Tesla Autopilot: Impressive Videos Show Full Self-Driving (FSD)

Tesla is launching “real” autopilot and people are freaking out

The videos are supposed to show how Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” works in US road traffic. This is a beta version only. A specialist warns.

What happened?

Tesla’s “Autopilot” has caused a stir on the Internet for a few days. Last week, the electric car pioneer in the United States delivered a software update to select Tesla drivers in the United States. This will install a trial version for autonomous driving.

The videos then posted on the Internet show how Tesla cars can easily navigate traffic without the driver having to intervene even once.

In addition to the many enthusiastic reactions, there are also criticisms of Tesla’s approach. The pioneer of the electric car transforms ordinary customers, that is, laymen, into testers.

What are the most impressive videos?

Here is a significant selection.

Where is the problem?

There are several problems.

The Verge zitiert Ed Niedermeyer von der Fachorganisation Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE):

As is well known, Tesla speaks of “Full Self-Driving” (FSD), which can be translated as “completely self-driving”. PAVE’s communications manager replied that it was extremely important to explain to people the differences between driver assistance and autonomous driving.

According to its own description, PAVE is a coalition of industrial companies, non-profit organizations, public sector institutions and academics “with one goal: to educate the public about automated vehicles.” Members include various robotic car developers, including Waymo (Alphabet).

Former tech blogger Sascha Pallenberg, who now works for Daimler AG, which is a direct competitor of Tesla, distributed a video via Twitter that showed a near-error. He wrote: “This is why not a single manufacturer brings beta driver assistance systems to public roads and into the hands of untrained customers.”

Tesla has repeatedly stressed in the past that the autopilot should only be used by careful drivers with both hands on the wheel. The Verge notes that the feature is intended to assist the driver and is not foolproof: “There have been several high-profile incidents where drivers activated the autopilot, had an accident and died.”

Was the plant Tesla?

Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that Tesla plans to make the beta version of the new FSD software available to the public later this year.

US blog Teslarati said that customers played a key role in making software improvements fast. The autopilot will be better in the near future, more data will be available for developers.

As is known, all Tesla models transmit data to company computers via mobile Internet connections. Massive amounts of data are evaluated using special algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI).

Of all the companies experimenting with robotic cars, Tesla has collected the most data so far, Teslarati points out. Tesla’s director of AI revealed that the company was able to collect up to 3 billion miles of real-world data across its fleet by February 2020.

For comparison: Waymo has accumulated 20 million miles of real-world data to date. The US company, a subsidiary of Alphabet, is one of Tesla’s biggest competitors in the field of autonomous driving.

What does Tesla promise its customers?

Anyone who orders a vehicle through Tesla’s website is asked during the setup process if they want the “Full potential for autonomous driving” option. This is a paid addition to the “Autopilot” feature package offered as standard by all new Tesla cars. Tesla is currently charging 7,300 Swiss francs for the FSD option.

Tesla promises Swiss customers who purchase their vehicle with the FSD option:

• “Navigation with autopilot functionality: Auto-guidance on the freeway from entrance to exit, including highway intersections and slower overtaking vehicles.”
• “Lane Change Assist: Automatically assisted lane change on the motorway.”
• “Automatic parking: parallel and right angle parking”.
• “‹Call›: automatic parking and vehicle call”

The following autopilot functions are provided according to the Swiss Tesla website “in the next future” Insert:

• “Traffic light / stop signal recognition with automatic start / stop”
• “Automatic driving in urban areas”.
• “Extended” Call me “function: your parked vehicle will find you in the parking lot and come to you.”

The small print relativizes:

The beta version of Tesla’s FSD software for autonomous driving is not yet available in Switzerland.

sources