platform and all of a sudden, rather than one pair of eyes, you have hundreds of sensors. If that issue is on your route, your car knows about it when you set off from home, even if it is 100 miles up the road.

So the outside lane is blocked and the lanes need to merge. What happens with humans? The cars in the middle lane should ease off a little way in advance, only dropping by 1mph for a short while and that will open up a wide enough gap for cars in the outer lane to drop their speed and people merge in turn. Lets assume everyone is being good and going at 70, dealing with an incident like that need only require a drop of speed of 1mph, the road flows. What actually happens is half the people in the outside lane race up to the issue then slam on their breaks before trying to force their way in. People in the middle lane see people merging ahead and some thing "buggered if I'm letting them in" and start to close the gap with the car in front. This causes cars to stop and then merge in slowly, the whole road drops to 10 mph or less.

Similar story trying to turn out from a T-junction on a busy road. With humans behind the wheel you have to judge the speed of two lanes of traffic and of course you have the people who suddenly slow and signal at the last minute when you could have pulled out if you had known. Potentially with a car network, your car signals it wants to pull out. It then negotiates with two streams of cars which ease off creating a gap from the right and one from the left. It is timed so the gaps meet at your junction and your car is poised ready to pull out into it. Again, just a slight drop in speed and traffic flows. The people sitting reading a book don't even know it has happened.

The trick to this of course is that no matter what make of car, they all agree to a communication policy and information database. If you have a Ford network and a Tesla network, so Fords only give way to other Fords, then it all fails.
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Saved me having to write pretty much the same thoughts, thanks
 
MorNando06660 said:
They are. I don’t automate cars using AI but I do write code for a living. It’s very easy to automate flying in comparison because you don’t have many variables at all. Roads come in all shapes, sizes and terrain. Then you have pedestrians, road works, traffic lights, round abouts, fading white lines or even lines that don’t exist. We also have to consider sensors and cameras that may become damaged or malfunction. On aircraft they are checked every flight.

It’s incredibly complex. We are becoming more technologically advanced in an exponential way though and I do expect this to be solved in the next 5 years.
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Another variable: Sickos deliberately trying to confuse the AI to cause accidents.
 
DaveH said:
. Does make you wonder if the car could rate the owner and release a gas to remove the problem from society before they have a chance to breed. A new form of Darwinism.
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Woah, now you're getting into dangerous territory, if you did that the majority of people in Kensington and Chelsea would be wiped out in a flash and which idiots would you have left running all the major financial institutions and Government.
 
Can’t see this has been posted on here which is currently doing the rounds.


Reading various bits on info online, I’m not sure if this is a YouTuber stunt who has miscalculated or his story is genuine. It’s amazing no one was hurt.
 
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sima-hebburn said:
oops

https://twitter.com/x/status/1426824126443016194
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One of our wagons at a company I used to work for took the whole top deck of a bus out with his hiab still sticking out about 30 years ago, so lucky there was nobody upstairs.
Joe Public said:
Yes it’s a model x. I drove off the driveway with the rear door not closed properly and the amount of dinging and warnings going off, I fail to see how this moron got 100 yards down the road without knowing, unless the system malfunctioned in some way.
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Never mind the beeping I think I'd notice a huge gap in the side of my car right next to me 😂
 
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Hair Flick said:
coming to a motorway near to you soon.

www.theguardian.com

Ford unleashes the UK’s first legal hands-free drive car – but who will buy it?

Ford’s Mustang Mach-E lets motorists drive hands-free in UK (T&Cs apply: motorways only; don’t look away for too long)
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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I remain to be convinced of the benefits of sitting behind the wheel but watching and being alert to all traffic. I know it is a step and help builds confidence in the system, moving eventually towards fully autonomous.

I'd be tempted to hire one for the day though and see how it goes. I go into work once or twice a month through the M26/M25 junction and that is a pain in the arse. I'd like to see how well one copes.
 
MorNando06660 said:
I do legitimately think they will crack self driving without changing the environment.

What is more controversial is that Tesla don’t think the use of lidar (laser technology) is needed to assist their cameras. It’s too expensive apparently and they want the cost of the car to come down. Personally I think it absolutely should be used as safety should come before cost. But they are doing great things to advance cars so what do I know!
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Safety should come first. Just needs the manufacturers to address their margins.
On the site I work at, in Texas, we have about 50 Company trucks and there are around 30 of us who get a vehicle allowance.
A local, well Houston dealer, loaned the boss and electric truck. It was brilliant. We also borrowed the Tesla X for a week. Again brilliant.
Didn’t change either due to price. Just so much more. We get a very generous vehicle allowance yet can’t afford the Tesla. Make them commercially attractive and folk will buy them. Simple as that.
 
Billy Fish said:
Better to be caught sleeping in a car that drives itself rather than wrapped around the back of an artic wagon or off the side of an embankment.
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I think the point is that's what could have happened . The car doesn't have anti collision measures installed by Q .
 
Hair Flick said:
coming to a motorway near to you soon.

www.theguardian.com

Ford unleashes the UK’s first legal hands-free drive car – but who will buy it?

Ford’s Mustang Mach-E lets motorists drive hands-free in UK (T&Cs apply: motorways only; don’t look away for too long)
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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Our Hyundai kona can pretty much drive itself on a motorway. when I was driving down for the playoff final I set the adaptive cruise control and it was steering itself, keeping its distance and whatnot but went apeshit when I kept my hands off the wheel too long, it started slowing down with klaxons going off and that :lol: Scary how clever this stuff is,
 
I'm Spartacus said:
Our Hyundai kona can pretty much drive itself on a motorway. when I was driving down for the playoff final I set the adaptive cruise control and it was steering itself, keeping its distance and whatnot but went apeshit when I kept my hands off the wheel too long, it started slowing down with klaxons going off and that :lol: Scary how clever this stuff is,
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Does it have to be both hands?

I've often wondered about this, because once you get going on a motorway, or even crawling in traffic, I generally have my elbow resting on the door sill and I'm holding the wheel between my finger and thumb, but ready to grip with both hands should I need it. It is a comfortable way to do long distances. If the car is going to scream at you to put both hands on the wheel and keep checking your mirrors, and you have cruise control, then in my eyes you may as well be driving it yourself, then at least you can do it in a way that is most comfortable - even if that is a bad habit.
 
Joe Public said:
I use the autopilot, not full self drive,it’s brilliant although not flawless yet, I still get phantom breaking on the motorway at certain times, usually when overtaking large lorries, so it’s certainly not ready to rely on.

it is brilliant tho and takes a lot of work out of driving, over long journeys I am much less fatigued than I used to be.
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I have a car which I rarely touch the pedals when on long straight roads/motorways - I think most newer cars have this ability

Phantom braking is annoying but I guess it’s better safe then sorry
 

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