> Tesla began issuing an “over-the-air software remedy” to certain vehicles on Tuesday, safety officials said. The remaining vehicles will receive software updates later, and all updates will be free for the cars’ owners.
I was confused as to why Tesla needs to "recall" when they can do OTA update. The title is misleading
surprise
Tesla has a long history of being dishonest about Autopilot capabilities and dangers, and it's killed several people so far. The NHTSA is forcing them to make some tweaks.
(Not arguing that autopilot is on the whole any more or less safe than human drivers. Just that Tesla has a history of misrepresentation.)
From the article:
> > The update will add new, more prominent visual alerts and checks for the Autosteer function, which is part of Autopilot. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said there may be “increased risk of a crash” when Autosteer is engaged and drivers do not “maintain responsibility for vehicle operation.”
I don't buy this. Tesla's driver monitoring during autosteer is among the most annoying in the industry, and it has even more protections than other systems (like how BlueCruise used to [maybe still does] allow you to take off your seatbelt without deactivating).
We all want 100% safe auto driving. We're not there yet. Tesla wants to pretend we are, the NHTSA doesn't, we end up with occasional situations like this where things get marginally safer and more annoying.
Just growing pains for a young industry, I hope.
And how does this "recall" work? Is it physically taking the car to a branch to apply the update? I'm curious to know.
If you miss that letter in the mail or don’t read patchnotes, this recall OTA update will get autoinstalled just like any other regular OTA update without you even noticing anything special about it.
It's just a semantic thing. I think the actual mechanism (that there is a regulatory body that can force auto makers to improve safety, whether OTA or in the shop) is cool, but I agree that the word "recall" is confusing. It's just a holdover from old processes. Maybe the terminology will change in time. Probably not.
Thematically and semantically, sure, I agree, it isn’t.
Functionally, it is, as it installs just like any regular OTA update and doesn’t require the driver to do anything differently compared to a non-recall OTA update.
Negligent drivers have killed people, not autopilot capabilities. Take the example in the recent Washington Post article where a driver ran through a stop sign at a T intersection, left the road, and killed a bystander.
What the article didn't say is that the system reduced cruise set point to 45 mph due to the road type, but the driver was _holding down the accelerator pedal_ to maintain 60 mph as it flew through the stop sign. The driver admitted they knew they were responsible for the controlling the car.
What is your evidence that drivers not knowing Autopilot capabilities, and not intentional misuse by negligent drivers, killed several people?
Tesla is mailing a letter to all affected owners about this. Does Tesla normally do that for regular OTA updates?
Do you have a source for that claim? The earlier news coverage said that the driver set the speed to 44mph, and that the data was unclear whether the autopilot or driver accelerated. If you have something like a court document that would be great to clarify.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/business/tesla-autopilot-...
2. The hero metric is what is the rate of crashes _compared to the general population not using Autopilot_.
Tesla make it abundantly clear that the driver is still responsible for monitoring. This is analogous to a dev just deploying copy-pasted code from ChatGPT without checking it. You still supervise/monitor the result.
> Tesla make it abundantly clear that the driver is still responsible for monitoring.
Tesla had to be dragged kicking and screaming into doing this. When AP first launched, the steering wheel checks were every fifteen minutes, then reduced to five. It has only been through repeated cajoling that it is down to where it is now.
Let's not forget that "The driver is only in the seat for legal purposes. The car is driving itself." is still on Tesla's website to this day. (And in a sense, it is accurate - the legal purposes just include trying to shield Tesla from as much liability as possible). Oh, and Smart Summon. "Bring your car to you while you deal with a fussy child" (and still maintain complete awareness of your car...)
The automaker is required by law to correct it.
That does not mean the car must physically go in, it’s just that until recently that’s how everyone did it because they didn’t have OTA updates.
A recall is still a recall.