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Elon Musk Rolled Out Autopilot Despite Engineers' Safety Concerns, Says Report (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: When Elon Musk announced last fall that all of Tesla's cars would be capable of "full autonomy," engineers who were working on the suite of self-driving features, known as Autopilot, did not believe the system was ready to safely control a car, according to the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ report sheds more light on the tension that exists between the Autopilot team and Musk. CNN previously reported in July that Musk "brushed aside certain concerns as negligible compared to Autopilot's overall lifesaving potential," and that employees who worked on Autopilot "struggled" to make the same reconciliation.
A major cause of this conflict has apparently been the way Musk chose to market Autopilot. The decision to refer to Autopilot as a "full self-driving" solution -- language that makes multiple appearances on the company's website, especially during the process of ordering a car -- was the spark for multiple departures, including Sterling Anderson, who was in charge of the Autopilot team during last year's announcement. Anderson left the company two months later, and was hit with a lawsuit from Tesla that alleged breach of contract, employee poaching, and theft of data related to Autopilot, though the suit was eventually settled. A year before that, a lead engineer warned the company that Autopilot wasn't ready to be released shortly before the original rollout. Evan Nakano, the senior system design and architecture engineer at the time, wrote that development of Autopilot was based on "reckless decision making that has potentially put customer lives at risk," according to documents obtained by the WSJ.
A major cause of this conflict has apparently been the way Musk chose to market Autopilot. The decision to refer to Autopilot as a "full self-driving" solution -- language that makes multiple appearances on the company's website, especially during the process of ordering a car -- was the spark for multiple departures, including Sterling Anderson, who was in charge of the Autopilot team during last year's announcement. Anderson left the company two months later, and was hit with a lawsuit from Tesla that alleged breach of contract, employee poaching, and theft of data related to Autopilot, though the suit was eventually settled. A year before that, a lead engineer warned the company that Autopilot wasn't ready to be released shortly before the original rollout. Evan Nakano, the senior system design and architecture engineer at the time, wrote that development of Autopilot was based on "reckless decision making that has potentially put customer lives at risk," according to documents obtained by the WSJ.
Can you please focus on making your electric cars and the batteries that run them better and more affordable instead of getting sidetracked with these bullshit features that nobody wants?
Thank you,
Everyone
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
That the fountain of BS that is Elon Musk allegedly put personal profit ahead of people's lives?
It seems incredible to me that any engineer who values their career would do any work for him in any shape or form.
I've heard him described as "a latter day Edison".
Unfortunately, Musk knows as much about engineering as Sonny Bono did about downhill skiing.
I think he's a naturally slothful person, sluggish and indolent, a dawdling flaneur, content to waste his life spread eagled on pillows forever indulging himself in the pleasures of the palm.
TL;DR: A complete wanker.
The Machine stops.
You know, a country with money's a little like a mule with a spinning wheel. No one knows how he got it and danged if it knows how to use it.
Heh-heh, mule.
The name's Musk, Elon Musk. And I come before you good people tonight with an idea. Probably the greatest... Aw, it's not for you. It's more of a China idea.
Now, wait just a minute. We're twice as smart as the people of China. Just tell us your idea and we'll give you subsidies for it.
All right. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll show you my idea. I give you the Tesla Autopilotl!
I've sold autopilots to Plymouth, Oldsmobile, and Studebaker, and by gum, it put them on the map!
Well, sir, there's nothin' on earth like a genuine bona-fide electrified one-car autopilot! What'd I say?
Autopilot!
What's it called?
Autopilot.
That's right! Autopilot!
Autopilot, autopilot, autopilot, autopilot, autopilot...
I hear those things are awfully new.
It's user tested, but not by you.
Is there a chance the car could crash?
It's not your life, so splash the cash.
First adopters must be brave...
They'll be given early graves.
Will this venture fund new green jobs?
No, good sir, I'm the new Steve Jobs.
We've killed off our whole space program.
Fund my SpaceX, my good man.
I swear, it's the country's only choice! Log in to PayPal and raise your voice!
Autopilot
What's it called?
Autopilot
AUTOPILOT!
But the economy's still all fucked and broken.
Subsidies, this man has stolen!
Autopilot
Autopilot
Autopilot!
Autopilot!!!
Auto...*CRASH*