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Tesla Shifts the Goalposts For 'Full Self-Driving' Technology (arstechnica.com)
AmiMoJo writes: Tesla has been selling "full self-driving" capability since 2016, promising that "you will be able to summon your Tesla from pretty much anywhere," and that "once it picks you up, you will be able to sleep, read or do anything else en route [sic] to your destination." Last week Tesla shifted the goalposts, redefining "full self-driving" as a number of Level 2 driver assistance features that were already available, and a few new tricks to be delivered later. All will require a qualified driver behind the wheel, paying attention at all times and ready to take over if the car can't handle the situation. Worse, owners who bought the previous full self-driving feature paid $8,000 for it. Tesla is now offering owners who bought their cars prior to the change the same package for $5,000. Owners who paid the $3,000 higher price are unsure if the previously promised technology has been abandoned and Level 2 is now the most they can expect.
What's wrong with "en route"? Don't tell me - a cretinous AMERICAN didn't understand the language. What's new?
These are referring to autonomy levels, not versions. They are defined by the federal government (at least in the US). Level 5 is what all non-tech people imagine. "Car, take me to work. I'm going to sleep now". Level 0 tops out at something like ABS. Level 1 is something like cruise control or lane assist (but not both). Level 2 is both, or Tesla's autopilot. The car can maintain speed and steer, but the driver must be ready to take control back at any time. Level 3 is the car drives itself and asks for help when it needs you to take over (if traffic is crazy or the rain is messing with LIDAR), so you can read a book til then and not pay attention. Level 4 is fully autonomous but it has limitations known at purchase time. And Level 5 drives as well as you.
So, yeah, it's meaningful.
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[*] While the critics and PR were talking about net profits, Musk had internal numbers showing a healthy 20% gross margin in S and X. Once gross margin is positive, getting net margin is simply a matter of scaling up.
So Musk has come to believe ALL the critics are wrong ALL the time. That is again not true. But from Musk point of view, everything he did starting from writing a shoot them up arcade game as a teenager, to making money in the dot com irrational days were deemed "impossible" by most people. So he has come to distrust everyone.
But once in a while I see reports of him being very realistic and candid. With Monroe agreeing the bad designs that was costing too much money in making model3 for one. His praise for the little known "pump team" in the cave rescue. There is a lot to like the engineer in Musk, and the dedication to chase the impossible.
But he would have benefited from a few honest critics who could have earned credibility by saying, "This is possible, That is hard, that one is impossible, this one is a question of money, that one is a question of time, but that one is really really impossible". Hope there are a few in his trusted circle. There must be a few, else Space X would not be this successful.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
As with anything new, they are pushing the boundaries on what is currently available and moving at a quick pace. Full Self Driving is supposably coming later this year (though I suspect more like later next year) and includes hardware changes. I read they are going to put a second forward-facing radar unit, changing the driving computer out for one with a 10X faster chip that sits behind the glove box, and enabling the technology slowly as reliability increases, regulations allow, and hardware developed. The current chip works by processing 200 FPS of video from the 8 cameras, and the new chip processing 2000FPS.
I have a Tesla ModelX, with enhanced autopilot and I paid for the FSD upgrade when purchasing. I read all of the fine print, the purchase agreement, and made an informed decision to bet that they would deliver on it. Why not? They have delivered (eventuallly) on many of their other goals. Worst case scenario they refund me my purchase of that option. I still think with everything else I got, it was a hell of a purchase and I am very satisfied with it over all. Honestly the worst part of the owner experience is the service timelines.
No other car gets software upgrades like this, and every time they do, I get excited again to see what new functions they enabled. Drive on Nav is super cool.
No where have I read that you will never be able to summon your car from across the US one day. Tesla have shown videos of the development vehicles driving, both in the city streets and on the highway unaided successfully. What I think they need to do is answer for a high number of so many thousands of edge cases before they can go "unaided" as well as seek regulatory approval.
They demonstrated this two years ago: https://youtu.be/VG68SKoG7vE
Now, we are waiting for the HW 3.0 upgrades and drive-on-nav to work off the freeway.
Also. One final thought: Super charging is going to have to work with that snake thing they use to auto plug in, or Tesla is going to need an attendant at the Super Charger for personless cross-country travel. The new faster SC is nice and all, but I was hoping for self-plugging in.