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So, I love how these articles are taking things off the beaten path. They say Tesla is the only company using camera only systems. That's not true. The only other Major player in the automatous vehicle space with over 100 supported car models and <span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;">40,000,000
miles driven is Open Pilot who also believes in the camera only model.</span></div>
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<span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;">The sad thing is people cheat the system with devices on the wheel and other cheats and give tesla a bad name.
If I would change anything about autopilot, I would ask them to add a loud warning notice like openpilot has for no attention. It's my understanding the autopilot warning sound isn't very surprising.</span></div>
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<span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;">No, we're not to the point of cars driving the blind but we're getting there. It might be years down the road,
but we are a lot farther then we have ever been.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family:Tahoma; font-size:13px"><b>Thanks,<br>
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David Eugene Waybright<br>
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Crestron Core Certified<br>
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Message: 1<br>
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2021 09:24:55 -0500<br>
From: "Bill Meeker and Cheryl Orgas" <meekerorgas@ameritech.net><br>
To: "'From: Bill Meeker and Cheryl Orgas'"<br>
<meekerorgas@ameritech.net>, "'autonomous Vehicles Discussion'"<br>
<autonomousvehicles@nfbnet.org><br>
Subject: [AutonomousVehicles] Why the Feds Are Investigating Tesla's<br>
Autopilot and What that Means for the Future of Self-Driving Cars<br>
Message-ID: <002101d798f3$d06df160$7149d420$@ameritech.net><br>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"<br>
<br>
Colleagues,<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Another article about Tesla. They seem a long way from being ready for<br>
blind driver prime time; unless that means putting my corpse in the<br>
vehicle's driver's seat and setting its controls for the family plot.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Bill Meeker<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Why the Feds Are Investigating Tesla's Autopilot and What that Means for the<br>
Future of Self-Driving Cars<br>
<br>
Hayder Radha,<br>
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University,<br>
<<a href="https://theconversation.com/us">https://theconversation.com/us</a>> The Conversation<br>
<br>
AUGUST 23, 2021 02:00 PM ET<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Tesla's Autopilot enables hands-free driving, but it's not meant to allow<br>
drivers to take their eyes off the road.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
But in at least 11 cases in the past three and a half years, Tesla's<br>
Autopilot advanced driver-assistance system did just that. This led to<br>
<<a href="https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2021/INOA-PE21020-1893.PDF">https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2021/INOA-PE21020-1893.PDF</a>> 11 accidents<br>
in which Teslas crashed into emergency vehicles or other vehicles at those<br>
scenes, resulting in 17 injuries and one death.<br>
<br>
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has<br>
<<a href=""></a>https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a37320725/nhtsa-investigating-tesla-autop<br>
ilot-crashes-fatalities/> launched an investigation into Tesla's Autopilot<br>
system in response to the crashes. The incidents took place between January<br>
2018 and July 2021 in Arizona, California, Connecticut,<br>
<<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/business/tesla-autopilot-accident.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/business/tesla-autopilot-accident.html</a>><br>
Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas. The<br>
probe<br>
<<a href=""></a>https://www.motortrend.com/news/nhtsa-tesla-autopilot-fsd-crash-investigati<br>
on/> covers 765,000 Tesla cars - that's virtually every car the company has<br>
made in the last seven years. It's also<br>
<<a href=""></a>https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/25/21152984/tesla-autopilot-safety-recommen<br>
dations-ignored-ntsb-crash-hearing> not the first time the federal<br>
government has investigated Tesla's Autopilot.<br>
<br>
As a <<a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GJaAw1EAAAAJ&hl=en">https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GJaAw1EAAAAJ&hl=en</a>><br>
researcher who studies autonomous vehicles, I believe the investigation will<br>
put pressure on Tesla to reevaluate the technologies the company uses in<br>
Autopilot and could influence the future of driver-assistance systems and<br>
autonomous vehicles.<br>
<br>
How Tesla's Autopilot works<br>
<br>
<<a href="https://www.tesla.com/support/autopilot">https://www.tesla.com/support/autopilot</a>> Tesla's Autopilot uses cameras,<br>
radar and ultrasonic sensors to support two major features: Traffic-Aware<br>
Cruise Control and Autosteer.<br>
<br>
Traffic-Aware Cruise Control, also known as adaptive cruise control,<br>
maintains a safe distance between the car and other vehicles that are<br>
driving ahead of it. This technology primarily uses cameras in conjunction<br>
with artificial intelligence algorithms to detect surrounding objects such<br>
as vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, and estimate their distances.<br>
Autosteer uses cameras to detect clearly marked lines on the road to keep<br>
the vehicle within its lane.<br>
<br>
In addition to its Autopilot capabilities, Tesla has been offering what it<br>
calls "full self-driving" features that include<br>
<<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeQm0L5UicM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeQm0L5UicM</a>> autopark and<br>
<<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0hfOZqf-PA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0hfOZqf-PA</a>> auto lane change. Since its<br>
first offering of the Autopilot system and other self-driving features,<br>
Tesla has consistently warned users that these technologies require active<br>
driver supervision and that these features do not make the vehicle<br>
autonomous.<br>
<br>
<br>
<<a href=""></a>https://images.theconversation.com/files/417113/original/file-20210819-27-1<br>
3xp50i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip> Screenshot of a<br>
display with the left third showing an icon of a car on a road and the right<br>
to third showing a mapTesla's Autopilot display shows the driver where the<br>
car thinks it is in relation to the road and other vehicles.<br>
<<a href="https://flickr.com/photos/rosenfeldmedia/50511890906/">https://flickr.com/photos/rosenfeldmedia/50511890906/</a>> Rosenfeld<br>
Media/Flickr, <<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a>> CC BY<br>
<br>
Tesla is beefing up the AI technology that underpins Autopilot. The company<br>
announced on Aug. 19, 2021, that it is<br>
<<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/19/tesla-unveils-dojo-d1-chip-at-ai-day.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/19/tesla-unveils-dojo-d1-chip-at-ai-day.html</a>><br>
building a supercomputer using custom chips. The supercomputer will help<br>
train Tesla's AI system to recognize objects seen in video feeds collected<br>
by cameras in the company's cars.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Autopilot does not equal autonomous<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Advanced driver-assistance systems have been supported on a wide range of<br>
vehicles for many decades. The Society of Automobile Engineers divides the<br>
degree of a vehicle's automation into<br>
<<a href="https://www.sae.org/standards/content/j3016_201806/">https://www.sae.org/standards/content/j3016_201806/</a>> six levels, starting<br>
from Level 0, with no automated driving features, to Level 5, which<br>
represents full autonomous driving with no need for human intervention.<br>
<br>
Within these six levels of autonomy, there is a clear and vivid divide<br>
between Level 2 and Level 3. In principle, at Levels 0, 1 and 2, the vehicle<br>
should be primarily controlled by a human driver, with some assistance from<br>
driver-assistance systems. At Levels 3, 4 and 5, the vehicle's AI components<br>
and related driver-assistance technologies are the primary controller of the<br>
vehicle. For example, Waymo's<br>
<<a href=""></a>https://theconversation.com/robot-take-the-wheel-waymo-has-launched-a-self-<br>
driving-taxi-service-147908> self-driving taxis, which operate in the<br>
Phoenix area, are Level 4, which means they operate without human drivers<br>
but only under certain weather and traffic conditions.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Tesla Autopilot is considered a Level 2 system, and hence the primary<br>
controller of the vehicle should be a human driver. This provides a partial<br>
explanation for the incidents cited by the federal investigation. Though<br>
Tesla says it expects drivers to be alert at all times when using the<br>
Autopilot features, some drivers treat the Autopilot as having autonomous<br>
driving capability with little or no need for human monitoring or<br>
intervention. This discrepancy between Tesla's instructions and<br>
<<a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3409120.3410644">https://doi.org/10.1145/3409120.3410644</a>> driver behavior seems to be a<br>
factor in the incidents under investigation.<br>
<br>
Another possible factor is how Tesla assures that drivers are paying<br>
attention. Earlier versions of Tesla's Autopilot<br>
<<a href=""></a>https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-considered-adding-eye-tracking-and-steer<br>
ing-wheel-sensors-to-autopilot-system-1526302921?mod=e2tw> were ineffective<br>
in monitoring driver attention and engagement level when the system is on.<br>
The company instead relied on requiring drivers to periodically move the<br>
steering wheel, which can be done without watching the road. Tesla recently<br>
announced that it has begun using<br>
<<a href=""></a>https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/28/tesla-starts-using-cabin-cameras-for-driver<br>
-monitoring.html> internal cameras to monitor drivers' attention and alert<br>
drivers when they are inattentive.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Another equally important factor contributing to Tesla's vehicle crashes is<br>
the company's choice of sensor technologies. Tesla has consistently<br>
<<a href=""></a>https://venturebeat.com/2021/07/03/tesla-ai-chief-explains-why-self-driving<br>
-cars-dont-need-lidar/> avoided the use of lidar. In simple terms,<br>
<<a href="https://www.autoweek.com/news/a36190274/what-lidar-is/">https://www.autoweek.com/news/a36190274/what-lidar-is/</a>> lidar is like radar<br>
but with lasers instead of radio waves. It's capable of precisely detecting<br>
objects and estimating their distances. Virtually all major companies<br>
working on autonomous vehicles, including Waymo, Cruise, Volvo, Mercedes,<br>
Ford and GM, are using lidar as an essential technology for enabling<br>
automated vehicles to perceive their environments.<br>
<br>
By relying on cameras, Tesla's Autopilot is prone to potential failures<br>
caused by challenging lighting conditions, such as glare and darkness. In<br>
its announcement of the Tesla investigation, the NHTSA reported that most<br>
incidents occurred after dark where there were flashing emergency vehicle<br>
lights, flares or other lights. Lidar, in contrast, can operate under any<br>
lighting conditions and can "see" in the dark.<br>
<br>
Fallout from the investigation<br>
<br>
The preliminary evaluation will determine whether the NHTSA should proceed<br>
with an engineering analysis, which could lead to a recall. The<br>
investigation could eventually lead to changes in future Tesla Autopilot and<br>
its other self-driving system. The investigation might also indirectly have<br>
a broader impact on the deployment of future autonomous vehicles; in<br>
particular, the investigation may reinforce the need for lidar.<br>
<br>
Although reports in May 2021 indicated that<br>
<<a href=""></a>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-24/tesla-testing-luminar-la<br>
ser-sensor-musk-called-fool-s-errand> Tesla was testing lidar sensors, it's<br>
not clear whether the company was quietly considering the technology or<br>
using it to validate their existing sensor systems. Tesla CEO Elon Musk<br>
called lidar "<br>
<<a href=""></a>https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/22/anyone-relying-on-lidar-is-doomed-elon-mu<br>
sk-says/> a fool's errand" in 2019, saying it's expensive and unnecessary.<br>
<br>
However, just as Tesla is revisiting systems that monitor driver attention,<br>
the NHTSA investigation could push the company to consider adding lidar or<br>
similar technologies to future vehicles.<br>
<br>
Hayder Radha is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the<br>
Michigan State University.<br>
<br>
The ConversationThis article is republished from<br>
<<a href="https://theconversation.com/">https://theconversation.com/</a>> The Conversation under a Creative Commons<br>
license. Read the<br>
<<a href=""></a>https://theconversation.com/why-the-feds-are-investigating-teslas-autopilot<br>
-and-what-that-means-for-the-future-of-self-driving-cars-166307> original<br>
article.<br>
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