Who needs to drive anyway?

Giles Bonner
Sep 6, 2018 · 3 min read

As many of you know by now, Tesla, has come a long way in the past few years. Their biggest achievement arguably being their Autopilot system. This Complicated system allows their cars to actually drive themselves!

History

Teslas Autopilot was originally introduced on the Model S back in 2014 as an optional extra ‘tech package’. At the time, the package allowed for semi-autonomous drive as well as automated parking. The initial system was developed in partnership with the Israeli company Mobileye, but the partnership ended in 2016.

Autonomous or not?

Although the system is completely capable of driving the car by itself, Tesla had to remove some of the features in 2015 due to drivers engaging in risky behavior. One video was even floating around youtube of a man asleep at the wheel! There has been a lot of public debate on the legality of autonomous driving.

So how does it work?

The autopilot system uses a series of cameras and radars mounted around the car that allowed for full 360 degree detection of its surroundings. This way, it is able to keep a safe following distance from the car in front, detect drifting cars in other lanes on the highway and compensate, and allow for backing into parking spaces without backing into something. The front facing cameras also allow it to keep track of the lines on the road to keep it tracking inside its lane on the road. Less sophisticated versions of this system exist in the form of radar guided cruise control, which keeps a safe following distance behind the car in front of you, but will not steer, and lane departure warning systems, which will warn you if you are drifting outside of your lane.

Safety

Over the years, there have been multiple accidents, some fatal, involving the Model S while under autopilot operation. Although the system is quite reliable most of the time, it has its faults and drivers take advantage of it. One woman rear ended a firetruck that was stopped at a red light and actually admitted she was looking at her phone, not even paying attention to the road. Tesla had attempted to make the system safer by limiting the speed when autopilot is engaged and removing auto-steer on the highway, but that doesn’t stop people doing things as foolish as jumping in the passenger seat and recording their ‘driverless car’ going down the road.

Lawsuits

In 2017, Tesla was involved in a lawsuit due to the fact that their was a major delay in the deadline of their release of the autopilot 2.0 release, which customers paid $5000 to have on their car. Tesla said they wanted to ‘do right’ and compensate their customers who were effected. Once this lawsuit was settled, Tesla agreed to pay out $20 to $280 in compensation to customers in a $5 million settlement fund.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade