Hacker News Reader

Comment by justaguy88 | Hacker News Reader

So if we were going to purchase one soon, should we instead wait for this to be fixed?

From what I understand they are transitioning from radar do vision only. The problem was that software engineers missed the deadline.

They will provide that in a software update, it will be just a period of time for new Teslas where the feature is not available. There's no point to wait, since you will eventually get it in update, and if you want the radar you will have to buy used model.

Personally I don't believe vision can replace radar in 100%. In a bad weather vision will be inferior. The argument could be that drivers also only use vision, but other cars do come with radars to supplement driver's vision.

I've been wondering about this myself. I drive in bad weather all the time. Sometimes its blowing snow, sometimes its because the DOT can't keep the road clear. I often can't see the white strip - or even the yellow strip on the road and have to gauge where I'm at by finding reflector poles.

Two lanes will turn down to one, and back to two really quickly (snow removal). Toss in 60-80MPH wind gusts, and it really is a test.

Add in wild critters, inexperienced drivers, impatient drivers, and it can be a bit insane.

Seems odd to buy a not-finished car

> The argument could be that drivers also only use vision, but other cars do come with radars to supplement driver's vision.

I don’t buy this argument at all, a lot of drivers are absolutely terrible. I think we should be making automated vehicles better than humans.

You've been drinking kool aid, because right now self driving cars are much worse than humans. Maybe in future, but we are not there yet. We are discussing about he change happening right now.

But these cars aren't disposable, the whole point is that they are upgradable via software, is it not? These self driving cars will hopefully improve, but limiting them because 'humans don't use radar' seems short sighted. Perhaps we would be better drivers if we'd evolved with some sort of radar.

Also I'm not sure to which koolaid you refer, but if its the Tesla one you should probably know I'm extremely sceptical of their claims and have no intention of owning one.

There is nothing to be fixed. They are replacing radar with vision.

They're disabling some functions due to the switch and promising to bring them back with an update. So that's really a fix for something that isn't working anymore.

If those features are important to you, it makes sense to wait for the update to be released before you buy.

Don't trust a Tesla promise, wait for the feature to be there in reality. It took them a very long time to make the promised automatic wipers work last time...

"Autosteer will be limited to a maximum speed of 75 mph and a longer minimum following distance.

Smart Summon (if equipped) and Emergency Lane Departure Avoidance may be disabled at delivery."

Are these really important features that you would postpone a purchase of the car? With the exception of the "Emergency Lane Departure Avoidance", no other car in the industry has these features anyways.

Many states have highway speed limits that _begin_ at 75mph. So yes this would mean autopilot (a huge selling point of these vehicles) is useless for highway driving, which is what autopilot in its current incarnation is meant for.

You can still drive the car and this is temporary. To hold on to the purchase because of this is idiotic.

And I am going to call out on your BS. No state begins at 75. Max speed in most states is 70 and 4 or 5 have a max speed of 80, which is the max across the country. So go lie somewhere else.

https://www.iihs.org/topics/speed/speed-limit-laws

Reply on news.ycombinator.com