I mean, many cars have been using cameras to assist driver aids. Other brands don’t visually illustrate whats in your windshield on an internal screen like the tesla, so i don’t think there’s anything inherently more impressive about Tesla’s implantation. So far, Tesla is the only brand i hear about their driving aids causing their cars to fatally crashed into white trucks on bright days or parked vehicles at night. And that’s before we bring up phantom braking. I think that’s an acceptable error tolerance for a hobby project, but not for something that many trust with their life.
I suspect the Robotaxi will follow the path of the Roadster as well. I don’t see how that can be profitable and have commercial success.
Yes… but there’s a difference between cameras for lower level automated aids and using a solely based camera system to operate all autonomous driving features. Whereas other vehicles are also using LiDAR, Radar, Ultrasonic. Maybe thermal/FLIR will find its way into cars automated driving aids, still too $$$ right now (and often export controlled). They all have pros and cons but using a combination of systems give you better reliability, redundancy, and I would assume, to a degree, a way to verify data. To rely solely on CCD camera sensors seems like putting all your eggs in one basket- and we all know the cameras can have a lot of limitations in certain scenarios.
Tesla is the only brand I’m aware of that solely relies on optical cameras for higher level autonomous driving. No radars. No ultrasonic. No Lidar.
If I recall correctly, sometime during COVID (at least probably in part to supply chain disruptions), Tesla dumped their ultrasonic sensors which were used judge proximity.
I think it’s pretty unfair to say Tesla’s FSD is not impressive. The display of vehicles on the LCD has nothing to do with it (I actually find that very distracting). Keep it mind it want that long ago that your new car’s biggest tech advancement was an Aux Jack.
I doubt you’d deny Tesla has not been a leader with advanced automated aids. FSD is the only system I’m aware of currently that can drive off highway, read stoplights, advanced decision making ie confusing traffic situations. Is it a perfect system- definitely not, who knows if we’ll get to fully autonomous driving in our lifetime, but I would argue the past 10-15 years have had far more innovation of vehicles than earlier decades combined. If you look back at my posts, going back years, I have been highly critical of Tesla and Musk- long before it was fashionable. But that doesn’t mean I can’t recognize their impacts on the industry.
GM SuperCruise I actually think is a more practical, safer, and sensible (based on current capabilities of all systems). I also think it’s a very clever solution to the problem at hand. SC of course only works on pre-mapped highways. If hypothetically I was choosing between SC and FSD, it would be SC. I’m a lot more comfortable with GM’s system than the much more unpredictable Tesla FSD.
Mercedes has their “level 3” system but is (currently) so limited in function that most reviews I have seen weren’t that happy with it. Ford BlueCruise I’ve never used. I believe it’s a similar concept to SC. I’m not aware of any other brands with automation at this level of sophistication. Assuming actual full self driving is feasible and practical, ie 10-20 years from now, at some point there probably won’t be much difference in capabilities between automakers.
None of these systems are anywhere ready for full independence from direct human oversight- find me any vehicle with auto emergency braking that hasn’t phantom braked at some
point (usually minor, but even a momentary brake check can be dangerous). In my experience, if you spend enough time in a car, you’ll have it happen. Tesla’s issue I would suggest has to do with their sole use of cameras.
Re: Robotaxis- at best we’ll see some small scale operation in one city so they can say it exists. Like Boring Tunnels. I guess owners sending their vehicles off to Robotaxis while at work isn’t the plan now (the whole “your tesla will earn money” nonsense). Plus, 2-seats is incredibly impractical. If it’s actually stainless steel, Tesla i guess hasn’t learned the lesson about using stainless from the CyberTruck, who should have learned from Delorean 40+ years ago.