Never use Tesla Autopilot feature around cyclists, warns robotics expert

"Never use Tesla Autopilot feature around cyclists, warns robotics expert."

Yet again, a reversal of responsibility, with drivers allowed to use technology which endangers other road users.  Why?

How come dangerous technology is allowed on roads?  Surely this should not be allowed until it is safe for all other road users?

Google quickly abandoned the "half way house" driver assist technology for all these reasons.

https://medium.com/waymo/why-were-aiming-for-fully-self-driving-vehicles...

"People didn’t pay attention like they should have. We saw some silly behavior, including someone who turned around and searched the back seat for his laptop to charge his phone — while traveling 65mph down the freeway! We saw human nature at work: people trust technology very quickly once they see it works. As a result, it’s difficult for them to dip in and out of the task of driving when they are encouraged to switch off and relax."

I work in the industry. There is a lack of testing generally for these technologies. Companies are just rushing them to market as part of the release cycle, and don't have the resources for the kind of up front development that Google (and Apple?) have.

But there is also no testing whatsoever of how these technologies affect driver behaviour.

Before full autonomus cars reach the market, we could well make the roads more dangerous.

If the default position for any semi-autonomous car is that anything it can't identify/classify causes it to slow to a crawl until it has safely passed the object or recognised it then I would feel less worried, as it stands I don't know how much this system would modify it's driving, probably more so than most drivers who seem to wait until they have no option but to slow down behind you (or attempt a last minute pass).

Hands on the wheel is a requirement in all fifty states.  Since the feature is pointless while your hands are on the wheel, it should not be legal for sale in the US.

Little consolation (apart from the stonking insurance payout) if you are one of those run over by a Tesla, but are they not statistically far less likely to be involved in a road traffic collision even at the current stage of development than human drivers?

Having said that I hope the Tesla AI is smarter than the auto headlight dimming, auto windscreen wiping, and other dumb as fuck driver 'conveniences' in my Citroen.

Quote:

Never use Tesla Autopilot feature around cyclists, warns robotics expert

Countdown to people deliberately going out in their Teslas, switching on the autopilot when they see cyclists, and then posting the results on YouTube, in 3... 2... 1...

so no change there for us - the 'semi-autonomous driver' is just like almost every other driver on the road

Yes this basically suggests that the only place it could be used is roads where cycles are prohibited, in UK that means motorways.

So if it doesn't recognise cyclists can it detect pedestrians, motorbikes, scooters?

And the size of the problem  / level of risk is perfectly illustated by Stephen Fry - a self admitted Tesla owner.

At this weekend's Hay festival Fry spoke about technology and robotics, amongst other things saying that  he owned an automated car that allowed him to read a book or watch television as the car drove itself along California's freeways."*

I'm not familiar with California Freeways to know if you can cycle on them but Fry seems blissfully unaware at how unreliable his car's technology is - claiming to read a book or watch TV while the car drives itself may well result in a serious accident or death as a handful of other trusting Tesla owners have already found to their own cost.

*source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40076701

"Tesla makes it clear to drivers that the system is not fully autonomous and that they should keep their hands on the steering wheel and pay attention at all times." - which is, lets face it, not the average person's common sense understanding of the description "Autopilot".

This halfway house technology really shouldn't be on the roads at all. It either does it all, or it does nothing if you want the driver to keep paying attention. You can't expect it to do everthing 99% of the time and have the driver really paying attention 100% of the time.

This is an engineering problem that will be fixed with time. I already trust these vehicles far more than I trust humans

Also I'd like to reiterate; the Tesla doesn't have problem seeing cyclists, it just has problems identifying them. The vehicle knows that something is there, and so takes evasive action as required.