Cops “almost 99.9% sure” Tesla had no one at the wheel before deadly crash
(arstechnica.com)
?? Theory ??
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There is a weight sensor in the driver's seat and a torque sensor in the steering wheel. If you leave the seat, autopilot will disengage immediately. If you take your hands off the wheel it will disengage in a minute or so. They also say it was traveling at a "high rate of speed", but autopilot will not go more than 5mph over the limit on surface roads. Something doesn't add up here.
These are excellent points.
I didn't know any details about Tesla's autodrive, but I thought the story was odd. I didn't think it likely that you could make the autopilot drive at a 'high rate of speed' as in unsafe speeds. I didn't see why hitting a tree with your front bumper would make a Telsa burst into flames.
If this story is fake, then what is the point of it, though?
It will go more than 5mph over on highways, but there it is capped at 90mph. If you manually accelerate past 90 with autopilot engaged, it "punishes you" and makes you drive manually until you stop and park.
Don't know what the point of it is, just that the story as claimed doesn't add up.
It doesn't actively stop you going over 90 or turn off AP when you press the pedal but it hand checks constantly so you might as well turn it off. If you aren't paying attention it autopilot jails you and will even turn on flashers and stop the car if you don't respond long enough
It doesn't actively stop you from exceeding 90 but it does jail you. At least it did last time I tried. I got used to disengaging it to avoid the jail so maybe it doesn't any more.
I both love and hate the stop and park to turn autopilot back on. But really what other choice do you have when people are pushing the system? Ether stop and behave or drive the car yourself!
Any bad Tesla news story is going to be 10x another car type.
What is a "high rate of speed" Is it faster than a fast walk? When I read stories like this I start to question everything.
They're pretty secure, though it wouldn't be impossible, I guess. They establish a VPN back to the "mother ship" and will only accept remote commands over that. If someone gained the owner's credentials they could send commands via the API endpoint used by the mobile app, but the capabilities there are pretty limited.
That said, adding the possibility of unauthorized access still doesn't make the story add up.
I tied Can and infotainment networks together in my Tesla for easier remote admin. It's pretty easy with hardware access
Michael Hastings
Autopilot goes more than 5mph over speed limit. You can set it to whatever you want
Not on surface roads. And max 90mph on highways.
Mine will go 90 on limited access highways regardless of limit, the +5 is only for roads with cross traffic and stops
The torque sensor can be defeated by adding a weight to the wheel. Tesla could absolutely do better there, but if someone’s defeating the safeguard, that’s on them.