Team-BHP - The Tesla Auto-Pilot Thread

Tesla Autopilot 2.0: next gen Autopilot powered by more radar, new triple camera, some equipment already in production.

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The next generation Autopilot will feature new hardware on which Tesla will incrementally push new features through over-the-air software updates. The new sensor suite will enable level 3 autonomous driving and potentially level 4 fully autonomous driving in a not too distant future.

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the new suite will keep the current front-facing radar and add more around the car, likely one in each corner. Additionally, the system will feature a new front-facing triple camera system for which we are told Tesla started installing new housing in the Model S production this week.

The reliance on radars is something Tesla CEO Elon Musk made clear would be in the future of Tesla’s Autopilot program, as opposed to lidar sensors.

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Musk referenced radar’s capability to see through rain, snow, fog and dust, as reasons to favor the tech over lidar. Tesla’s CEO hopes to be able to achieve similar coarse point cloud maps, something easier to achieve with lidar, with radars through “temporal smoothing”.

Adding several radar antennas to Tesla’s Autopilot system should help achieve this goal

The new sensors have yet to be introduced in production vehicles, but everything points toward a release fairly soon. Several components have already been introduced in the production cars, like wiring harnesses and as previously mentioned, the housing for the triple camera system on the rearview mirror cutout.

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This shows the difference in approach between Tesla and the other Automotive biggies. For example, Mercedes already has a greater number of sensors to understand the surroundings but autonomous functions are limited by software. The reason - we aren't yet confident that these sensors are enough. But on the other hand, Tesla here is having lesser hardware, but they have a full fledged autopilot.

Tesla update - halts automatic steering if driver inattentive,

The update also adds multiple features, including improved radar, better voice commands and an industry-first temperature control system that helps prevent kids and pets from overheating.

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Tesla says the software update should help avoid crashes, since it will enhance the radar system and make Tesla's vehicles rely more on radar signals - which can see through snow, bright sun and other weather conditions - than cameras. The new radar can detect braking in cars up to two lengths ahead and has a clearer picture of the road than the previous version. The company also redesigned its indicator lights to more clearly show when Autopilot is engaged.

If drivers ignore three warnings to place their hands on the wheel, the automatic steering will be disabled and won't resume until the car is parked. As in earlier versions, the car will slow to a stop if the warnings are ignored.

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Autopilot Enhancements

Advancements in signal processing use the Tesla's onboard radar to persistently capture snapshots of its surroundings, creating a 3D picture of the world. Learn more about seeing the world in radar.
Enhanced safety requirement which disables Autosteer during trip when safety warnings are ignored
Autopilot has been tuned to be more responsive and smoother in stop-and-go traffic
Vehicles on the instrument panel show direction
Redesigned Autopilot indicators

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Tesla Autopilot declared ‘traffic hazard’ by German government investigation.

Critically, the Autopilot system doesn’t give a clear indication to the driver of when it can no longer handle the current driving situation.

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For example, if the autopilot system is on and there are no lane markings, it simply follows the car in front of it. If that car pulls over, the Tesla simply follows suit, even if there is a car alongside or near it.

The report also claims that Tesla’s rearward facing sensors can only detect objects 40 metres behind the car, which is not sufficient when the vehicle is driving along an unrestricted stretch of the autobahn where cars often do over 200km/h.

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Tesla announces all its production cars will have fully Self-Driving Hardware!

Tesla seems to be moving away from the name ‘Autopilot’ since it’s going full autonomous.

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The company announced tonight its second generation autonomous driving hardware and confirmed that it is in all vehicle off the assembly line right now.

It’s available in the Model S and X now going forward, and every Model 3 will be equipped with the new hardware suite.

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Tesla significantly changed its hardware suite from what it was previously working on – with now fewer radar antennas and instead, a focus on cameras to take advantage of its new ‘Tesla Vision’ product.

It basically skipped the Autopilot 2.0 level 4 version hardware suite that it was planning and jumped to 360 camera coverage for level 5 autonomy.

The picture above is what the system can see now with the new sensor and hardware suite:

8 cameras – 3 front-facing
better ultrasonic
40x more powerful onboard computer – Nvidia GPU Titan supercomputer

Source

A Tesla Model S crashed into a tree in downtown Indianapolis yesterday, killing both of its passengers and bursting into flames.

The crash sent battery cells “firing off almost like projectiles around the rescuers,” the Indianapolis Fire Department told the news site.

This report has the video of the crash scene by someone walking past.

This is the 4th Tesla fire reported this year.

Happened to see this in the feeds this morning. Tesla's auto pilot system detected a crash even before it happened.

A tit bit from the article-

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In September, the company rolled out an over-the-air update with the 8th version of its Autopilot software, adding extra radar processing features to Tesla models to pick up potential collisions that the primary camera and image processing system can't always detect.

Worth taking a look once

Here is the link

Tesla AP Crash

Came across this crash a few days back. Tesla's autopilot failed to notice the shift in lanes and the driver was obviously not paying attention. Not to mention poor road design, I guess.

Notice how the lane shift is marked by dotted lines whereas the original lane marking goes right into the barrier? Looks like the autopilot was following the original, bigger lane markings.

I have seen this kind of behaviour in my Honda Odyssey's Lane Assist feature too. That's why I have it switched off always.

Guys,

I encountered few videos showcasing Tesla's autopilot predicting crashes involving other vehicles. It is great to see how the system predicts not-so-obvious crashes and safely avoids them too.

I have been following the autopilot feature and always questioned its algorithm. However with these videos, I can safely build a little more trust on the system.

In one of the videos, you can see a Tesla accelerate from standstill to prevent a crash from rear. Amazing!

Please look at these videos and see for yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulaODq7QHlI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ-d9k6JFA8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rphN3R6KKyU

However, what will be interesting to see is how this technology behaves and adapts to Indian roads. In any case, the future of driving is here, which will be more safer, efficient and *boring*.

In the third video, the first shot of the car accelerating to avoid getting rear ended by the Prius is NOT due to the autopilot. The driver used something called "Instant acceleration" himself to avoid the crash. This makes me doubt how many incidents shown in these videos are really due to autopilot.

Watch Tesla Model S P85D’s instant speed avoid a potential rear-end collision

I recall reading about this late last year.

Here's some updates on the fatal Tesla crash last year. This crash caused a huge investigation into Tesla's autopilot system. But now the NTSB have released their investigation report. The investigation is still ongoing.

The driver apparently had contact with the steering wheel for only 25seconds for a period of 37 minutes. The autosteer system also warned him visually and through audio to take control many times before he was killed. There is also a 500page docket on the entire accident in the link.

Source: Jalopnik

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Joshua Brown, the Tesla driver killed last year while using the semi-autonomous Autopilot mode on his Model S, received several visual and audio warnings to take control of the vehicle before he was killed, according to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board. Despite the warnings, Brown kept his hands off the wheel before colliding with a truck on a Florida highway.

The new details of the crash were revealed in more than 500 pages of records collected as part of the National Transportation Safety Board’s ongoing investigation into the 2016 incident.

The May 7, 2016 crash drew widespread attention for being the first known fatal accident involving a vehicle operating on its own. The advent of autonomous cars makes for a fascinating moment in history, as new technology always draws interest from a wide swath of society. As you might expect, there was an inordinate amount of coverage on the crash. You might recall, Brown was driving along a Florida highway in his 2015 Model S70D, when he collided with a tractor-trailer. Data from the vehicle’s system revealed Brown was operating the car using automated control systems like traffic-aware cruise control and Autosteer.