[chromejs10]

One thing I don't quite understand is that many cars have autopilot-like software. Unlike tesla's which constantly requires putting pressure on the wheel to show you're there and paying attention, Ford's lets you drive indefinitely without any hands on the wheel. Wouldn't this same investigation be put onto other manufactures as a giant audit? Hitting emergency vehicles is obviously bad but 1) it happens in cars without autopilot and 2) if you're hitting one you're clearly no paying attention. it's not like they just appear out of no where

[lolinder]

What it comes down to for me is the marketing. The other manufacturers are very careful in how they market the software, Tesla is not.

If you look at Mercedes, for example, their marketing page describing their driver assistance technology[0] (with a very similar feature set to Tesla's) uses the word "assist" more than 30 times and in practically every header. Few people would come away from that marketing thinking that their car is going to drive itself without them paying attention.

Tesla, in contrast, advertises their "autopilot" and "full self driving" capabilities. The word "assist" is used exactly once on the Autopilot landing page[1]. The rest of the words and names are carefully chosen to convey a sense of total autonomy.

[0] https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/innovation/autonomous/the-n...

[1] https://www.tesla.com/autopilot

[heavyset_go]

Tesla has also used this wording to advertise their purported self-driving features since 2016[1]:

> The person in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons. He is not doing anything. The car is driving itself.

[1] https://www.tesla.com/videos/autopilot-self-driving-hardware...

[AlphaSite]

I find it really interesting that for Mercedes L3 self driving they are even willing to put their money where their mouth is and take liability for the car in self driving mode.

[jhgb]

The page literally talks about "full self-driving capabilities [...] through software updates designed to improve functionality over time". Which to me sounds like FSD is not actually being advertised as currently existing, as opposed to something you'll eventually get.

[MBCook]

> Unlike tesla's which constantly requires putting pressure on the wheel to show you're there and paying attention, Ford's lets you drive indefinitely without any hands on the wheel

That’s not Ford’s version of Autopilot, it’s one step further. It’s actually hands off (despite how many treat autopilot). Named BlueCruise.

It’s comparable to GM SuperCruise. It ONLY works on specially mapped divided highways that Ford has approved. It will disengage for strong turns and anything it’s not ready for. You MUST watch the road, it keeps track with a camera on the wheel.

Basically the way it treats the driver is far more conservative. Instead of telling the driver they need to pay attention, it actively monitors them. Instead of saying “you should only use it on these kind of roads“ it actively prevents you.

It’s a fundamentally different approach. Ford’s ACC (not hands free, Co-Pilot 360) constantly monitors for steering wheel torque to ensure your hands are on the wheel and disengages pretty quickly if they’re hot and you ignore the warning.

That said, I have it on my car. It’s freaky as hell to use, kind of scary. Maybe I would use it on long drives in the country, but I just don’t want something else that in charge in even medium traffic.

[chromejs10]

That is kind of similar to Tesla still though. At least with FSD Beta there is a camera actively monitoring you and making sure your eyes are on the road. I've also been on roads where autopilot either won't activate at all or will activate but at a reduced speed. I was hoping that once Tesla enabled that internal camera they would stop relying on weight on the steering wheel and just use eye tracking.

[Tempest1981]

> Named BlueCruise

Ah, thanks! I thought the dealer was saying "Blue's Clues"

[dathinab]

As far as I know there had been a unusual high amount of "unusual" accidents associated with Tesla autopilots and there is not such observation for other car manufactures.

This doesn't mean their system is more advanced it actually could mean their system bails earlier due to being less advanced and in turn luckily avoiding this problems.

Or that they are much much less used.

But then Tesla is not really known for good QA.

And in the past there had been multiple unrelated tests for emergency brake systems in which Tesla cars failed really hard. Behaving worse then many much "simpler" less advanced systems. Sometimes to a point of only braking after/when hitting the pedestrian... (mechanized test dummy puppet the Tesla system by it's own feedback recognized as human).

If your most advanced self driving system can't even compete with emergency brake systems by such a large margin I would not be surprising if the Teslas system has major faults tbh.

[revscat]

Autopilot has Prevented far more accidents than it has caused.

[cjensen]

Ford, like GM, has a literal camera monitoring the driver's face so they can see if they are paying attention. Seeing what your face is doing is a much more reliable system of measuring attention than whether or not the driver is touching the steering wheel while reading their book.

[netsharc]

Doesn't Tesla have that too? Not that I trust Elonbois with a camera looking into my car, but hey, maybe someone will offer to buy me a horse...

[nrmitchi]

I don’t think anyone reads about Fords (for example) manual and thinks “oh wow, I don’t even have to have to pay attention and have my hands on the wheel!”.

The fact that it’s a big enough problem for Tesla that they have to monitor it, and still have issues, points to the main difference being user expectations and marketing around these features.

[thfuran]

It's almost as if calling it "autopilot" was wildly irresponsible.

[TrainedMonkey]

Ford's system has a lot more limitations. AFAIK, Tesla is the only company who has non-geo fenced FSD.

[ModernMech]

You say “limitation” but I hear “safety feature”. Best to put limits on dynamic systems that aren’t well understood.

[joe_the_user]

Maybe their systems are safe and Tesla's isn't?

I don't know anything about other manufacturer's systems but I've seen video of Tesla's on autopilot doing unsafe things and read a lot of anecdotes of this as well. Elon Musk has made ridiculously optimistic statements about when Teslas will be self-driving and that by itself can influence people's behavior - perhaps fatally.

Edit: also, Tesla removed Lidar from their system. And there have been well-publicized deaths of people using autopilot.

[panick21_]

Tesla has not removed Lidar form their system. You are mixing things up, they removed rader. And most of cases in the report are about system with radar.

[fdschoeneman]

I'm similarly confused. And with the shade Biden has been throwing at Tesla I'm concerned it may be politically motivated.

[bigbluedots]

Seriously? If money is power, Musk _is_ the ruling class.

[rossjudson]

Who's the ruling class?