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[Strax]

While daily commuters could relatively soon be able to fall asleep in their car and wake up at their destination, currently there’s no commercially available autonomous driving system that allow so little control over a vehicle – even Tesla’s fairly advanced semi autonomous system: the Autopilot.

Yet it doesn’t stop people from abusing the technology as evidenced by a Tesla Model S driver caught on camera while apparently sleeping at the wheel.

The Autopilot’s Autosteer and active cruise control appear to be moving the vehicle in heavy traffic while the driver is filmed looking like he is asleep in a GIF posted to Imgur earlier today.

Tesla’s Autopilot requires the driver to always monitor the vehicle and be ready to take control. If the system lacks data to continue to actively steer the vehicle safely, it will show an alert on the dashboard.

If the driver ignores the alert for too long, it will emit a sound and decelerate while activating the hazard lights and moving the vehicle to the side of the road. The vehicle basically assumes that the driver is unconscious if he can’t take control after visual and audible alerts.

In this case, it seems like the Autopilot is still very much in control and therefore is not bothering the sleeping driver – now a simple passenger.

There’s also the possibility that the video is fake, but the situation is highly possible considering plenty of people fall asleep at the wheel with or without Autopilot.

Regardless, Tesla’s Autopilot is always coupled with active safety features like emergency auto braking and emergency auto steering, which at low-speed should be able to prevent the worse from happening, but the system is still not safe enough to sleep at the wheel.

Video

Source

Give me a ticket if old

 

[NoblesseOblige]

Thought they would have had a better system in place to detect a driver being awake.

Edit: Unless it turns out being fake of course.

 

[BlueTsunami]

Sing me a lullaby, Tesla Sssssszzzzzzz

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

Seems fake. Almost...too fake.

 

[djplaeskool]

Thought they would have had a better system in place to detect a driver being awake.

I think that alert system only triggers if the autopilot needs driver input to continue safely. Seems like the car was all "I got this, fam"

 

[Viewt]

Great PR for Tesla. What's the charge for something like this? Reckless driving?

 

[Akuun]

No idea if it's fake or not, but I would fucking kill to be able to do this.

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

Great PR for Tesla. What's the charge for something like this? Reckless driving?

Nothing, can't prove it. With that flip phone video, can't see the eyes or hands. And an officer has to see it or something.

No idea if it's fake or not, but I would fucking kill to be able to do this.

Can't wait for the future. 10 years, can sleep on the way to work. Or do some email or phone calls without worrying. Eat breakfast. You'll gain an hour for real commuters.

 

[ItIsOkBro]

No idea if it's fake or not, but I would fucking kill to be able to do this.

Nothing's stopping you then

 

[Timedog]

People are gonna be jacking to porn in traffic.

 

[Vic]

I'll say that's good PR.

 

[Kinyou]

Just resting his eyes

 

[Lionheart1827]

I wonder if its this guy:

 

[Havik]

Maybe he has some kind of disability?

 

[Akuun]

Can't wait for the future. 10 years, can sleep on the way to work. Or do some email or phone calls without worrying. Eat breakfast. You'll gain an hour for real commuters.

Yep. I used to really like cars and driving, but driving for 2+ hours a day every day for years has burned me so thoroughly that at this point, I think I'd be fine if I never had to drive a car again.

 

[Robotguy]

Thought they would have had a better system in place to detect a driver being awake.

Edit: Unless it turns out being fake of course.

Meanwhile on arstechnica yesterday:
http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/05...las-autopilot-forced-me-to-trust-the-machine/

Though the temptation is to lean back and lace your hands behind your head (or to climb into the back seat like a damn lunatic, among other silly things), the car really, really wants you to pay attention. Unclasp your seat belt and the auto-steer and auto-cruise immediately disengage and the car slows to a stop. Keep your hands off the wheel for too long (about 90 seconds) and the car will sound an alert tone and display a dialog on the center console asking you to please grasp the wheel. If you ignore the warning, the car sounds another. If you ignore that one, the car will disengage the auto-cruise and auto-steer and slow to a stop (apparently on the assumption that you’re incapacitated, dead, or otherwise unable to grab the wheel).

So sounds like it's either fake or he didn't get to sleep for too long.
Weird to me that I'm know this from that article when my dad has a Model S, but he doesn't trust it to do anything beyond adaptive cruise control.

People are gonna be jacking to porn in traffic.

gonna be?

 

[TheLaughingStock]

Wish Mercedes would put something like this out in my price range.

 

[JoeyJungle]

I want to be pissed off at the driver for being unsafe, but I'm really just completely jealous

 

[HighResTomato]

Seems staged as hell.

 

[Lord Error]

Thought they would have had a better system in place to detect a driver being awake.

Edit: Unless it turns out being fake of course.

You have to hold your hand on the wheel, otherwise the car stops. This can of course be circumvented with a glove and some velcro.

There's absolutely no reason for this to be staged - as in, it wouldn't surprise me at all if there's bunch of people doing this. A little can happen really in this kind of jammed stop and go traffic, even if the system fails to drive for whatever reason.

 

[Mr. Giggles]

*sigh.... I wish I had a tesla to fall asleep in.

My race car bed will have to do for now

 

[A Fish Aficionado]

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The technology is wonderful but I don't think it for that yet.

 

[GTI Guy]

People are gonna be jacking to porn in traffic.

Don't even need autopilot for that.

 

[subrock]

Reckless shit like this just ruins it for the rest of us. The faster we can get to level 4 the better. If we need to create laws to prevent this sort of behaviour, the slower that transition is going to go.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Fake.

Also, he could just be slumped over while thinking about the soul crushing job that he has while paying attention to the road.

Not that I'd know anything about that.

 

[Nivash]

You have to hold your hand on the wheel, otherwise the car stops. This can of course be circumvented with a glove and some velcro.

There's absolutely no reason for this to be staged - as in, it wouldn't surprise me at all if there's bunch of people doing this. A little can happen really in this kind of jammed stop and go traffic, even if the system fails to drive for whatever reason.

The Mercedes S Class has a similar safety feature for the S-Class' Active Lane Assist. You can circumvent it using a humble soda can and some duct tape.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...the-google-car-get-an-s-class-and-a-soda-can/

https://youtu.be/Kv9JYqhFV-M

 

[The Beard]

Wish Mercedes would put something like this out in my price range.

Why? Do you exclusively drive Mercedes'?

 

[Dot Matrix]

Maybe he has some kind of disability?

Narcolepsy?

 

[John Rabbit]

No idea if it's fake or not, but I would fucking kill to be able to do this.

something would certainly wind up dead if you did this now.

 

[Pterion]

Can't wait for the future. 10 years, can sleep on the way to work. Or do some email or phone calls without worrying. Eat breakfast. You'll gain an hour for real commuters.

Hopefully that means much 2-3x higher speed limits and no traffic. Life-changing!

 

[DrGonzo615]

This is the best case scenario for auto-pilot cars for people like me that actually enjoy driving.

Drive for a bit around your favorite coastal road, then sleep in the car while it takes you home in traffic.