I find it amusing that in marketing Musk is always like the “hands on policy is just there to appease the regulators.” But after every fatal crash, the first thing in the press release is “the driver took his hands off the wheel!”
"The person in the driver's seat is only there for legal reasons"
https://i.imgur.com/74XHPiL.png
In fact, the entire video shows the driver with their hands off the wheel.
I think you can rightfully give them shit about calling the current gen "autopilot", and think their full of shit for claiming FSD is as close as it is, but this video is not intended to suggest you can operate the existing car in that manner.
But, if you're a newbie, you just Googled "tesla autopilot" and clicked on the first result. You see that tesla has the "future of driving" - that must be autopilot, right? You scroll down and watch the video. There's a notice that people are optional and a guy being driven around hands free.
The messaging is painfully there - autopilot does not require hands and the feature set of FSD vs autopilot is conflated in a very misleading way on that page in general. If you scroll down (albeit a heading that describes FSD), you see "The system is designed to be able to conduct short and long distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver’s seat."
Tesla's autopilot landing page is clearly designed to mislead unsuspecting consumers into believing that autopilot is a self-driving capability.
To the viewer, that would just look like a person driving a car.
...which is exactly how current autopilot systems are meant to be operated, if you listen to the post-crash analysis.
Which, yes, defies the whole point of having these systems entirely.
Which is why they would be hard to sell.
Which would be right.
The difference in labeling is what killed several people already.
The only other context where we currently use "autopilot" is in aircraft, and Tesla autopilot demonstrates a significantly higher level of autonomy than the autopilot of your average aircraft.
I'd actually compare the Boeing "assistance" to the Tesla "assistance" as sometimes the craft will decide to steer into solid objects based on misinterpreted sensors. But the comparison is a stretch.
Namely, that the skies are clear.
In conclusion there are few similarities between an aircraft pilot and driving assistance in cars.
In a recent release note adding the ability to turn off lane-change confirmations when in 'Navigate on AutoPilot', they have the following;
> With confirmation turned off, lane changes will only be made once we've confirmed that the driver's hands are on the wheel. Disabling lane confirmation does not abdicate the driver of their responsibility to keep their hands on the wheel, be engaged at all times and carefully monitor their car's surroundings. [1]
Here's what Elon actually thinks;
> [C]an’t make system too annoying or people won’t use it, negatively affecting safety, but also can’t allow people to get too complacent or safety again suffers. Latest update should have a positive effect on latter issue especially. [2]
Fundamentally, as a TM3 driver, you just absolutely must be looking out the damn window when using AP. Hands on or off the wheel is a proxy for "are you taking responsibility for your vehicle" which first and foremost means; looking at where the car is going.
I'd like to see Tesla add gaze tracking on the driver facing camera, even if it doesn't work when wearing sunglasses. If it is able to track your gaze, then it should use that. Fallback to wheel torque detection as a secondary. I couldn't find a sample video of what that camera captures, but on the PCB it is apparently labeled "SELFIE".
[1] - https://imgur.com/a/gxePQ75#6cklbYQ
[2] - https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1005879049493725186
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-tesla-autopilot-60-min...
Promotional material is not instructional material, and should not be treated as such.
The "you're being unfair to Tesla because you aren't complaining about other automakers" meme has to die, because Tesla often does what no other automaker dares. This leads to their biggest triumphs (and there are many), and their worst mistakes. I guess that's what happens when you optimize for decisions per unit of time, right?
I too am tired of people misdirecting conversations. Maybe it's our attention deficit culture, or maybe it's whataboutism spread by masters of the game such as China.
Why does everything need to be on the same level? I can criticize Tesla for one thing, and another company for another.
Every other other Level 2 system advertisement I could find shows the driver with their hands off the wheel, at least to some extent;
[1] - Nissan - https://youtu.be/HkL67DgleQY
[2] - Ford - https://youtu.be/Z_9218dTXXY
[3] - Audi - https://youtu.be/nUlK6fpveXg
[4] - BMW - https://youtu.be/xsQvq4WlUYU
Tesla can't market its system in a way that indicates hands free use is ok, then turn around then blame the driver when they crash driving like that. Like Elon!
Other car companies need to be held to the exact same standard.
Audi says you can take your hands off in traffic jam assist in its ad, the car monitors alertness and tells you when to take over.
If a customer takes their hands off as directed and the car accelerates suddenly in to the car in front of them, Audi is at fault. If they then turn around and say the customer isn't reading the fine print, then they've crossed the line in to being a bad actor just like Tesla.