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Tesla Files Patent For Automatic Turn Signals (cnet.com)
Tesla has filed a patent for automatic turn signals. The filing details a system that uses Autopilot sensors to determine when drivers are going to make a turn and signal automatically. CNET reports: Tesla wants its vehicles to signal automatically without the driver needing to go through the agony that is lifting their finger and moving it up or down by several inches. The way that Tesla envisions it working is that the car detects the driver's intent to change lanes or make a turn by using the Autopilot hardware at its disposal, it then works to sense if there are other vehicles nearby and if it detects them, it puts the signal on for the driver. If it works, it will be brilliant but given the fact that Tesla has remained adamant that it doesn't need driver monitoring systems for Autopilot, it seems questionable that the vehicle would be able to detect a driver's intent to turn based solely on external observation.
The point of turn signals is not to engage when the turn is in progress, but to indicate the intent of a turn. Doing it when the drive is pulling on the wheel to make the turn will go against the road rules of many locales.
Unless of course Tesla has developed a telepathic module for their cars. In which case I take back what I said.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
So Tesla is doing mind reading tech now?
If you are using the built in GPS, then the car knows the destination. If the directions say to turn at the next intersection, and the driver merges into the right lane and slows down, it is reasonable to assume the intent is to turn. They can also keep a count of how often the driver turns without signaling, and "help" those with poor habits.
Anyway, 99% of "obvious" patents posted on Slashdot are really not so obvious. You have to read the "claims" section, written in dense legalize, to understand what is actually being patented, and it is usually very different from the headline written to manufacture outrage.
Disclaimer: I have not read the patent.
Why don't people actually read the patent?
The patent is an extension on an already-extant concept of automatic turn signals based on a person about to leave a lane. These suffer from an excessive rate of false negatives and can annoy the driver. The patent extends the concept to reduce the rate of false negatives by checking to see if a turn signal would actually even benefit anyone, and if not, not bothering to turn it on. The flow chart (as spelled out in Fig. 12-14) is "Is vehicle about to cross lane line?" -> "Is driver applying steering action?" -> "Is another vehicle in the vicinity that would benefit?" -> "Activate turn signal". Other elements of nuance include things like where the road is going and thus whether the steering input is likely simply to keep the driver within their lane; and looking at the route the user has selected in navigation to see whether they're likely to (or at least supposed to) be taking a given exit and are likely switching lanes for that.
It's basically just taking more data into account in order to reduce the false positive rate on an already-existing concept.
The chloride owes the sodium money.
If ... the driver merges into the right lane and slows down
Which should only happen after a turn signal is activated, and a head and mirror check. Right?
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
From TFS:
Here's the thing. A very large number of drivers out there are too... something... to signal when they're going to be making a turn. Lazy, stupid, incompetent, rude, selfish, clueless... pick your adjective. Or all of them. So this is a very good thing, in that the rest of us will get more warning that memaw or peepaw is about to disrupt the traffic flow.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
I can tell with a decent accuracy whether someone is planning to change lanes. Most of the time they'll shift slightly closer to the other lane first to get a better look. If there's a slow car in front of them, they'll also scoot a bit closer. Some will slow down a bit to let me pass more quickly.
Then every once in a while some idiot in the fast lane will suddenly brake. When I see this I know they're about to miss their exit and will try to cross 4 lanes of traffic in just as many seconds.
Other cases aren't so certain, but helps me prepare for sudden movements. If there's a long line of cars joining the freeway, a few of them will pull out into the 2nd lane, usually the ones doing the tailgating first. Same goes for anytime there's a sudden slowdown in the fast lane.
How about a patent to automatically turn OFF the turn signal that has been left on for the past 5 miles...and the car is still in the same lane? You know the type of driver I'm talking about. The one in the left lane, 10 MPH below the speed limit, driving the late 90s or early 00s Cadillac. Yeah...the one with the tuft of blue hair just barely above the dashboard. On the way to the bingo or shuffle board tournament.
Yes, the dreaded Snow Bird. The only thing worse than no signal is the perpetual signal. You have no idea what their true intention is. All you know is that you need to get the heck away from them. NOW.
This is the usual pseudo-futuristic mumbo-jumbo from Tesla they sprout out to change the subject when they are about to miss a financial or a production goal. It used to work, but these days even the rabidly pro-Tesla media are starting to stay away from peddling these musk nuggets, and fewer and fewer people fall for them.
Remember how Tesla announced a few weeks ago how their "security" was second to none and how they would be graciously gifting it to the rest of the automobile world to save it from mistakes? Remember how it happened just before they announced there is no funding and there'll be no buyout?
Remember how we later learned that their software is a hopeless half-maintained hodge-podge of spaghetti code and how their security is worse than the security you typically find in an FX trading startup? Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Enoug... Only yesterday we received a confirmation - Tesla's "network" melted down precisely in the manner the link above describes it can.
Did we see an article on Slashdot about the Tesla IT problems (a legitimate "nerd news" topic)? Nope. Did we read the news about Tesla's network meltdown? Nope, although in the past much smaller problems with a single company network have been covered regularly.
This announcement is all smoke and mirrors, and it is being spread about to try to build "a positive momentum" ahead of the Tesla troubles that are stacking up for the next few weeks - missing profitability targets, disappearing demand, supplier issues and customer service issues.
Musk may have his left turn signal on, but he's really braking.
The patent extends the concept to reduce the rate of false negatives by checking to see if a turn signal would actually even benefit anyone, and if not, not bothering to turn it on... "Is another vehicle in the vicinity that would benefit?"
What about people?
When I'm walking down a road and reach a side road I need to cross if there's a car approaching parallel to me I'll pause and check to see if its indicators are flashing before I cross - call it a sensible self preservation tactic. Not that it's a particularly useful tactic though, as it's almost funny how many drivers only indicate after I've stepped into the road. My right of way at that point is somewhat moot.
Honestly this strikes me as just another aid in training bad drivers to be completely lazy and oblivious to everything around them.
It's largely because I can put myself in my own shoes and because I'm sure that I'm not always going to see pedestrians, cyclists, motorbikes, or even other cars that, when driving, I always indicate when I'm about to make a turn or to indicate where I'm going to exit on a roundabout - both on approach and during transit. Doing otherwise just isn't courteous, and is tantamount to dangerous driving.