Excerpt from Tesla’s Autopilot Could Save the Lives of Millions, But It Will Kill Some People First https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-10-09/tesla-s-autopilot-could-save-the-lives-of-millions-but-it-will-kill-some-people-first
Releasing still-incomplete software to customers now, and hoping to work out bugs and add capabilities along the way, is, of course, how Silicon Valley often introduces smartphone apps and video games. But those products can’t kill people. Waymo, GM, and the others have rough drafts, too, but they’re installed in only a few hundred test models, deployed in a handful of carefully chosen neighborhoods around the country, and almost always supervised by professional safety drivers. Safety is an obsession, especially after an Uber test car mowed down a pedestrian last year. GM’s prototypes crawl San Francisco’s hilly streets at a maximum speed of 35 mph. Miles Driven Musk, on the other hand, is putting his rough draft into consumers’ hands as fast as he can. This allows Tesla engineers to collect terabytes of data from customers and use the information to refine the Autopilot software based on real-world conditions. Even Teslas that aren’t on Autopilot pitch in: They silently compare the human driver’s choices with what the computer would have done. Every few weeks, Tesla completes a new and improved version of Autopilot and uploads it to the cars, to the delight of Qazi and other fans. _______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews_etskywarn.net
