• rsuri@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Autopilot “is not a self-driving technology and does not replace the driver,” Tesla said in response to a 2020 case filed in Florida. “The driver can and must still brake, accelerate and steer just as if the system is not engaged.”

    Tesla’s terminology is so confusing. If “Autopilot” isn’t self-driving technology, does that mean it’s different from “Full Self Driving”? And if so, is “Full Self Driving” also not a self-driving technology?

    • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I heard Elon Musk call it: “Assisted full self driving”. Which doesn’t make any sense. LOL

    • anlumo@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      The term autopilot comes from aviation, where the only kind of problem resolution an autopilot does is turning itself off.

      Other than that, it just flies from checkpoint to checkpoint.

      • machinin@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        If only we could implement similar testing protocols to the aviation version to validate it’s safety!

      • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        Depends on the autopilot. There are some that are as rudimentary as a “wing leveler.” They only have control of the ailerons and can level the wings and maybe make turns. Other systems have control of all three major control axes and are integrated with the navigation systems so they can do things like climb to an altitude and level off, turn to a heading, or even fly holds and approaches.

        They do require training on the part of the pilot to use in flight.

        • anlumo@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Yeah, but even the best ones would happily crash into a mountain if the pilots don’t set their altimeters properly (and ignore the terrain warnings).

    • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      Autopilot is a more basic driver assist system than FSD. FSD is what will eventually become what the name suggests but it’s obviously not there yet and everyone knows this. It’s just the name of the system.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        Those are really crappy names. How about “driver assist” and “supervised self driving”? Drop the “supervised” once they’re ready to market it as real self driving.

        • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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          4 months ago

          FSD is called Full Self-Driving (Supervised) nowdays.

          Autopilot can be seen as a misleading term but that has more to do with people not understanding what autopilot on airplanes actually does which is quite similar to what it does on Teslas aswell.

          • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Autopilot isn’t being marketed to aviation enthusiasts nor is it a plane so it doesn’t matter how autopilot in planes works it matters what the perception is. They could have used a more appropriate term like advanced cruise control

      • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        FSD is just a lie because its a description of a product they intend to develop not something that exists on the car you are buying now

          • machinin@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            The one where Tesla is responsible if there is an accident (but this user blocks people critical of Tesla, so probably won’t see this message).

      • bitchkat@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Specifically Auto Pilot is lane keep and traffic aware cruise control (it will slow down if you’re going faster than the car in front) FSD adds auto lane changes (it can do it by itself or the driver can initiate with the turn signals), makes turns necessary to follow navigation. It does a pretty decent job on freeways.

        That they are working on now is getting FSD to work better on city streets and secondary highways

  • istanbullu@lemmy.ml
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    4 months ago

    You can’t call something Full Self Driving or Autopilot and then blame the driver. If you want to blame the driver then call it drive asist.

    • kingthrillgore@lemmy.ml
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      4 months ago

      Right! That’s why you have the FSD turn it over to the driver the moment a crash is unavoidable to make the driver liable.

    • machinin@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      It’s not that Teslas are killing their owners. Teslas are killing first responders to road accidents, kids getting off buses and motorcyclists. We’re all exposed to the problems caused by Musk cutting out testing to save some money.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    4 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    SAN FRANCISCO — As CEO Elon Musk stakes the future of Tesla on autonomous driving, lawyers from California to Florida are picking apart the company’s most common driver assistance technology in painstaking detail, arguing that Autopilot is not safe for widespread use by the public.

    Evidence emerging in the cases — including dash-cam video obtained by The Washington Post — offers sometimes-shocking details: In Phoenix, a woman allegedly relying on Autopilot plows into a disabled car and is then struck and killed by another vehicle after exiting her Tesla.

    Late Thursday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched a new review of Autopilot, signaling concern that a December recall failed to significantly improve misuse of the technology and that drivers are misled into thinking the “automation has greater capabilities than it does.”

    The company’s decision to settle with Huang’s family — along with a ruling from a Florida judge concluding that Tesla had “knowledge” that its technology was “flawed” under certain conditions — is giving fresh momentum to cases once seen as long shots, legal experts said.

    In Riverside, Calif., last year, a jury heard the case of Micah Lee, 37, who was allegedly using Autopilot when his Tesla Model 3 suddenly veered off the highway at 65 mph, crashed into a palm tree and burst into flames.

    Last year, Florida Circuit Judge Reid Scott upheld a plaintiff’s request to seek punitive damages in a case concerning a fatal crash in Delray Beach, Fla., in 2019 when Jeremy Banner and his Tesla in Autopilot failed to register a semi truck crossing its path.


    The original article contains 1,850 words, the summary contains 263 words. Saved 86%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Even when the driver is fully responsible, the assistance software must work properly in all situations. And it must be tested fully.

      In case the software makes severe mistakes surprisingly, normal drivers maybe don’t have a chance to regain control. Normal drivers are not like educated test drivers.

      • hoshikarakitaridia@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        My morality says both are accountable. The driver, and Tesla. Tesla for damage caused by their system, and the driver for and if he does not retake control of the vehicle given the chance.

        • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Imagine you are going along a straight road, not too much traffic, the speed limit is high and you are enjoying it. Suddenly your assistant software decides to turn your steering wheel hard to the left.

          You will have no chance.

          What have you done wrong? What is it what you are accountable for?

        • umami_wasabi@lemmy.ml
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          4 months ago

          But does the driver have a reasonable chance with adequate timeframe to regain control?

          Like what happened with Boeing 737 Max MCAS incident, Boeing expects the pilot to disengage the trim motor in mere 4 seconds, which accoriding to a pilot “a lot to ask in an overwheming situation” or something similar.

          Normal people in soon-to-crash situation are likely to freeze for a second or two, and the fear kicks up. How the driver reacts next is hard to predict. Yet, at the speed most US drivers love to go (I saw 70+ mph on freeway is the norm), the time avalible for them to make an well thought out decision I guess is quite short.

          • hoshikarakitaridia@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            You made me think about this for a second.

            In my head, the reason is not specifically to punish the driver, but to make drivers always be aware and ready to take control again. Yes 100 ppl will have 1000 different ways to react to such a software error, but you need ppl to pay attention, and in law the only way is to use punishment. Obviously this needs to be well calculated but either you have multiple lines of defense (the software, the driver, maybe even additional safety features) or you have to remove the autonomous system.

            • treefrog@lemm.ee
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              4 months ago

              People are naturally going to pay less attention the more cars drive for them. You can’t partially automate steering. Driver assisted steering is as close as it can be before the liability needs to fall on Tesla and other software manufacturers. A car isn’t a plane. The driver needs to be in control when split second decisions happen, like a child running after a ball.

              If I’m paying for an autopilot, I’m not the pilot. I.e., the driver. The car is. And Tesla’s marketing bullshit and lawyers are going to fail here. This does not fall under puffery. It’s false advertising that’s causing consumers to place undue trust in a product. And the insurance industry is quite concerned just where the liability falls in all of this as well. And as they’re the ones currently having to pay out claims when Tesla wins, they have a vested interest seeing that Tesla doesn’t.

            • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              It doesn’t matter for practical purposes you can’t make people pay attention as if driving without the actual engagement of driving. There is going to be a delay in taking over and in a lot of cases it wont matter by the time the human is effectively in control.

  • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    I would say depends. If the user was using the feature correctly then Tesla should have some liability.

    Most of the crashes I’ve seen the people were not using the feature correctly.

      • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        The vehicle prompts you to keep your eyes on the road and be prepaired to take over at any moment every single time you enable this feature. To pretend that Tesla drivers don’t know this “because of false advertising” is just as fasle as the advertising itself.

      • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        No, the majority of crashes I’ve seen. Nowhere does the marketing say read your email and take you hands off the wheel.

        • machinin@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Musk’s retweet of the people have sex on FSD with the cute little joke is Tesla marketing.

            • machinin@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              Do you think current and prospective Tesla owners could escape the online marketing system that pumps this info into their online life? One of the reasons I started countering all the Musk bullshit was because I couldn’t escape their online marketing presence. It is everywhere. I might as well have fun fighting it. I’m sure that if you’ve clicked any Tesla marketing links, you’re inundated with their BS.

          • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
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            4 months ago

            Fsd is really sketchy. It either works like a dream or wants to kill you. It’s why you have to agree to a disclaimer when using it otherwise it’ll disable.

            Autopilot if a fancy cruise control. It’s pretty solid but appears to have an issue with fire trucks. I know of one fatal accident where it drove into a firetruck without enough time to react. Tesla should be liable for that. Their product failed and they removed the radar that would have prevented that scenario.

            I haven’t seen the video you are mentioning. It would be stupid for them to market that as a current feature. You must keep your hands on the wheel at all times in fsd. It might accelerate you full speed into oncoming traffic and the car is fast

            • machinin@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              I haven’t seen the video you are mentioning. It would be stupid for them to market that as a current feature.

              https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/musk-courts-controversy-with-tweets-on-sex-video-filmed-in-tesla-5721645/

              Yeah, a responsible CEO would take measures to remove the video, makes statements about the dangers of abusing the system, etc. instead, Tesla CEO, which is also the main marketing account, makes jokes about it.

              Tesla is full of “the driver is always responsible” small print, and then promoting the reckless use of the system through influencer videos and winks from the CEO saying that the legal stuff it’s just due to those peaky regulators. If it wasn’t for them, you wouldn’t really need to keep your hands on the wheel or pay attention. The car just drives itself.

              • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
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                4 months ago

                Yeah, a responsible CEO

                Elon isn’t reasonable. He shouldn’t be the ceo.

                • machinin@lemmy.world
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                  4 months ago

                  Yes, and he and Tesla should be liable for marketing and promoting the abuses of FSD.

                • VaultBoyNewVegas@lemmy.world
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                  4 months ago

                  And? What the fuck does that change in regards to the lawsuit? He is the CEO and he is responsible, that’s the reality right now.

          • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
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            4 months ago

            That is a full self driving demo and has nothing to do with the Accidents. Full self driving and auto pilot are two different things. When you sign up for fsd you agree to not take your hands off the wheel and pay extra attention. Most of the accidents are autopilot which is enhanced cruise control.

            • deranger@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              I don’t really give a fuck what the terminology is to be frank. The technology leads to unsafe behavior, whether it’s FSD or autopilot.

              • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
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                4 months ago

                I get it words don’t matter. Feelings are what’s important.

                The autopilot on my Tesla is much better than the same technology on my Audi. Both technologies are easy to abuse. That isn’t Tesla’s fault. People need to follow the instructions.

                Now there are a few cases where the technology completely failed when used correctly and that’s 100% Tesla’s fault in my opinion.

                Are you arguing that it’s the people’s fault? Or are you just rambling because it’s Elon.

                Or are you just arguing for god know what’s reason?

                • deranger@lemmy.world
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                  4 months ago

                  I’m saying the technology leads to more harm than good in its current implementation. I don’t care it’s better than your Audi, it still sucks overall. “Used correctly” shouldn’t be a huge factor in a good design. It should be easy to use correctly and hard to use incorrectly. This is not the current state. It’s very easy to use incorrectly, as you admit, and the accidents demonstrate this.

        • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Elon Musk claimed that full self driving would be ready in 2017!!
          So how many false claims by Elon Musk does it take for someone to think the car can handle trivial situations?

        • deranger@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          So I assume autopilot disconnects as soon as you take your hands off the wheel, or there’s iris tracking to ensure you’re looking at the road? It’s not like either of these is exotic technology.