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April 21, 2019 by Kyle Field
The Tesla autopilot has been hailed as the ultimate platform for developing a fully autonomous driving solution. After 8 months of owning our 3 Tesla model, Tesla has reduced the basic autopilot package by removing some features while dropping the price after buying $ 7,000 for the $ 4,000 enhanced autopilot for the new package. Automatic pilot. It was the right time to pull the trigger when updating. So we made the purchase on March 1st.
The update was expected to arrive at the car in 3 to 5 business days, but a problem on the Tesla side prevented the company from receiving payment of $ 4,300 (with tax). A phone call and a few screenshots confirming the payment on my side solved the problem and a few days later, without a popup or notification, the autopilot was available in my model 3.
Yes, he arrived without a red carpet or even with a contextual notification. Someday, we headed to Model 3 and noticed that cruise control setting was driving the blue cruise control bubble, indicating that Traffic Adaptive Cruise Control (TACC) was activated. This blue the color was in place of the normal black speed regulator indicator. My ears straightened up and I quickly tried to call on Autosteer, only to discover that it was not working.
A quick switch in settings revealed that the beta feature was off by default and could only be activated when the vehicle was in the park position. A quick roadside stall and several quick changes in the options screen (Settings -> Autopilot), and the beta version of Autosteer software was enabled. As on many important occasions in life, it seemed that it would have taken more feast – in recognition of the upgrade in life, improving the safety that our vehicle had just had. improve, from the subsequent upgrade of the car – but nothing has happened. It should be, or could be, more of a celebration, because the implications (and the purchase price) are enormous. Pulling myself out of the clouds, I got into the traffic and started playing with the system.
As a pilot, Autosteer appears to do the majority of its tracking from one side to the other based on the lines of the track. These are detected and displayed on the 15-inch touch screen whether the vehicle's autopilot is installed or not. Above this base, it is superimposed on objects such as cars, trucks, motorcycles and bicycles around the car, or even two cars in some cases. The display proved to be a useful base for me to understand what the vehicle saw and why it could react in the same way as when it took the lead. In his recent interview with MIT's Lex Fridman, Elon said Tesla had developed this customer-facing display to show the man what the autopilot saw so easy to interpret. The display is not exhaustive, but it helps you understand what the car sees and what it reacts to.
The art of keeping a hand on the steering wheel when Autosteer takes care of lifting heavy objects is not easy to master. When Autosteer took over the management of my car, it was a bit shy, as if she was starting to become familiar with the vehicle. Since my car is virtually identical to almost all other Tesla Model 3s, it's a bit of a surprise to me. I expected the solution to take advantage of the highly prized fleet learning that the thousands, if not the tens of thousands of Teslas who had already taken my route, would have learned. The car would follow the lines of the road as if they were the letter of the law. When a new path merges with mine, the car was rehabilitated immediately with a tight and radical turn. This was not reassuring, but I hoped and would hope that it would improve.
Abandon control
By using Autosteer these first times, I was probably more nervous than letting the car handle most of the driving. My body was tense, my grip was firm, and my body was taught, ready to take over at any time. That was partly valid, but it was mostly my instinctive reaction to let the car drive itself. After several decades of manual driving, it is difficult to adapt to it. It's not natural.
After a few trips with the autopilot activated, I gradually began to understand what the solution was doing and why. I knew he liked driving much closer to the right lane, and it was acceptable. It was also much better than me to hold a line in the lane and not accidentally drift into the center divider or across a lane line. The autopilot also had those eyes behind the head that my mother had always threatened me – he was not only able to drive, but also to monitor the cars that surrounded him for potential bad drivers around me. That alone is far better than any human can do on its own and greatly improves the safety of the vehicle.
Learning to drive with the autopilot enabled, it's like learning to dance with a new partner. It takes time, as you might expect, but once you get used to it, it can be a good thing. There are still some missteps. I sometimes take the direction when I do not need it or when the turn is a bit too steep for me. But we get used to each other and I hope a lot of long-term prospects.
The catch
I learned to keep a relaxed but firm hand on the wheel, with extra caution when approaching mergers, narrow lanes or transitions. In the weeks following the installation, Autosteer has been gently honed. The first few days were tense, a bit like driving with a teenager you trust, but who just needs to learn for himself how to actually use the car he now controls. A few days later, he became a pilot aged 20 and over, more experienced to his credit. Yet he has not yet mastered the art of relaxed driving. The car approaches stopped traffic at a speed that is not conducive to trust, followed by a fairly brutal stop. When traffic resumes, the autopilot takes the opportunity to turn on the car, leaving a larger gap than normal compared to the car ahead.
Ideally, the autopilot would simply drive as a "normal" driver, simply safer. That's what we all want, and as soon as we learn to let go of our money, we can start learning how to let go of it for that. Tesla's vehicles have already traveled more kilometers than any other company developing autonomous driving technologies. combined, according to CEO Elon Musk. After discussing with Musk in a recent podcast, ARK Invest said, "For example, Tesla vehicles equipped with first- and second-generation autopilot equipment have totaled 8 billion miles to date, while in October 2018."
It's a big gap that Tesla is already using to sell more electric vehicles, while keeping our air purifier and roads safer. This last price change advances these two goals and, as such, is to be celebrated.
You can listen at length to Zach Shahan from CleanTechnica with ARK Invest's Tasha Keeney about the Tesla autopilot hardware, the Tesla and Elon Musk autopilot software in the following interview:
L & # 39; s future
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is known for his overly optimistic schedules, but over the years (as they tend to do), Tesla seems to be slashing the schedule for the deployment of its Full Self Driving solution in production. He said on the ARK Invest podcast that the "Full Feature" solution will be released by the end of 2019, which seems likely. He expected the solution to be fully refined and ready for the owners to "configure and forget" (in my words, not his own) by the end of the year. ;next year. Then, owners can simply let their car drive them to their destination, as far as regulations allow.
The autopilot has improved in just a few weeks, it has been installed on the CleanTechnica Tesla Model 3 and each update brings the solution closer to this future where I can sleep on the way back from the airport instead of fighting to stay awake and on the road. It contains the promise to make transportation available for those who can not drive due to a physical disability, their age or intoxication.
Since the early progress with the autopilot and the most obvious progress we have seen in recent weeks, I hope that Tesla's autopilot and self-driving solutions will actually change the way we are move and even live our life come. It made me dream of new possibilities, a future that is uploaded in my car, a live update at a time.
About the author
Kyle Field I am a technology lover, passionate about finding concrete ways to reduce the negative impact of my life on the planet, save money and reduce stress. Live intentionally, make conscious decisions, love more, act responsibly, play. The more you know, the less you need it. TSLA investor.
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