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from the be-extra-careful-about-the-other-"driver" dept.
"Oh Jeeeesus": Drivers react to Tesla's full self-driving beta release
Last week, Tesla released an early version of its long-awaited "full self-driving" software to a limited number of customers. It was arguably Tesla's biggest Autopilot update ever. The software enables Tesla vehicles to autonomously navigate the vast majority of common roadway situations and complete many trips from start to finish.
[...] In another video, Brandon's Tesla was making a left turn but wasn't turning sharply enough to avoid hitting a car parked on the opposite side of the cross street. "Oh Jeeeesus," Brandon said as he grabbed the steering wheel and jerked it to the left. "Oh my God," Brandon's passenger added.
"That was a good example of this is still beta and how important it is to have control at all times," Brandon said. "It just steered directly into the back of this parked car, and it wasn't going to brake."
To be fair to Tesla, we don't know that either of these incidents would have necessarily led to a crash. Maybe the software would have realized its mistake and hit the brakes at the last second. And Brandon's overall impression of the technology was positive.
Minutes earlier, Brandon had raved about the software's performance. "Compared to when we did the drive two days ago, it's so much smoother," Brandon said. "The improvements from two software releases ago is incredible."
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Tuesday November 03 2020, @12:56PM
...but you made Tesla's use of "fully self driving" your line in the sand, and seemed to be defending their previous use of "autopilot" (which the average moron in the street will take to mean "fully self driving" anyway) via the aviation analogy. There's no comparison between driving within inches of other cars along winding roads at constantly changing speeds and an aviation environment where you're following fixed courses for hours at a time and in which passing within a few seconds flight time of another aircraft would be a notifiable incident.
No - the one minute limit is the figleaf that Telsa uses to defend it's reckless promotion of autopilot.
...and eject the driver onto the verge, lock the doors and call the police. The day that it will be safe to take both your hands off the wheel while driving will be the day that someone releases non-beta, no ifs, no buts autonomous driving that has been so completely tested and proven that the driver is no longer held responsible for any accidents while using it.