Tesla Network Overlooked Issue

[teknoprep]

I loved the presentation yesterday, especially the focus around Robotaxi. I share the same concerns as many of you - reliability of getting to L5 next year, regulatory approval, damage to cars, etc. But I thought of one that Tesla might have overlooked - the reliability of the cellular network.

I've had several instances of my Model 3 not having a signal (can't access via app, radio doesn't work) - if the car is on the Tesla Network, what happens? How can someone Summon it? How can it be tracked? If someone is in the car, what happens when they're dropped off?

This obviously wouldn't be that big of an issue in larger cities with multiple, redundant towers - but what about smaller cities with one tower, and that tower goes down? Or areas with little to no cell coverage at all? Does your Robotaxi suddenly become useless?

Would love to say SpaceX Satellite Internet would solve for that, but that won't be around for several more years. Thoughts?

 

[Tam]

...cellular network...

It's the same way now with calling a Uber when there is no cell service for a call.

SpaceX internet requires a dish antenna which will be unlikely to be placed on your car unless it's a news van.

 

[teknoprep]

It's the same way now with calling a Uber when there is no cell service for a call.

Agreed, but the difference is when an Uber driver is out of cell network range, they can manually drive the car. When a RoboTaxi loses cell signal, what happens? Does it just stop and drive back home?

 

[Tam]

Agreed, but the difference is when an Uber driver is out of cell network range, they can manually drive the car. When a RoboTaxi loses cell signal, what happens? Does it just stop and drive back home?

That was the question raised yesterday.

Elon Musk said the autonomy can drive itself just fine when there is an internet connection blackout.

I guess you need internet for firmware upgrade and for a summon (ride-hailing RoboTaxi app).

Once a summon goes through, there's no more need for the internet for the car to automatically drive to the newly assigned address.

I guess once the rider greets the car, a Bluetooth connection would unlock the car (the info was included as a summon before the internet blackout.)

 

[fr100]

I didn't catch if you could summon specific cars. If a particular car is offline, another car available will be summoned to perform the task. Once it has all the necessary trip info, it can perform the ride offline. If not, another can Tesla get summoned.

 

[ewoodrick]

Agreed, but the difference is when an Uber driver is out of cell network range, they can manually drive the car. When a RoboTaxi loses cell signal, what happens? Does it just stop and drive back home?

You would think so, but the answer is actually different. I had a Lyft driver recently who was having phone problems, he was 30 minutes late and couldn't get the ride started, although he took me anyway.

The ride will be able to be completed, FSD doesn't need cellular. It's just starting and stopping that would need connectivity. And that may mean that a "safe" postion is loaded to the car, a location where cellular is known to be good and the car can get there.

 

[israndy]

It's the same way now with calling a Uber when there is no cell service for a call.

SpaceX internet requires a dish antenna which will be unlikely to be placed on your car unless it's a news van.

I loved your response and then I immediately hated your response.

So clever the Uber comment, and then immediately you lost it with the dish antenna comment. If you have a swarm of LEO sats what are you going to point that dish at??

-Randy

 

[Knightshade]

I loved your response and then I immediately hated your response.

So clever the Uber comment, and then immediately you lost it with the dish antenna comment. If you have a swarm of LEO sats what are you going to point that dish at??

-Randy

He's correct though-


Starlink (satellite constellation) - Wikipedia

The system will not compete with the Iridium satellite constellation, which is designed to link directly to handsets. Instead, it will be linked to flat user terminals the size of a pizza box, which will have phased array antennas and track the satellites.

 

[israndy]

How is that a "dish"? I'll give you that it's not an omnidirectional antenna like a handset would be. But the tech is just like those solid state KVH satellite receivers that work on the DirecTV sat service you mount on the roof of your SUV to watch satellite TV while you drive:

TracVision A9 Mobile Satellite TV Antenna System for Automobiles

These antennae would use a phase array (no moving parts) to align with where the satellites are moving to in order to establish communications. The reason for it being fixed based is how difficult it is to track a moving target from a moving vehicle (unless this is a cop movie).

I would think if Elon really wanted to he could turn the hood into a pizza box antenna and free himself and Tesla from AT&T on future cars. Although that might not work so good in cities and tunnels and forests. Maybe just free himself from having to find WiFi to upload and download big files from the cars.

-Randy

 

[Knightshade]

What Is Starlink? And Could Tesla Be Involved? | CleanTechnica : Starlink

The place where this falls completely through is where Elon specifically stated that Starlink receivers are the size of a pizza box and wouldn’t be on Tesla cars when he was directly asked this question at the last Tesla talk