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Comment by al_borland | Hacker News Reader

I’m surprised that would even work. I figured it would be like when Casey Neistat got in the subway and the screens floated away, or turned off while he was walking. I don’t know how the AVP would be able to lock the windows in space when the background is constantly moving.

I have to assume this video was made for the memes and not a serious user.

Distracted driving aside, if anything happens to the software or hardware which causes the device to turn off, the user is essentially wearing a blindfold while behind the wheel of a car. Autopilot or not, that’s a bad idea.

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This goes to the core problem of the Tesla self driving system though - it's designed to encourage stupid people to do stupid things. Yes, it's a funny idea, but what this guy has actually done is go out and operated a motor vehicle recklessly and put everyone around him in danger. In my country it's highly likely this driver would be prosecuted for a number of offences if they could identify him (which I'm guessing wouldn't be that tricky).

This vehicle doesn't have "self driving" or even auto steer. At most, he's steering it with his knees.

Wut? Tesla's releasing vehicles without the self driving? That can't be right can it?

Yeah, it is really weird. TBH, I expected them to ship without "FSD", but was really surprised to see that even basic AP hasn't been enabled.

I think it is because of the significantly different vehicle size and camera position.

AFAICT, AP hasn't changed in the last 2 years. I'm not surprised they didn't update the old AP based on an old stack for Cybertruck since they probably think that old stack will be thrown away soon. I imagine they'll first update FSD for the cybertruck, then nerf the new FSD to create a new AP for Cybertruck, and then the new AP will trickle down to other Tesla models.

FSD is an option, an expensive one at that. I’m pretty sure most Tesla buyers aren’t getting it ATM.

“Autopilot comes standard on every new Tesla”

So unless I’m missing something, the Cybertruck has basic Autopilot; the Autosteer (Beta) at least.

With the option to upgrade to Teslas full system.

Given the truck is driving down a straight wide road, the standard Autosteer is very capable and competent.

It doesn’t excuse the driver though.

But I’d guess this video is some sort of stunt for internet points?

Travel mode (designed for airplanes) fixes that. Which Casey didn’t try.

But in a plane the background isn't moving... it's the inside of the plane, which is always stationary at least with regards to the passenger. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying you shouldn't need that even on planes.

You’re assuming the tracking is all visual but it’s not. Uses vision combined with accelerometer, gyro, etc. Which are affected by vehicle movements.

Travel mode apparently switches it to track primarily with vision. So it can work as you say.

I mean I wouldn't recommend it, but realistically Tesa's autopilot is good enough that you would have the extra 1 second it takes to take off the headset to react.

I remember from driving school that it only takes one second to have an accident.

Sure but autopilot can brake and steer to avoid an accident. Though apparently the Cybertruck doesn't actually have this yet? That makes this completely fucking crazy.

There have already been accidents where some people have had exactly this opinion - that "autopilot" can brake/steer enough to avoid an accident - and crashed or died as a result.

That’s true. You never know when someone’s tire’s gonna blow out. And I think the added disorientation from having to hastily remove an unanticipated blindfold would contribute negatively, as well. I could even see myself pausing for a beat thinking it would come back.

I was driving last week and a shovel fell out of the back of a work truck in front of me on the expressway going 75mph. It bounced erratically across the road. I was hanging back, as I usually do from trucks like that, and was able to slow down to stay well out of the way. The shovel caught some bounces that threw it to the side of the road (through a bunch of cars merging on the expressway). Had I been in a Tesla, following close with autopilot, and screwing around on a headset, I probably would have gotten a shovel through my windshield.

FYI: According to the twitter comments, the Cybertruck does not have autopilot.

Wow wtf? One that this person is doing this without autopilot is crazy. But also crazy that Tesla would ship the Cybertruck without autopilot support.

Yeah, Cybertruck is shipping without some of its major features enabled. They also have diff lockers that can't be engaged. :facepalm

Autopilot is a standard Tesla feature which is different than full self driving or FSD.

True, but it isn't available on Cybertruck yet. The software is effectively incomplete.

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