Autopilot a fraud? The linked author bets Elon he'll eat a hat if it changes lanes!

[Electricfan]

and when they release the feature he'll say it didn't meet his requirements and the bet is null and void and thus won't eat a hat.

LOL!

And GO VOLS!! I went to UTK and go to the games when I can - huge Tennessee fan here!

 

[Todd Burch]

Article writer's PS "If that Autopilot changes lanes automatically at the touch of a blinker stalk by, say, one year from now, in a series Model D, I will publicly eat a Tesla baseball hat on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. How about it, Elon?"

Maybe some salt and pepper might help with the taste.

Based on what Tesla has already demonstrated...and taking this bet verbatim...that guy is going to be eating a hat in a few months. Hmm. I hope people hold him to his word. I've never seen anyone actually eat a hat.

 

[sorka]

I guess I don't understand your concerns with the lane changing.

I see the functionality of it as, when driving on a multi-lane highway with TACC and lane-holding active, I'm approaching a slower-moving vehicle in front of me and I check my mirror (or camera) to see that a lane change is safe, tap the turn signal, and the car changes lanes to pass the slower moving vehicle. Once clear of the car I pass, I check that it is safe, then tap the turn signal again and the car returns to the original lane.

Are you saying that you will not use lane-holding, or that you will change lanes manually? I don't know what the car will do if you force it out of the lane. Will it cancel lane holding and you will have to restart it?

I guess I don't understand if you think it is unnecessary, or unsafe, or you just want to be in control.

Once you have to go through the whole process of making sure it's clear yourself, why not just complete the lane change yourself?

 

[commasign]

Once you have to go through the whole process of making sure it's clear yourself, why not just complete the lane change yourself?

Because the Lane Keeping Assist would resist you.

 

[JohnQ]

Based on what Tesla has already demonstrated...and taking this bet verbatim...that guy is going to be eating a hat in a few months. Hmm. I hope people hold him to his word. I've never seen anyone actually eat a hat.

He needs to buy a tortilla sombrero a la Despicable Me 2. Guac is optional.

 

[Johan]

Based on what Tesla has already demonstrated...and taking this bet verbatim...that guy is going to be eating a hat in a few months. Hmm. I hope people hold him to his word. I've never seen anyone actually eat a hat.

I read about a guy who did a similiar bet and lost. He ground his hat down to a powder and sprinkled a bit on his food every day for about a year. After that the hat was eaten. Not too hard, right?

 

[dsm363]

I love he keeps calling it the Model D.

Also at the end of the article "Bertel Schmitt
After a 40 year hiatus, spent doing propaganda in the automotive industry around the world, Bertel returns as a journalist and to the roots of his initials. His wife is a late model Japanese Import."

explains a lot.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Anyone remember the guy in the motorhome that activated cruise control on a highway then proceeded to walk to the back where he sat down with his family? His motorhome drifted off the road and crashed. I hope that type of person isn't in the market for a Tesla.

That's an ancient urban legend.
http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/cruise.asp

 

[scaesare]

Elon tends to deal in hard data and facts.

I wouldn't bet on it being a bluff.

 

[cmu5p]

I hope it's a ten gallon hat and he posts it on YouTube (not the edible chip-guac one either). Tesla is a that company defies convention and innovates beyond what some only dare imagine. Some people (author, not forum members) simply just don't have brains big enough to accommodate that.

 

[Zythryn]

Lots of people had made the mistake of betting against Elon.
The vast majority have lost.

As I am betting on Elon, I prefer my odds to the author's.

 

[scottm]

Maybe the car will be able to do auto-pilot, completely: start, stop, accelerate, etc... when every other car on the road is also capable and sensing each others' presence.

Probably won't happen in my lifetime (~est. 25 years remaining).

But sitting in a train of cars that drive themselves is not my idea of driving either; it's nothing I want.

Give me the wheel and all the decisions please and I'll gladly hang onto that freedom for as long as I'm allowed to have it.

...besides where I live, there are no good lines on the roads marking lanes for about half the time where they should be. Anything that is optically based for driving in lanes is a fail. Not because of the car, but because of the infrastructure and weather conditions.

 

[dhanson865]

I love he keeps calling it the Model D.

Also at the end of the article "Bertel Schmitt
After a 40 year hiatus, spent doing propaganda in the automotive industry around the world, Bertel returns as a journalist and to the roots of his initials. His wife is a late model Japanese Import."

explains a lot.

Formerly of the website TheTruthAboutCars.com which was a good read but was heavily anti hybrid / anti EV back in the day. Keep in mind the number of editors and writers on that site was many and I'm not ascribing those attributes to Bertel specifically. Just the reader base was mostly of the "no replacement for displacement / RWD rules" mentality.

I have him mixed in my mind with the neidermeyers, Robert Farago, and a dozen other authors / editors. I do remember he worked for VW.

See Bertel Schmitt - The Truth About Cars for a list of his stuff from there.

 

[sorka]

Because the Lane Keeping Assist would resist you.

Only if you don't use the turn signal first....just like other cars that already have lane keeping like my Infiniti FX50S.

 

[ecarfan]

Autopilot a fraud? The linked author bets Elon he'll eat a hat if it changes...

Quote from the Bertel Scmitt article:
"If that Autopilot changes lanes automatically at the touch of a blinker stalk by, say, one year from now, in a series Model D, I will publicly eat a Tesla baseball hat on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. How about it, Elon?"

It is my understanding that at the Dual Motor reveal last fall, the automatic lane change feature was demonstrated and it worked, or was it only that the car could stay in its lane going around a curve without the driver touching the wheel? I need to check that.
(UPDATE: my mistake, I reviewed the Dual Motor/Autopilot event videos and see that automatic lane change was not demonstrated there)
Of course that was in a controlled environment. Tesla has not said, to my knowledge, that such a feature when released would not require the driver to take any action other than pressing the turn signal stalk. As others have pointed out in this thread, the driver will still need to verify that a desired lane change can be made safely, the car cannot do that for him. Can any car currently in production verify that a safe lane change is possible, without assistance from the driver, and then execute that lane change without the driver touching the wheel?

I think Mr. Schmitt has deliberately distorted what Tesla has claimed and created a sensationalized story for attention.

I am looking forward to seeing him eat a Tesla cap, however. Hopefully without the assistance of any sharp utensils.

 

[Todd Burch]

Ecarfan,

Maybe you made a typo in post #35, but Tesla did indeed demonstrate the lane change. I think they did it in every demo ride, in fact. I know I saw several YouTube videos in which it was demonstrated. After a shallow curve in which lane keep and speed limit adjustment was used, the mock road expanded to two lanes. The Tesla driver knocked the left turn signal, the car changed lanes, then automatic braking was demonstrated by coming to a halt behind the car in front.

I watched enough of those to know the routine (sadly?)

Edit: here is one such video. Fast forward to 1:06.

 

[green1]

I think the confusion tends to be in what people expect vs what has actually been promised. People love to claim that Tesla said the car would completely drive itself in every conceivable situation, and then make the (very accurate) claim that this isn't possible with the existing hardware or today's technology, when in fact they have been very clear on exactly what it will and won't do.

Elon originally said the car would go from on-ramp to off-ramp on a freeway unassisted. He did not mention lane changes at all, nor did he say the car would merge or exit. Adding lane keeping to the existing TACC would fulfil that promise completely. At the event they also demonstrated user initiated auto lane changing functionality, there is nothing to indicate that this can't happen with the current hardware, and in fact is a very simple extension of lane keeping once they get that going.

In every discussion of any of the "auto pilot" suite of features Tesla has also been extremely clear that none of this is in any way "self driving" and that at all times a fully qualified, competent, and attentive driver must be at the controls ready to take over in an instant, just like in an airplane where the term "autopilot" was taken from.

Self driving cars are the future, not the present.

 

[mspohr]

Here are a few good options for BS:
Artichokes:

Hamburger:

And, of course, cheese:

 

[Todd Burch]

This is directly relevant to this thread:

 

[ecarfan]

Autopilot a fraud? The linked author bets Elon he'll eat a hat if it changes...

Todd, I am happy to be corrected! . I watched the video on YouTube of Elon giving journalist Andrea James a test ride in a P85D at the event and didn't see an automatic lane change, but maybe she was talkng to him when it happened and he didn't mention it, what with all the other features he was describing.
So it turns out my orignal memory was better than I thought.
Bertel Schmitt is definitely going to have to eat that Tesla hat this year when Tesla releases the Autopilot software with lane change capability and other features.

Ecarfan,
Maybe you made a typo in post #35, but Tesla did indeed demonstrate the lane change. I think they did it in every demo ride, in fact. I know I saw several YouTube videos in which it was demonstrated. After a shallow curve in which lane keep and speed limit adjustment was used, the mock road expanded to two lanes. The Tesla driver knocked the left turn signal, the car changed lanes, then automatic braking was demonstrated by coming to a halt behind the car in front.
I watched enough of those to know the routine (sadly?)
Edit: here is one such video.