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US probes Tesla's Full Self-Driving software after fatal crash

(www.reuters.com)
410 points jjulius | 10 comments | 18 Oct 24 16:01 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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bastawhiz ◴[19 Oct 24 17:33 UTC] No.41889192[source]▶
Lots of people are asking how good the self driving has to be before we tolerate it. I got a one month free trial of FSD and turned it off after two weeks. Quite simply: it's dangerous.

- It failed with a cryptic system error while driving

- It started making a left turn far too early that would have scraped the left side of the car on a sign. I had to manually intervene.

- In my opinion, the default setting accelerates way too aggressively. I'd call myself a fairly aggressive driver and it is too aggressive for my taste.

- It tried to make way too many right turns on red when it wasn't safe to. It would creep into the road, almost into the path of oncoming vehicles.

- It didn't merge left to make room for vehicles merging onto the highway. The vehicles then tried to cut in. The system should have avoided an unsafe situation like this in the first place.

- It would switch lanes to go faster on the highway, but then missed an exit on at least one occasion because it couldn't make it back into the right lane in time. Stupid.

After the system error, I lost all trust in FSD from Tesla. Until I ride in one and feel safe, I can't have any faith that this is a reasonable system. Hell, even autopilot does dumb shit on a regular basis. I'm grateful to be getting a car from another manufacturer this year.

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dekhn ◴[19 Oct 24 17:54 UTC] No.41889348[source]▶
I don't think you're supposed to merge left when people are merging on the highway into your lane- you have right of way. I find even with the right of way many people merging aren't paying attention, but I deal with that by slightly speeding up (so they can see me in front of them).
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1. sangnoir ◴[19 Oct 24 18:14 UTC] No.41889502[source]▶
You don't have a right of way over a slow moving vehicle that merged ahead of you. Most ramps are not long enough to allow merging traffic to accelerate to highway speeds before merging, so many drivers free up the right-most lane for this purpose (by merging left)
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2. potato3732842 ◴[19 Oct 24 18:38 UTC] No.41889675[source]▶
Most ramps are more than long enough to accelerate close enough to traffic speed if one wants to, especially in most modern vehicles.
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3. SoftTalker ◴[19 Oct 24 18:59 UTC] No.41889826[source]▶
If you can safely move left to make room for merging traffic, you should. It’s considerate and reduces the chances of an accident.
4. wizzwizz4 ◴[19 Oct 24 19:49 UTC] No.41890237[source]▶
Unless the driver in front of you didn't.
5. dekhn ◴[19 Oct 24 20:41 UTC] No.41890631[source]▶
Since a number of people are giving pushback, can you point to any (California-oriented) driving instructions consistent with this? I'm not seeing any. I see people saying "it's curteous", but when I'm driving I'm managing hundreds of variables and changing lanes is often risky, given motorcycles lanesplitting at high speed (quite common).
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6. davidcalloway ◴[19 Oct 24 22:38 UTC] No.41891334[source]▶
Definitely not California but literally the first part of traffic law in Germany says that caution and consideration are required from all partaking in traffic.

Germans are not known for poor driving.

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7. dekhn ◴[19 Oct 24 22:44 UTC] No.41891365{3}[source]▶
Right- but the "consideration" here is the person merging onto the highway actually paying attention and adjusting, rather than pointedly not even looking (this is a very common merging behavior where I life). Changing lanes isn't without risk even on a clear day with good visibility. Seems like my suggestion of slowing down or speeding up makes perfect sense because it's less risky overall, and is still being considerate.

Note that I personally do change lanes at times when it's safe, convenient, I am experienced with the intersection, and the merging driver is being especially unaware.

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8. sangnoir ◴[19 Oct 24 23:44 UTC] No.41891713[source]▶
It's not just courteous, it's self serving, AFAIK, a self-emergent phenomenon. If you're driving at 65 mph and anticipate a slow down in your lane due merging traffic, do you stay in your lane and slow down to 40 mph, or do you change lanes (if it's safe to do so) and maintain your speed?

Texas highways allow for much higher merging speeds at the cost of far large (land area), 5-level interchanges rather than 35 mph offramps and onramps common in California.

Any defensive driving course (which fall under instruction IMO) states that you don't always have to exercise your right of way, and indeed it may be unsafe to do so in some circumstances. Anticipating the actions of other drivers around you and avoiding potentially dangerous are the other aspects of being a defensive driver, and those concepts are consistent with freeing up the lane slower-moving vehicles are merging onto when it's safe to do so.

9. watwut ◴[20 Oct 24 09:04 UTC] No.41894061{4}[source]▶
Consideration is also making space for slower car wanting to merge and Germans do it.
10. ◴[20 Oct 24 09:29 UTC] No.41894173{3}[source]▶