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The Tesla autopilot may eventually avoid potholes on the road, according to CEO Elon Musk, while the automaker releases more advanced autopilot updates.
Yesterday, I logged in more than 300 km of driving with the latest autopilot update available on my model 3.
The system worked very well, independently controlling the highway and adjusting the speed to the traffic around the electric car.
With a slight pressure on the steering wheel, the autopilot was controlling the vehicle from point A to point B almost without any intervention on my part.
The only time I had to take over, was to avoid big potholes, which are unfortunately a scourge in Quebec, especially at this time of year. .
I've highlighted the question in a tweet after the first leg of my road trip (via Twitter):
I have just traveled more than 150 km @You're here Automatic pilot. The only interventions were to avoid potholes. Any progress on this front @Elon Musk? pic.twitter.com/pYOnD57eIt
– Fred Lambert (@FredericLambert) April 6, 2019
Tesla CEO Elon Musk did not answer, but a few hours later he answered the same question – confirming that Tesla was considering developing the autopilot to avoid some potholes.
Absolutely
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 7, 2019
The announcement comes after Tesla's release of the new "more seamless" Navigate autopilot feature, which virtually allows autonomous highway driving without driver inputs, but still requires constant monitoring of the system.
In addition to the new feature, Tesla has updated the neural driver feeding the autopilot on the latest update, which Musk described as "epic".
More features are coming in the wider fleet, including Enhanced Summon.
Electrek's Take
This is a big problem, as Tesla is getting closer and closer to a solid foundation for a vision-based autonomous driving system, but it will have to be able to handle critical situations.
Some potholes can be very dangerous and this is especially true in places where temperature changes can be quite drastic, such as in the northeast, or in places where infrastructure projects are involved in corruption for decades, as in Canada.
My autopilot trip between Montreal and Shawinigan yesterday was technically flawless, apart from the detection of potholes that I urgently needed to avoid, to protect my tires and even potentially the risk of an accident. in some cases.
At present, human drivers are clearly better equipped to detect and avoid these, which reminds us that, despite the considerable improvements seen with the Tesla autopilot system, it is still important to remain vigilant. and ready to take control at all. time.
That said, I'm happy that the detection and avoidance of potholes is on Tesla's radar – a play on words.
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