Tesla updates software to roll out driverless cars in three months

[(oYo)]

http://rt.com/usa/242733-tesla-models-autopilot-software-update/

Seeing a Tesla is about to get a lot more wild, as the company is preparing to install its self-driving software in the Model S fleet. The autopilot feature will only work on highways... as the technology may not yet be legal in the US.

Tesla will roll out an auto-steering software update for the Model S in the next three or four months, and owners won’t even have to go into a Tesla store for the upgrade, founder Elon Musk said at a Thursday press conference.

READ MORE: ‘Personal roller coaster’: Tesla Motors unveils electric Model S that drives itself

Drivers will only be able to engage the autonomous system while on highways, despite having the technical ability to do a lot more.

"It is technically capable of going from parking lot to parking lot," Musk said. "But we won't be enabling that for users with this hardware suite, because we don't think it's likely to be safe in suburban neighborhoods," he continued, noting that such streets often lack posted speed limit signs and pose obstacles like children playing in the street.

“There’s certainly an expectation that when autopilot on the Model S is enabled, that you’re paying attention. But it should also take care of you if you have moments of distraction," the Tesla founder added.

The company has been testing the software mainly between San Francisco and Seattle.

“We’re pretty excited about the progress we’re making there,” Musk said. “We’re now almost able to travel all the way from San Francisco to Seattle without the driver touching any controls at all.”

Apparently there's some debate as to who would be responsible in the case of an accident, Tesla or the driver, but in my mind there is no debate, since Tesla would in fact be the driver.

The driverless car technology also raises the question of liability in an accident, which may need to be decided by the courts, rather than by legislation.

“If it’s fully autonomous, who’s responsible if there’s a mistake? The driver or the company who made it?” Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, told the Times. “I don’t see how Tesla’s going to clear the hurdles. They may have to go to each state legislative body and convince them, and that takes time.”

YouTube videos:

Promotional video - Tesla CEO Elon Musk reveals Dual Motor All Wheel Drive Model S and Autopilot.
Tesla Unveils Dual Motor and Autopilot

This is a real world demonstration of the autopilot, even showing off its ability to deal with traffic lights.
Tesla Model S P85D Autopilot Demo Release 6.1

[criptix]

Very exciting times ahead. Just yesterday i saw a documentation about self driving cars.
the concept cars of mercedes and bmw are pretty awesome too.
the first has a working software for driving in cities the latter has working software for driving on highways
( they showed live demonstration of the cars driving themself in the city and on highways)

Regarding law theres a hurdle though - atleast for europe - because legally the driver has to have 100% control over the car while driving

[jaysabi]

I will never buy a self-driving car, because I like the act of driving too much. I don't understand the appeal to a car that drives itself. It takes all the joy out of cars.

[Vod]

I will never buy a self-driving car, because I like the act of driving too much. I don't understand the appeal to a car that drives itself. It takes all the joy out of cars.

In a few years you may not have a choice.  A human driving might be considered too dangerous for other cars on the road.  Humans make too many mistakes.

[cramved]

Actually I think that I probably won't own a car until most cars are driverless and electric, so it is good to see the tech coming to market so soon (so it will be really good when it is time for me to buy)

[Vod]

Actually I think that I probably won't own a car until most cars are driverless and electric, so it is good to see the tech coming to market so soon (so it will be really good when it is time for me to buy)

Boo to electric!  (Posted selfishly by someone who has had their income affected by the low price of oil)   

[cramved]

Actually I think that I probably won't own a car until most cars are driverless and electric, so it is good to see the tech coming to market so soon (so it will be really good when it is time for me to buy)

Boo to electric!  (Posted selfishly by someone who has had their income affected by the low price of oil)   

I see were you come from but it is the way the market will move in the future. It will be a while until most of the cars on the road are electric like 10-20 years because of how long they last so at least for you there is a bright side. Oil will still be used in lots of things like plastics so it will not be completely useless once gas cars are gone.

[Nemo1024]

Actually I think that I probably won't own a car until most cars are driverless and electric, so it is good to see the tech coming to market so soon (so it will be really good when it is time for me to buy)

Boo to electric!  (Posted selfishly by someone who has had their income affected by the low price of oil)   

I see were you come from but it is the way the market will move in the future. It will be a while until most of the cars on the road are electric like 10-20 years because of how long they last so at least for you there is a bright side. Oil will still be used in lots of things like plastics so it will not be completely useless once gas cars are gone.

I don't know about 10-20 years...

Oslo, Norway is leading the way. You can see cars with "EL" license plate everywhere, and there are so many of them, that there are talks of discontinuing the privilege given to the electric cars, such as use of commuter/bus field and free entry into the capital. And the chargers in central Oslo are almost on every corner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_electric_vehicles_in_Norway

[cramved]

Actually I think that I probably won't own a car until most cars are driverless and electric, so it is good to see the tech coming to market so soon (so it will be really good when it is time for me to buy)

Boo to electric!  (Posted selfishly by someone who has had their income affected by the low price of oil)   

I see were you come from but it is the way the market will move in the future. It will be a while until most of the cars on the road are electric like 10-20 years because of how long they last so at least for you there is a bright side. Oil will still be used in lots of things like plastics so it will not be completely useless once gas cars are gone.

I don't know about 10-20 years...

Oslo, Norway is leading the way. You can see cars with "EL" license plate everywhere, and there are so many of them, that there are talks of discontinuing the privilege given to the electric cars, such as use of commuter/bus field and free entry into the capital. And the chargers in central Oslo are almost on every corner.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Tesla.jpg/220px-Tesla.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_electric_vehicles_in_Norway

Globally adoption will be far slower, Cars sold today in a lot of countries are mostly gas and cars are commonly used for 10+ years so I don't think my estimate was far off.

[Nemo1024]

Actually I think that I probably won't own a car until most cars are driverless and electric, so it is good to see the tech coming to market so soon (so it will be really good when it is time for me to buy)

Boo to electric!  (Posted selfishly by someone who has had their income affected by the low price of oil)   

I see were you come from but it is the way the market will move in the future. It will be a while until most of the cars on the road are electric like 10-20 years because of how long they last so at least for you there is a bright side. Oil will still be used in lots of things like plastics so it will not be completely useless once gas cars are gone.

I don't know about 10-20 years...

Oslo, Norway is leading the way. You can see cars with "EL" license plate everywhere, and there are so many of them, that there are talks of discontinuing the privilege given to the electric cars, such as use of commuter/bus field and free entry into the capital. And the chargers in central Oslo are almost on every corner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_electric_vehicles_in_Norway

Globally adoption will be far slower, Cars sold today in a lot of countries are mostly gas and cars are commonly used for 10+ years so I don't think my estimate was far off.

In Norway, adoption simply exploded over the last 4 years. But you may be right. Norway, even though it's an oil producer, is a special isolated case. The global adoption may indeed go slower.

[cramved]

Global adoption will be slower in places like china and india where there are a lot of cars and the income is not very high resulting in people keeping cars for a very long time.

[jaysabi]

I will never buy a self-driving car, because I like the act of driving too much. I don't understand the appeal to a car that drives itself. It takes all the joy out of cars.

In a few years you may not have a choice.  A human driving might be considered too dangerous for other cars on the road.  Humans make too many mistakes.

A few decades, maybe, if we ever get to the point where the "choice" to drive is eliminated. I personally don't see that as likely.

[9000]

I will never buy a self-driving car, because I like the act of driving too much. I don't understand the appeal to a car that drives itself. It takes all the joy out of cars.

It's not very different from riding the bus, or taking a taxi, instead of a person driving you have a computer.

I think this technology is great, but it will take quite a few years for it to become ubiquitous, and I want one now!

[cramved]

It will be cool when you could have you car drive people around and make money when you are not using it, there could be a  service like uber for them.

[coinits]

I will never buy a self-driving car, because I like the act of driving too much. I don't understand the appeal to a car that drives itself. It takes all the joy out of cars.

In the fast-approaching 'Internet of Everything' World you will not have a choice.  Probably 20 years out. Driving a car by steering wheel will become as archaic as using a Vic 20 to game on.

[coinpr0n]

This may be the best way to continue developing driverless cars. Tesla has small enough penetration, yet enough to get some important data points.

[TheButterZone]

Can't even manage to drive a few minutes in the middle lane with cruise control set at 65MPH in light traffic without some assfuck swerving (turning without signaling) in front of me, and/or slamming their brakes for no good reason. Is the Tesla going to swerve into an open lane or hard brake when its lasers detect assfucks?

[Nemo1024]

Can't even manage to drive a few minutes in the middle lane with cruise control set at 65MPH in light traffic without some assfuck swerving (turning without signaling) in front of me, and/or slamming their brakes for no good reason. Is the Tesla going to swerve into an open lane or hard brake when its lasers detect assfucks?

Hm... I know the feeling. Too many drivers consider signalling to be an optional feature... Having a miniature rocket launcher at the front may be an option. 

[TheButterZone]

Can't even manage to drive a few minutes in the middle lane with cruise control set at 65MPH in light traffic without some assfuck swerving (turning without signaling) in front of me, and/or slamming their brakes for no good reason. Is the Tesla going to swerve into an open lane or hard brake when its lasers detect assfucks?

Hm... I know the feeling. Too many drivers consider signalling to be an optional feature... Having a miniature rocket launcher at the front may be an option. 

I'd rather... TURBO BOOST!

[(oYo)]

Can't even manage to drive a few minutes in the middle lane with cruise control set at 65MPH in light traffic without some assfuck swerving (turning without signaling) in front of me, and/or slamming their brakes for no good reason. Is the Tesla going to swerve into an open lane or hard brake when its lasers detect assfucks?

Hm... I know the feeling. Too many drivers consider signalling to be an optional feature... Having a miniature rocket launcher at the front may be an option. 

I'd rather... TURBO BOOST!

A rocket launcher would leave too much dangerous debris on the road. I'd like to have a couple Romulan disruptors mounted on the front fenders to completely disintegrate anyone who won't get out of my way.

Personally I can't wait for autopilot for cars. I hate commuting and would prefer to sleep, read, play games, watch movies, eat, drink or even just take a shit, rather than have to drive in traffic everyday just to get to and from work. Driving isn't fun unless you're pushing the limits and for that you (legally) need be on a closed track, otherwise you're just being reckless by endangering innocent people's lives or at the very least property.