[HN Gopher] Autopilot on Cars for $999
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Autopilot on Cars for $999
        
       Author : cbracketdash
       Score  : 176 points
       Date   : 2021-02-15 20:01 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (comma.ai)
 (TXT) w3m dump (comma.ai)
        
       | chairmanwow1 wrote:
       | I bought my car with the express intent of getting a compatible
       | car for Comma. My comma absolutely increased the utility of my
       | car to me.
       | 
       | Been on 3 huge road trips that I wouldn't have considered without
       | the device. 12 hours on the road isn't something I would do
       | everyday, but absolutely bearable with a comma.
        
         | exhilaration wrote:
         | Since you've done the research, what car works best with it?
         | What are you driving?
        
           | cyrux004 wrote:
           | Toyota Corolla 2020 (got steering sensor with decent torque
           | and the ability to do stop and go)
        
         | betaclass wrote:
         | I'm still unclear as to the benefit given that you're required
         | to attend to the road and it detects distracted people in the
         | driver's seat?
        
         | mmglr wrote:
         | If anything it sounds to me as if the comma provided a false
         | sense of security. Drawing from experience driving 9 hours is
         | already grueling. At hour 10, 11 or 12 would you have been able
         | to take control during a failure of the system?
        
         | plif wrote:
         | Which car and what did you drive before? And can you quantify
         | how much benefit you see over adaptive cruise / lane assist /
         | etc that is standard on many cars these days?
         | 
         | I agree with your sentiment, just unsure what your point of
         | reference is and how much impact the fancy AI actually has. My
         | car (2017 model) has the features I mentioned from the factory
         | and is great on long trips too.
        
           | cyrux004 wrote:
           | This is a good video somebody did to compare the Toyota's
           | stock system (latest one known as tss 2.0) with Comma
           | Openpilot
           | 
           | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5-inxH92wM
        
           | chairmanwow1 wrote:
           | I didn't own a car before ;) I rode a bicycle and took the
           | train. Although I would rent cars when driving up to Tahoe or
           | Yosemite.
           | 
           | I would say that the lane-keep systems are pretty
           | conservative. I tend to think of it that those systems help
           | you steer while comma will do it for you.
           | 
           | There's a huge difference between hands and feet off the
           | steering wheel/pedals and needing to guide it every step of
           | the way.
           | 
           | In particular, I think I tried a VW and a Ford's lane assist.
           | They would lessen the torque for turning the wheel, but
           | wouldn't actually make a turn by itself, which has marginal
           | value, but significantly less.
        
       | moonbug wrote:
       | there's no way this is being sold into the EU.
        
         | almost_usual wrote:
         | It won't be sold but it will be used, it's open source.
        
       | tdeck wrote:
       | Anyone know if this has killed someone yet?
        
         | yannoninator wrote:
         | I know for sure Tesla and Uber has.
         | 
         | Seems like Comma's product requires your attention through
         | driver monitoring whereas Tesla's product is non existent in
         | this area.
         | 
         | And with Uber the driver was distracted.
         | 
         | edit: Downvoters, i'm a bit confused here, so Tesla and Uber
         | hasn't killed anybody then?
        
           | slg wrote:
           | Tesla has something like 4 billion miles driven with
           | Autopilot. This apparently has 35 million miles. (It isn't a
           | direct comparison, but the overall rate in the US is around 1
           | death per 100 million miles driven).
           | 
           | Anyone who uses these numbers to even imply this is safer
           | than Tesla knows nothing about statistics. It is way too
           | early to draw any conclusions about Comma's safety. It is
           | also probably too early to even draw statistical conclusions
           | about Tesla's safety.
        
             | yannoninator wrote:
             | > It is way too early to draw any conclusions about Comma's
             | safety.
             | 
             | I definitely would not consider any car with adaptive
             | cruise control without driver monitoring, especially one
             | that touts self driving capabilities.
        
               | slg wrote:
               | Be my guest if you want to argue the merits of one system
               | over another based on some technical specs or design
               | decisions. My point is that the track records are not
               | long enough to draw any statistical conclusions and the
               | _Tesla and Uber have killed people but Comma hasn 't_
               | argument is at best wildly misleading given the large
               | differences in miles driven.
        
               | yannoninator wrote:
               | > Anyone know if this has killed someone yet?
               | 
               | > ...Tesla and Uber have killed people but Comma
               | hasn't...
               | 
               | So no then.
               | 
               | This is the correct answer, thank you.
        
               | slg wrote:
               | I just started an aerospace company making planes in my
               | garage. My company has killed less people than either
               | Boeing or Airbus. Does that mean I make safer planes than
               | either of those two companies?
               | 
               | A sentence can be technically correct while also being
               | actively misleading.
        
           | easton wrote:
           | Doesn't Tesla check to make sure your hands are on the wheel
           | (as does Honda and I'm sure the rest of the OEM lane-assist
           | products)
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | LegitShady wrote:
             | Comma has a driver facing camera doing driver monitoring
        
           | hbarka wrote:
           | Tesla's product also requires driver monitoring. They
           | explicitly say so, so your statement is clearly false.
           | 
           | Not excusing Tesla's faults but the volume of Tesla's cars on
           | the road compared to Comma's would probably explain the
           | difference in statistics.
        
             | chairmanwow1 wrote:
             | Tesla has had "driver monitoring" in that you had to apply
             | some torque to the wheel, while the comma does gaze
             | detection to make sure you aren't watching a movie or
             | sleeping.
             | 
             | AFAIK Tesla is adding driver monitoring cameras.
        
               | brianwawok wrote:
               | Telsa has cameras in the cabin for all cars now, but have
               | never stated that they are going to enable them for
               | driver monitoring purposes. (But their code has flags
               | like driver_eyes_up and drivers_eye_down, so at least
               | it's on their mind...)
        
             | pcl wrote:
             | The grandparent used "driver monitoring" to mean "the car
             | monitors the driver to make sure the driver is paying
             | attention to the road", I believe.
        
             | yannoninator wrote:
             | > Tesla's product also requires driver monitoring. They
             | explicitly say so, so your statement is clearly false.
             | 
             | Please state your evidence on this.
             | 
             | Do they have a powerful driver monitoring system already?
             | 
             | Is it being used?
        
               | odysseythrwtime wrote:
               | They do. You have to touch the steering wheel everything
               | couple minutes to prove you are focused. Video:
               | https://youtu.be/QNadmzp_9Ag?t=292
        
               | yannoninator wrote:
               | Great, by definition a drunk or sleepy person can have
               | their hands on the wheel to prove they are focused.
               | 
               | This system is very powerful indeed.
        
         | madamelic wrote:
         | Human life is sacred. Absolutely.
         | 
         | but.
         | 
         | If we are concerned with cars killing people, we should get rid
         | of cars. This FUD around self-driving == killing people will,
         | in the long-term, cause more deaths than the handful of
         | sensationalized stories about self-driving deaths.
         | 
         | The only reason those car crashes get national attention is
         | because they were self-driving. In every other way they are
         | boring. Bicyclists hit by car: every day. Man killed by semi:
         | every day. etc.
         | 
         | Do you think you'd see a bunch of FUD about a 2021 manually-
         | driven Chevy mystery car getting in a minor fenderbender and
         | equating it with the safety of the entire car industry? No.
         | 
         | But: https://insideevs.com/news/333516/self-driving-chevrolet-
         | bol...
        
           | handedness wrote:
           | For some, it feels different because of the potential scale.
           | Watching Falcon Heavy boosters return in perfect unison is
           | spooky in a way watching one Falcon 9 return isn't.
           | 
           | Put another way, consider all the IT professionals who advise
           | their relatives to wait a month or two before performing a
           | major OS update. When self-driving cars are the majority of
           | vehicles on the road, and we get our first buggy software
           | update that results in a string of crashes, how likely will
           | people be to update if they're even given a choice at all?
           | 
           | Comparing human to self-driving per-mile fatality statistics
           | like that's the primary measure for people, while ignoring
           | the fact that we're looking at the first mainstream
           | manifestations of a coming type of threat modeling that the
           | species has never before had to even consider, seems a little
           | narrow a way to view the issue.
           | 
           | For insurance companies and actuaries looking to define
           | collectivized risk, spreadsheets are the right way to
           | consider this kind of thing. For individuals who've driven
           | their whole lives without an accident, deciding to let
           | emerging tech take over for you when taking the kids to visit
           | grandma is going to be a significant transition in human
           | history.
           | 
           | Consider that there are very elderly people alive today who
           | will still never fly on an airplane because of their early
           | safety records.
        
           | TameAntelope wrote:
           | I'm concerned about being the donor of the red ink the
           | subsequent regulation gets written in.
        
           | onion2k wrote:
           | Does this mean that if I build an AI controlled gun turret to
           | shoot people who walk across my lawn it shouldn't be news
           | when it kills someone because people get shot by other people
           | quite regularly?
           | 
           | In my opinion the application of technology, and (more
           | importantly) the delegation of human responsibility to a
           | computer, should be something that's part of the national
           | conversation.
        
           | Traster wrote:
           | This ridiculous assertion any self-driving == better than
           | humna is just ridiculous too. This is a website selling a
           | self-driving devkit with a big "buy it now" sign that also
           | has a disclaimer saying "Well you're not really buying it, if
           | you kill someone, we've never met".
           | 
           | Sure, self-driving cars that were better than humans would be
           | good, but what we have right now is self-driving cars that
           | are _maybe_ better than humans in normal conditions
           | (controlling for type of car, conditions etc), and completely
           | break down in bad conditions and often fail unsafe in
           | between.
           | 
           | >Do you think you'd see a bunch of FUD about a 2021 manually-
           | driven Chevy mystery car getting in a minor fenderbender and
           | equating it with the safety of the entire car industry? No.
           | 
           | Well of course not, because we all moved to self-driving cars
           | in 2017 as Elon Musk told us we would.
           | 
           | There's a very simple reason we aren't worried if Bob down
           | the road crashes his car, it's because we're not binary
           | identical bob, and people haven't been systematically lying
           | about bob's capabilities for the last decade.
        
           | akira2501 wrote:
           | > sensationalized stories about self-driving deaths.
           | 
           | I disagree that they're sensationalized. Self-driving systems
           | are designed to improve user safety, but when they end up
           | making mistakes that human drivers _wouldn't_ make then it's
           | appropriate to thoroughly investigate these systems.
           | 
           | > is because they were self-driving.
           | 
           | Well, precisely. We tolerate driving accidents because we
           | know that the mobility that cars provide end up offering far
           | more value to the world than the occasional accidents that we
           | end up tolerating.
           | 
           | What's the trade with self-driving cars? What is the
           | technology enabling that is worth the possible additional
           | risks?
           | 
           | > car getting in a minor fenderbender and equating it with
           | the safety of the entire car industry?
           | 
           | I don't think that comparison offers anything interesting,
           | and it ignores the long and storied history of improving
           | automobile safety. Look into Ralph Naders "Unsafe At Any
           | Speed" if you really want to see people looking at "regular"
           | accidents and deciding there was something to be fixed.
        
             | stjo wrote:
             | > human drivers _wouldn't_ make
             | 
             | But human drivers make a lot of mistakes that computer
             | drivers _wouldn't_.
             | 
             | If it is safER than humans - it is better. No need to be
             | perfect.
        
               | stefan_ wrote:
               | Citation needed. So far, they have mostly driven into
               | static obstacles on highways, the only environment where
               | the vendors even allow to use their "self-driving" system
               | because of the overwhelmingly favorable conditions.
        
               | henrikschroder wrote:
               | Yes, self-driving systems will have fewer deaths/distance
               | driven and therefore be _statistically_ safer than human
               | drivers.
               | 
               | But human drivers make human errors, understandable,
               | explainable, common errors that we are used to, and
               | therefore we underestimate their severity.
               | 
               | Self-driving cars will make space-alien machine-logic
               | crazy weird and _definitely not human_ errors, they will
               | cause fatalities in situations where any reasonable human
               | wouldn 't, and that is much scarier than human errors,
               | and therefore we overestimate their severity.
               | 
               | And that makes self-driving a very, very hard sell, it's
               | simply not enough to be statistically better on just the
               | numbers, you have to be psychologically better, and
               | that's a huge hurdle.
        
               | AlotOfReading wrote:
               | And the way you establish safety is by doing a lot of
               | miles with trained employees and clearly established
               | liability, not by releasing alpha software to the
               | untrained public with complete liability disclaimers.
        
           | blub wrote:
           | Like I've said before, I don't have any problem if those that
           | want to accelerate humanity's progress in this area volunteer
           | themselves and their families to be self-driving test
           | dummies.
           | 
           | I'd even support the idea of building them statues, should
           | they meet an unfortunate hero's end.
        
           | tshaddox wrote:
           | Another way to think about it is to ask how many lives could
           | have been saved with this (or any other) system.
        
         | cyrux004 wrote:
         | You mean the car gets in crashes when Toyota Lane tracing
         | (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVyRsdILbRw) or honda lane
         | assist(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpgYCC8zG84) or the
         | nissan propilot system
         | (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFJ_4uEG6Og) is enabled. I am
         | sure there are a lot of cases. Just have to ask these car
         | companies to release data
        
       | jordache wrote:
       | I just youtubed this guy and found a 10hr video of him
       | programming for this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hlb8YX2-W8
        
       | yalogin wrote:
       | I don't know well the system works but do they plug into the
       | cruise control mechanism? How are they able to provide the
       | automatic braking functionality?
        
         | cyrux004 wrote:
         | For supported cars, the car's stock AEB system still works as
         | intended FOr some cars, openpilot only does lateral (steering)
         | and doesnt do longitudinal (gas/brake), so the car's stock
         | dynamic cruise control is in control which includes AEB
        
         | bri3d wrote:
         | Yes, they intercept whichever CAN bus in the target vehicle is
         | used to send Adaptive Cruise Control and Automatic Lane Keeping
         | messages, and send their own instead. On many target cars, they
         | actually simply use the stock Adaptive Cruise Control and
         | openpilot provides only the steering (ALK).
        
           | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
           | Seems like it could have disastrous results if the OEM
           | components start talking on the bus, sharing a completely
           | different state.
        
       | samfisher83 wrote:
       | This was like 600 bucks a few years ago and they are using leco
       | phone from about 4 years ago.
        
       | tekromancr wrote:
       | Wait, founded by George Hotz? As in GeoHot? The PS3 jailbreak
       | guy?
        
         | nayeem-rahman wrote:
         | and the iphone guy
        
         | miguelrochefort wrote:
         | Yes. He's pretty famous for iOS jailbreaking as well.
        
         | keskadale wrote:
         | Yes. The very same. He does coding streams (sometimes comma
         | related work) on his Twitch channel (twitch.tv/georgehotz). You
         | can find the archive here
         | (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwgKmJM4ZJQRJ-U5NjvR2dg)
        
         | cbracketdash wrote:
         | Exactly.
        
         | sj4nz wrote:
         | Recent interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwcYp-
         | XT7UI&list=PLrAXtmErZg...
        
           | djitz wrote:
           | He was on again a couple of months ago.
           | 
           | https://youtu.be/_L3gNaAVjQ4
        
         | maxyme wrote:
         | And iPhone jailbreak guy back in the day!
        
         | qbasic_forever wrote:
         | Yes, same person:
         | https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/13/17561484/george-hotz-comm...
        
         | vimy wrote:
         | Yes. He has a youtube channel where he does live coding
         | sometimes. He also seems a bit eccentric. An interesting and
         | gifted man for sure.
         | 
         | https://youtu.be/9LaIezgiUmw
        
         | rvz wrote:
         | yes.
        
         | bri3d wrote:
         | Yes, this has been his project for many years now - he threw a
         | fit and fled to China in 2016 when the NHTSA sent him a Special
         | Order requesting test data for the Comma One product, which he
         | then cancelled and released as pseudo open-source (the ML model
         | is still a closed black box).
        
           | RealityVoid wrote:
           | Can you point me to the part that is closed? Last time I
           | looked, there were just a bunch of weights.
        
             | bri3d wrote:
             | Isn't any ML model "just a bunch of weights," if you look
             | at it right?
             | 
             | So, where does "modelV2" come from here, in the part that
             | plans the lateral steering action? https://github.com/comma
             | ai/openpilot/blob/4ace476f14bb73c354... . It's a model. A
             | video frame goes into the model, and somehow the desired
             | path comes back out. That's the core of the driving system!
             | 
             | Here's an analysis of one of the closed parts:
             | https://medium.com/@chengyao.shen/decoding-comma-ai-
             | openpilo...
        
           | db374837 wrote:
           | Yours is the very essence of a HackerNews comment. Comma is
           | everything a startup should be. They are not wrapping a lame
           | business model in CRUD and living off of malinvestment. They
           | are solving ridiculously hard problem with a small team of
           | very smart people. Their competition has burnt billions.
           | Meanwhile, Comma is profitable, has a better safety model
           | than anyone.
           | 
           | Hotz is a legend and is not running from anyone.
        
           | yannoninator wrote:
           | > pseudo open-source (the ML model is still a closed black
           | box).
           | 
           | ?
           | 
           | I am confused with this statement. Sure the ML model is a
           | black box, but it's better than closed source completely with
           | no model. It's more realistic to build the software yourself
           | than training your own self driving ML system.
           | 
           | I would still class this as still 'open source'.
        
             | bri3d wrote:
             | The most fundamental part of the system, the one which
             | makes driving decisions, is not open. I did not say
             | anything about whether or not this was "better" than the
             | product being fully closed source, only that it is not
             | truly open, and I fully believe this. "Open source
             | autopilot" implies to me that the autopilot is open - that
             | an end-user can inspect, audit, and attempt to understand
             | the decisions their vehicle is making. This is not the case
             | for Comma - rather, it is an open-source CANbus translation
             | layer attached to a closed source autopilot.
        
       | jeremycarter wrote:
       | Not sure I'm so keen on Python driving my car. I've looked
       | through some of the code and I think for me to buy into the
       | safety the quality of the code would need to be improved, well
       | commented, and audited.
        
         | crazypython wrote:
         | > Not sure I'm so keen on Python driving my car.
         | 
         | It uses CPython, which is reference counted, letting them
         | ensure predictable timing/hard real-time system.
        
           | teraflop wrote:
           | CPython includes both reference counting and a stop-the-world
           | tracing garbage collector. You can turn off the GC -- and
           | openpilot appears to do so[1] -- but the tradeoff is that any
           | objects that are part of reference cycles will be leaked, and
           | will not be deallocated until the program exits.
           | 
           | Anybody want to place bets on how many of these
           | dependencies[2] have been audited to determine whether they
           | can create cyclic references?
           | 
           | [1]: https://github.com/commaai/openpilot/blob/master/common/
           | real... [2]:
           | https://github.com/commaai/openpilot/blob/master/Pipfile
        
           | Judgmentality wrote:
           | > hard real-time system
           | 
           | It's running on Android.
        
             | leesec wrote:
             | AFAIK, The safety controls are done in the Connector piece
             | to the car, which uses C/C++.
        
             | gkop wrote:
             | You're replying to a joke I think.
        
         | qbasic_forever wrote:
         | Haha I just had a horrifying throught about troubleshooting
         | broken virtualenv installs and deadlocked dependencies, while
         | on the side of the road with a car that refuses to start.
        
           | sosodev wrote:
           | That actually sounds like a software developer horror story.
           | Like goosebumps for devs.
        
             | madamelic wrote:
             | The real Goosebumps for devs is cars willing to take
             | driving inputs over their built-in networks from outside
             | the car.
             | 
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK0SrxBC1xs
        
           | tomcam wrote:
           | Username noted
        
           | WrtCdEvrydy wrote:
           | To be honest, the driver assist can be removed with a single
           | connection, it just uses your car's automated parking system.
        
         | bri3d wrote:
         | Plus, the actual driving model is a black box, so there's
         | really not a lot here that's any more reassuring than any other
         | black box lane-keep-assist system on the market, and there's
         | been an active resistance to apply any form of rigor to the
         | system or produce any actual test data from the Comma company
         | for many years (with the argument being that the system is
         | simply an augmented lane keeping system and is just a
         | supplement to the driver etc. etc. and thus does not need to be
         | held to any sort of standard of safety or compliance - where
         | have we heard that one before?)
        
         | wpietri wrote:
         | It's not python I'm worried about here.
        
       | focusgroup0 wrote:
       | Would you drive to Tahoe in the snow with this?
        
         | matthewowen wrote:
         | Not sure that's the right question to ask. It takes two hours
         | to get from San Francisco to Auburn, and it's highly unusual to
         | have snow there.
         | 
         | Setting aside that I80 is generally cleared of snow very
         | quickly, two hours of lane assist seems nice before tackling
         | the remainder. And in most cases, it's more like "use this all
         | the way to truckee and then drive the last 30 mins to squaw
         | valley"
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | almost_usual wrote:
         | If I can use it with my 4x4 that has a winch.
        
         | Gys wrote:
         | https://comma.ai/faq
         | 
         | Why even ask?
         | 
         | Long trips means spending a lot of time boringly driving on the
         | highway with clear weather. I do not care for help in the more
         | difficult first 15 min or last 15 min. I care about having help
         | during the many hours in between.
        
           | qbasic_forever wrote:
           | It's still a perfectly valid question, how will this system
           | work in the snow? Even flat featureless highways get covered
           | in snow and ice.
        
             | Gys wrote:
             | You clearly missed my ref to their faq:
             | https://comma.ai/faq
        
           | betaclass wrote:
           | But if you still need to keep your attention on the road,
           | what is the actual gain?
           | 
           | What else can you be doing that gets past the distraction
           | detection?
        
           | naebother wrote:
           | That's interesting. I'm the complete opposite. Highway
           | driving is the least taxing -- I can do it subconsciously.
           | It's the more difficult first/last 15 mins of stop and go
           | that I want automated. I could care less about the highway in
           | clear weather. I might even enjoy that bit occasionally.
        
             | kstrauser wrote:
             | I generally agree, but heading north on I-5 from LA to SF
             | is bumper to bumper traffic constantly swinging between 50
             | MPH and 75 MPH. Normal cruise control is worthless here
             | because you're never going the same speed long enough to be
             | a net benefit. I would absolutely love adaptive cruise
             | control plus semi-automatic steering in that one scenario.
             | 
             | Stick me out in the middle of nowhere and I'm perfectly
             | content driving for hundreds of miles straight. I don't
             | find myself in that too often now, though.
        
             | chairmanwow1 wrote:
             | I thought the same until I tried a good L2 system. ACC and
             | LKA are pure value adds. Lower the number of moments where
             | your focus snaps back in as you are meandering out of the
             | lane or creeping up on the person in front of you.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | crazypython wrote:
       | If self-driving companies really believed in their product, they
       | would bundle car insurance that only works when self-driving is
       | on with the product, and it would be cheaper than normal car
       | insurance.
        
         | gkop wrote:
         | In fact we have the opposite, where MetroMile advertises lower
         | premiums, while conveniently occupying your ODB2 port, without
         | providing pass-through, preventing the use of Comma's product
         | (this honestly makes me consider switching from Geico to
         | MetroMile, so I'm not subsidizing Comma customers, but there
         | are other issues with MetroMile...).
        
       | Black101 wrote:
       | Too bad they don't support Mazda
        
       | rvz wrote:
       | Their business is not only taken less capital, but they have also
       | just become profitable even with selling hardware which I find
       | that impressive, unlike their other competitors who have either
       | shutdown or have been acquired. As for their autopilot system,
       | they are self-hosting their deep learning training systems (Not
       | in the cloud but in-house) and their competition is literally off
       | road and non-existent (expect for Tesla).
       | 
       | The consumer report on comma.ai is also very interesting and
       | outstanding: [0]
       | 
       | One of the rare startups I've seen that are able to do this with
       | less funding and still profitable with hardware. That's how you
       | do it. Well done.
       | 
       | EDIT: So the above is not true about comma.ai? As for the report,
       | it shows the overall results of the design of assisted driving
       | systems and the test results for comma.ai overall is that it is
       | ranked 1st. For a startup with less capital than its competition
       | it is very rare to see this especially with its own hardware.
       | 
       | [0] https://data.consumerreports.org/wp-
       | content/uploads/2020/11/...
        
         | exhilaration wrote:
         | For the lazy, jump to page 7 of the above PDF (labeled page 6
         | in the doc), the section is called "Overall Ratings Results".
         | The 3 highest scores are:
         | 
         | 78 - Comma Two Open Pilot
         | 
         | 69 - Cadillac Super Cruise
         | 
         | 57 - Tesla Autopilot
         | 
         | Well done indeed.
        
       | mmglr wrote:
       | Is the device running Android or something else?
       | 
       | I understand this is marketed as a "dev kit". And I understand
       | the cost benefit for shipping a COTS OnePlus phone to provide the
       | camera and UI. But I wouldn't buy one of these due to how much
       | windshield visibility is blocked by the device and the wire
       | dangling from the headliner.
       | 
       | It would be better to have the camera and wiring hidden away next
       | to the rear view mirror similar to how other driver assist
       | cameras are packaged, with a CAN connected processing box in the
       | glovebox (so audible chimes can be made), and infotainment screen
       | integration for the UI (perhaps as an Android or CarPlay app).
        
       | delightful wrote:
       | Is it correct Comma.AI sees this as the following statement below
       | appears to say, or am I missing something? If so, why would
       | anyone be using this product outside of a test environment that's
       | fully controlled?
       | 
       | --
       | 
       | "Any user of this software shall indemnify and hold harmless
       | comma.ai, Inc. and its directors, officers, employees, agents,
       | stockholders, affiliates, subcontractors and customers from and
       | against all allegations, claims, actions, suits, demands,
       | damages, liabilities, obligations, losses, settlements,
       | judgments, costs and expenses (including without limitation
       | attorneys' fees and costs) which arise out of, relate to or
       | result from any use of this software by user. THIS IS ALPHA
       | QUALITY SOFTWARE FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A
       | PRODUCT. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR COMPLYING WITH LOCAL LAWS AND
       | REGULATIONS. NO WARRANTY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED."
       | 
       | SOURCE:
       | https://github.com/commaai/openpilot/blob/devel/README.md#su...
       | 
       | --
       | 
       | EDIT: Here is the terms of use too, which appears to align to the
       | prior legal clause above:
       | 
       | https://my.comma.ai/terms
        
         | derision wrote:
         | it's pretty cleared being sold as a devkit. would you buy a PS5
         | devkit and expect it to be exactly the same as the retail PS5?
         | I don't understand the issue here
        
           | grenoire wrote:
           | No, I would expect the devkit to be superior to the retail
           | product. That's not the word you're looking for.
        
           | slg wrote:
           | "Yeah, but, John, if The Pirates of the Caribbean breaks
           | down, the pirates don't eat the tourists." ~ Ian Malcolm
        
             | serf wrote:
             | it's interesting to read Jeff Goldblum's characteristic
             | staccato translated to text.
             | 
             | I hadn't thought about how I would have written it out.
        
             | db374837 wrote:
             | Comma's driver monitoring is the best in the industry. It
             | is not at all unsafe.
        
           | mikeryan wrote:
           | I have a PS5 devkit and develop apps for it. Yes I expect it
           | to be exactly like the retail PS5 - or what's the point?
        
         | stunt wrote:
         | They are selling this product as a dashcam for obvious reasons.
         | The autopilot feature is an experimental feature that you have
         | to enable yourself on your own risk.
        
         | coddle-hark wrote:
         | The latest commit in the repo [0] right now is "should work"
         | (34ff295). Filtering by "bug" in the issue tracker gives:
         | 
         |  _Comma two freeze and reboot while engaged_. I recently had an
         | incident on the interstate where my comma two froze completely
         | (while engaged) and rebooted. The video froze, Comma 's
         | steering torque turned off, then after about five seconds in
         | this state, the device rebooted.
         | 
         |  _Zygote restarting while OP active_. So for the past couple
         | months, after a couple days of uptime, the comma two offroad UI
         | will glitch out. The buttons respond with highlighting upon
         | touch, but everything else stops working. ... This time, I left
         | the comma two to bask in its glitched state and this ended up
         | happening; the comma two had the spinning logo, while ALSO
         | still driving my car. In the video below, I nudge the wheel to
         | cause on purpose ping pong to prove it was still steering.
         | 
         |  _Spontaneous disengagement /reboot_. Cruising on expressway
         | and OP spontaneously disengaged and the comma2 rebooted
         | 
         |  _Hard braking while following the lead car_. Was following the
         | lead car on a highway traffic jam, that car was going without
         | lights so might be a reason. Braking was really hard when he
         | stopped, almost hit him ) I had a feeling that C2 don 't see it
         | at all.
         | 
         | What's more worrying is that Comma's response is often either
         | a) declare it a hardware failure or b) basically a WONTFIX:
         | 
         |  _Comma support 's response is to return/exchange the unit due
         | to presumed hardware failure. It would be nice to know what
         | exactly happened but I get you can't thoroughly investigate
         | every anomaly. Folks at @commma feel free to close this issue._
         | 
         |  _@Torq_boi said that it is not a model bug, but old known
         | problem with no time to brake as lead car accelerated and
         | braked fast. (So could INDI tuning fix that problem?)_
         | 
         |  _Closing this issue since it probably was hardware failure._
         | 
         |  _If it happens a lot it 's usually a hardware failure. But try
         | running openpilot release instead of dragonpilot before drawing
         | any conclusions._
         | 
         | [0] https://github.com/commaai/openpilot
         | 
         | Edit: Formatting.
        
           | bko wrote:
           | Cool. Now do Volvo Pilot Assist.
           | 
           | Comma.ai is trying to do big things and I hope they succeed.
           | No reason self-driving technology should be bundled with a
           | car and I have little faith in auto manufacturers to deliver.
           | 
           | Lane assist technology exists. Look at consumer reports for a
           | comprehensive review [0] (comma.ai was #1 in lane assist,
           | above even tesla). They are open about their mistakes, issues
           | and tradeoffs, much more so than other companies. I don't
           | think its right for engineers use this as a cudgel to beat
           | them over the head.
           | 
           | https://www.thedrive.com/news/37833/consumer-reports-
           | ranks-t...
        
             | Miraste wrote:
             | > No reason self-driving technology should be bundled with
             | a car
             | 
             | It seems to me that there are many reasons it should be
             | bundled, and I'll bet that in the long run all self-driving
             | cars will be integrated systems. It's not a good place for
             | inconsistent installations or a modding mentality--imagine
             | multiplying Uber and Tesla's programs a thousandfold with
             | fewer resources and less accountability.
        
             | gkop wrote:
             | The difference is that Volvo does not disclaim liability.
        
               | bko wrote:
               | Oh I didn't know that.
               | 
               | Can you point me to their liability policy?
               | 
               | [EDIT] this was the best I could find
               | 
               | > You are always ultimately responsible for driving in a
               | safe manner, even when using Pilot Assist.
               | 
               | https://www.volvocars.com/uk/support/topics/use-your-
               | car/car...
               | 
               | I don't think comma.ai should be faulted for being open.
               | I have trouble finding any statements on liability on any
               | other lane assist technology. Would love to be proven
               | wrong with an actual policy.
        
         | mrtksn wrote:
         | So it's like Tesla?
        
           | brianwawok wrote:
           | Like 20% of the features only for certain cars. Pretty bold
           | claim ;P
        
             | mrtksn wrote:
             | It's for 1/10th of the price, so twice better then? Just
             | kidding, my point is that Tesla is selling it in about the
             | same terms. Beta software for extra money, no guarantees.
        
               | brianwawok wrote:
               | Not sure that is true, you are comparing apples to
               | oranges. Beta on Tesla is for FSD.
               | 
               | Autopilot = lane keep on the highway, it's as mature as
               | lane keep is on Toyota or Honda. It's also included for
               | no additional cost in all tesla, so it's actually 100%
               | cheaper.
        
         | cbracketdash wrote:
         | It is still very early in its development stage so they do not
         | want much liability.
        
           | agumonkey wrote:
           | did they ever ?
        
           | 23iofj wrote:
           | Most software developers have mostly operated in largely
           | unregulated domains, so there's a _MIS_ understanding of how
           | manufacturer responsibility works in industries like
           | automotive. Saying "I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING" in the
           | automotive software space is the product liability equivalent
           | of Michael Scott screaming "I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY" in The
           | Office.
        
             | Closi wrote:
             | Well, their legal technique is a little more nuanced.
             | 
             | They are selling a product which is a legal and legitimate
             | driver assistance tool which does not have autopilot.
             | 
             | You, as a user, can then modify the device by flashing
             | unregulated code onto it to give it autopilot code, which
             | is not advised by comma.ai *wink wink*
        
               | 23iofj wrote:
               | I expect this to end about as well as it did last time.
               | 
               | 35 million miles is statistically meaningless.
        
             | database_lost wrote:
             | 2021 best comment so far :))
        
           | ta8645 wrote:
           | Nobody ever wants any liability if they can help it. But they
           | shouldn't be marketing a product if they can't stand behind
           | it.
        
             | Justsignedup wrote:
             | This. I could understand an early access game "it can shut
             | down any time" but this is kind of my/family/friends lives
             | on the line.
        
           | 3327 wrote:
           | I remember the founder interviewed me to be CEO, when he hit
           | the investment and publicly insulted Papa Elon for kudos and
           | bad assness. The guy was a jerk on the phone and 10 mins in I
           | told Him to piss off and thought to myself "wow - who would
           | work with this guy" he's been at it since 2016 so glad it
           | didn't flop, but looks like he ate his words to Papa Musk.
           | 
           | Nothin' like some good old humble startup pie.
        
         | slg wrote:
         | >THIS IS ALPHA QUALITY SOFTWARE FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.
         | THIS IS NOT A PRODUCT.
         | 
         | It is weird that one of the only things I see above the fold on
         | the company's home page is a "Buy Now" button considering they
         | don't actually sell "a product".
        
           | fossuser wrote:
           | Yeah - I don't think this would hold up, you can't really
           | have it both ways.
           | 
           | Either you're selling something and taking some
           | responsibility for certain failures, or it's research that
           | you don't want people to use on the road.
           | 
           | This comes across as them selling a product they know could
           | fail in dangerous ways, but they don't want to be responsible
           | for any of it.
           | 
           | Basically, "don't use this on the road" wink wink, but we
           | have millions of miles driven on it and obviously expect you
           | to do so.
           | 
           | I'd think they'd be better off with some sort of honest
           | policy around this that they could actually defend, but I am
           | not a lawyer.
        
             | Closi wrote:
             | It's because the standard product doesn't have autopilot,
             | they sell a driver assistance tool. The tool they sell does
             | not have autopilot.
             | 
             | The device is open, and you can flash with their open
             | source code from GitHub to give you hacky autopilot. This
             | is how they get around the legal issue.
             | 
             | It's like a "we sell you a legal product. We advise you
             | don't flash this code on it which we are hosting on GitHub
             | _wink wink_ "
        
               | cortesoft wrote:
               | Curious to see if a court would buy that argument.
        
               | Pasorrijer wrote:
               | Reminds me of university. "No officer, we weren't selling
               | tickets to the keg, we'd need a license to sell booze.
               | We're only selling cups for $5, the beer is free!"
        
             | almost_usual wrote:
             | Welcome to the world of aftermarket vehicle modifications.
        
             | parsimo2010 wrote:
             | I think their distinction is that they're selling the
             | hardware, which is capable of controlling the car just
             | fine. So the thing you're paying for is delivering as
             | promised. The software is a separate project, and you could
             | theoretically load whatever software on the hardware you
             | wanted. So the fact that the software is glitchy is not (in
             | the view of the company) something you can hold them
             | responsible for. You paid for hardware, you got hardware.
             | What you do with it is up to you.
             | 
             | This is at least what I remember from a years old Wired
             | article when the comma one was being developed.
             | 
             | Whether that will actually hold up in court is TBD,
             | considering how closely coupled the software is to the
             | company and hardware.
        
             | onelovetwo wrote:
             | I think its just them trying to fend off those people that
             | are looking for anything to sue companies. Telsa gets these
             | lawsuits all the time, but they have a bunch of lawyers to
             | deal with it.
        
             | buran77 wrote:
             | > Yeah - I don't think this would hold up, you can't really
             | have it both ways.
             | 
             | I don't think they would have any legal problems due to
             | this. They sell it but clearly label it as experimental,
             | for research only, and urge buyers to comply with local
             | regulation. And the law pretty much everywhere states that
             | the driver is responsible for driving the car and for the
             | outcomes of any modification brought to the car that was
             | not pass homologation.
             | 
             | Tesla is a real example that passed this test. Their
             | marketing language brands AP as "fully self driving, some
             | features unavailable due to local laws". The "wink wink"
             | may be obvious for the buyer but not in the eyes of the
             | law. Letting the car drive itself is the driver's failure,
             | not Tesla's. Tesla can at most be held responsible for
             | misleading advertisement and ordered not to use specific
             | language (as it actually happened).
        
               | fossuser wrote:
               | > "Tesla is a real example that passed this test. Their
               | marketing language brands AP as "fully self driving, some
               | features unavailable due to local laws"."
               | 
               | This isn't true, FSD has always been a 'coming soon'
               | feature you can prepay for distinct from autopilot.
               | Autopilot has always been advanced lane assist.
               | "Autopilot" in planes just holds the same flight pattern
               | and doesn't really do anything sophisticated, autopilot
               | in Tesla is similar.
        
             | tjoff wrote:
             | > This comes across as them selling a product they know
             | could fail in dangerous ways, but they don't want to be
             | responsible for any of it.
             | 
             |  _Exactly_ the same as Tesla then?
             | 
             | Though I do think they are both terrible reckless.
             | 
             | "The driver is always responsible" might or might not be a
             | good enough legal scapegoat, but morally inexcusable.
        
               | fossuser wrote:
               | Not at all the same as Tesla.
               | 
               | Tesla expects you to use its product on the road and
               | expects it to work within the constraints they tell you
               | with you also paying attention.
        
               | tjoff wrote:
               | > "with you also paying attention."
               | 
               | So no guarantees whatsoever then. Because you are always
               | responsible and are always expected to recover from
               | anything the autopilot might ever come up with.
               | 
               | Teslas do fail in deadly ways. Everyone that cares to
               | look knows this. Yet Tesla is fine with it, even while
               | knowing that humans can't reason about safety when the
               | car drives perfectly the other 99% of times.
        
               | jryle70 wrote:
               | > Because you are always responsible and are always
               | expected to recover from anything the autopilot might
               | ever come up with.
               | 
               | That's always been the case for any driving assistance
               | systems that automakers offer, AFAIK. Do you object to
               | the state of driving assistance in general or just how
               | Tesla implements it?
        
               | luplex wrote:
               | Tesla guarantees that an attentive driver can safely take
               | control.
               | 
               | Comma does not.
        
             | bko wrote:
             | > This comes across as them selling a product they know
             | could fail in dangerous ways, but they don't want to be
             | responsible for any of it.
             | 
             | This is just a safety precaution. Why wouldn't they put
             | this in there? It may not hold up in court but it can't
             | hurt. I don't think this means they "know it could fail in
             | dangerous ways".
             | 
             | The safety model in comma.ai is actually quite brilliant.
             | It can't perform any action faster than you're able to
             | correct and disengage. To test it, they have someone drive
             | while a malicious passenger seat has full access of the
             | controls as limited to by the software. The passenger then
             | messes with the steering and acceleration without the main
             | driver's knowledge. The driver has to prevent the actions.
             | The torque limit is much lower than that of Tesla or other
             | lane-keep assist tools.
        
               | picks_at_nits wrote:
               | "It may not hold up in court but it can't hurt"
               | 
               | If you sell someone something with a nudge-nudge, wink-
               | wink, and they get killed using it, it absolutely hurts.
               | You may be able to weasel out of being held accountable
               | for it, in which case it won't hurt _you_ , but the
               | larger issue here is that this kind of misleading copy
               | can lead to people making poor decisions.
               | 
               | You may have put it in the fine print that it's not a
               | real product, but the whole point of nudge-nudge wink-
               | wink is to strongly imply that it's a real product worth
               | real money, and thus you are going out of your way to
               | encourage people to try it and take chances with real
               | lives.
        
               | bko wrote:
               | What's the appropriate level of liability?
               | 
               | If I buy a cell phone holder for my car, and it distracts
               | me and I get into an accident? What if Car Play lags and
               | i'm distracted and I get into an accident? What if radio
               | plays an ambulance and I freak out and get into an
               | accident? What if my sunglasses make me mistake a red
               | light?
               | 
               | This product does lane assist. It does a good job
               | according to consumer reports [0], higher than all other
               | lane assists. It doesn't detect stop signs or traffic
               | lights or drive for you. It keeps your lane. It acts
               | predictably and gives the driver enough time to react.
               | 
               | Unfortunately the liability model is messed up. I think
               | this product is relatively tame and should allow to
               | exist. And you need to pay attention. They even have
               | inward facing cameras to make sure you're paying
               | attention, more than most other companies. They do
               | everything they can to be safe but of course they're not
               | stupid and they'll put in a sweeping statement on
               | liability.
               | 
               | This is really pushing forward the self-driving industry
               | and is an incredible feat of engineering. It's much more
               | open and transparent than every other lane keeping
               | software, and it's being developed with a lot of thought
               | and care from a talented engineer as opposed to some
               | nameless faceless bureaucratic commission in Ford or some
               | other dinosaur.
               | 
               | https://www.thedrive.com/news/37833/consumer-reports-
               | ranks-t...
        
               | jeffreygoesto wrote:
               | Please don't doxx Ford engineers if you don't give any
               | proof. There are hard working, ethical people working who
               | don't want to kill people by lightheartedly pushing stuff
               | on the road. Just because you don't know them does not
               | mean they are not talented.
        
               | greenrd wrote:
               | I think you meant "diss", not "doxx".
        
               | picks_at_nits wrote:
               | I'm not gonna debate the "appropriate level of
               | liability."
               | 
               | My point has to do with what you're signalling. If a
               | thing is alpha-level, and real humans can get killed, I
               | wouldn't let random people buy it and use it in their
               | cars, period.
               | 
               | Informed consent is deeply problematic for a product like
               | this: Very few people have the expertise to look at the
               | code and the hardware and properly evaluate the risks,
               | right down to understanding which kinds of edge cases
               | need to be very carefully avoided.
               | 
               | Unless you're vetting researchers and barring people who
               | just want to save a few bucks and brag their car self-
               | drives, you really don't know if every person who
               | downloads the extra software really does grasp the
               | implications of what they're consenting to.
               | 
               | You might grasp the implications, and so might many
               | people in this thread, but that doesn't guarantee that
               | everyone does. THE AUDIENCE OF HACKER NEWS IS NOT A
               | REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF SOCIETY.
               | 
               | And we are talking about a product to be used on open
               | roads: In addition to informed consent from the person
               | who downloads the software, if they get into an accident
               | with another vehicle, pedestrian, or cyclist, did any of
               | those people consent to share the road with someone who
               | installed alpha software on their device?
               | 
               | Morally, I can't get behind a few disclaimers and a
               | nudge-nudge, wink-wink for any kind of autonomous driving
               | tech, even if it's "just" lane-keeping.
               | 
               | ------
               | 
               | Update: But to be clear, I am in favour of people
               | tinkering with all sorts of digital automotive tech, and
               | we really should find a way for lone inventors or small
               | teams to innovate without the "enterprise outfits" using
               | regulatory capture to drown small competitors with red
               | tape.
               | 
               | I'm only arguing in favour of truly informed consent,
               | which I believe is tricky for driver assistance
               | technology being provided to arbitrary customers.
        
               | bko wrote:
               | So your main problem is about the disclaimer and that its
               | called alpha. I provided a source that rates it the best
               | product among all other competitors and the highest score
               | on keep driver engage. And they have the most miles of
               | any other lane assist technology. So I think its safe. I
               | think the alpha is more tongue in cheek and is not a term
               | that means anything really apart from, as you say, a wink
               | and a nod.
               | 
               | For the laymen user, they won't read the disclaimer or
               | understand what Alpha means or even know that is is
               | "alpha". I'm an engineer and I probably won't ever really
               | audit the code. I will do my research like most other
               | people, read online reviews or testimonials like Consumer
               | Reports.
               | 
               | So are you against all lane assist technology? How about
               | auto-braking? Anti lock breaks?
        
           | tedivm wrote:
           | That line only exists in their Git Repository, which contains
           | the latest code. That line does not exist on their website.
           | 
           | If you want to use software directly out of someone's
           | development git repository then yeah, you're going to get
           | alpha level code.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | madamelic wrote:
         | 98% of that is boilerplate language for any product you use.
         | 
         | The uppercase is legalese to wiggle out of responsibility.
        
           | alisonkisk wrote:
           | I don't want to wiggle into a car crash.
        
         | whatyesaid wrote:
         | The whole point is they're selling you some hardware only (a
         | modified Android), and it's legal if you yourself modify your
         | own car or something. You have to manually install the software
         | and mount it physically after buying this.
         | 
         | https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/28/comma-ai-cancels-the-comma...
         | 
         | It seems well-tested and safe though, not something sizzling
         | out the lab, they're just using a legal loophole.
        
       | jordache wrote:
       | wait so many normal cars now have steering motors that you can
       | actuate via OBD??
       | 
       | Is that just leveraging the lane keep assist feature on these
       | modern cars? How much can that hardware steer for you?
        
         | qbasic_forever wrote:
         | Since the early 2000's most cars have been using a drive-by-
         | wire system for steering. They aren't exposed on OBD2 though,
         | that's just for legacy emissions. Most are on a CAN bus but
         | there isn't some big standard to control them all--it's very
         | much a manufacturer by manufacturer thing right now.
        
           | bri3d wrote:
           | This is only partially true - the only cars which used "real"
           | drive-by-wire (wheel -> computer -> steering actuator) were a
           | few Infiniti vehicles, and even then they had a clutch which
           | could re-engage a physical steering column.
           | 
           | Rather, a few cars in the early 2000s and many since the
           | early 2010s or so offer electric power steering assist: the
           | steering wheel is still very much connected by a physical
           | steering column to the steering rack, and normal steering
           | input is purely physical - there's just also an electric
           | motor attached to the rack to provide the usual power
           | steering boost. And, that power steering assist can be
           | controlled over a non-diagnostic CAN bus to facilitate LKA.
        
         | bri3d wrote:
         | Yes, this is usually leveraging the LKA feature. Depending on
         | the manufacturer/car the LKA generally has a torque limit (to
         | allow the driver to override the system by hand, and prevent
         | wrist injuries from steering input) and an angle limit.
         | 
         | Most cars (none, that I am aware of) do not allow the steering
         | motor to be actuated over the OBD port, the CAN bus containing
         | the steering/LKA sits behind a diagnostic gateway that doesn't
         | pass steering messages. You need to tap into this CAN bus,
         | which in the Comma product is accomplished by the connector at
         | the rearview mirror (usually used for the stock lane-keeping
         | assist camera).
        
         | chrisseaton wrote:
         | Most modern cars have something like lane assist yes, which
         | moves the steering wheel for you. Many have automatic parking
         | which also moves the wheel. So yeah it's built in anyway.
        
       | BooneJS wrote:
       | I tend to be a bargain shopper, but I don't put my life in the
       | hands of most of my deals.
        
       | Justsignedup wrote:
       | Okay, anecdotes aside... What level of autonomy does this
       | provide? Is it just basically lane assist?
        
         | treelovinhippie wrote:
         | Level 2. But it's rapidly evolving opensource software.
        
         | WrtCdEvrydy wrote:
         | There is a "tap to switch lane" which can do your lane changes
         | but it's not automated (since there's only forward facing
         | camera)
        
         | jabroni_salad wrote:
         | I've seen a few videos of it. It really is just a half step up
         | from active lane keeping. It will proactively keep you centered
         | and manage your speed with no interaction, whereas normal lane
         | keeping only kicks in if you are about to drift out of the
         | lane.
        
           | elil17 wrote:
           | Honda LKA keeps you centered and lets you take your hands off
           | the wheel.
        
           | leesec wrote:
           | A "half step up" doesn't really do it justice. Most current
           | LKA + Adaptive Cruise Control on cars will only keep you in
           | the lane for a few seconds before requiring human engagement.
           | The Comma Openpilot has already driven intervention free for
           | hours.
        
         | elil17 wrote:
         | Yes, it's just lane assist that does a good job in a variety of
         | situations that stock systems typically don't do well in.
        
       | easton wrote:
       | *$1,199 once you add in the required car harness to, you know,
       | connect it to your car.
        
         | qbasic_forever wrote:
         | Adding the self driving option to a Tesla model 3 or S is up to
         | what, like $3000 now? (on top of whatever extra tech package
         | you have to add too) This is pretty competitively priced. A lot
         | of folks spend more than that just on upgrading the stereo in
         | their car.
        
           | brianwawok wrote:
           | Highway Autopilot is free and included on all current Teslas.
           | 
           | For an additional 10k you can do a software upgrade to FSD
           | which does things like lane changes, and autopark, and
           | summon. Someday, it will also hopefully do this for city
           | streets (15 public users are on a beta of it right now).
           | 
           | But yah, you would never buy this on a Tesla, as the car
           | includes a better version of it for free on all cars.
        
         | anotheryou wrote:
         | that's cables? or the 3D printed mount?
        
       | yepthatsreality wrote:
       | What an insufferable use of lowercase. I can't even identify the
       | products in some text later on:
       | 
       | ``` Your first three months of comma prime are free with the
       | purchase of a comma two. ```
       | 
       | Later...
       | 
       | ``` The comma two and openpilot are currently compatible with
       | dozens of cars with new models being added regularly. See if your
       | car is compatible or check out our complete list of compatible
       | cars. ```
       | 
       | Why do first words of a sentence still get capitalization but not
       | the actual proper nouns?
        
       | beastman82 wrote:
       | Shady alert: I just clicked on one of the testimonials ("Jason S
       | Co") and it seems apparent that it is an employee of Comma, all
       | retweets of comma's main twitter account.
        
         | madamelic wrote:
         | Yeah, all three of the testimonials seem to be comma.ai
         | employees. That's an awful look.
        
           | cyrux004 wrote:
           | Pretty sure this statement is incorrect
        
             | netrus wrote:
             | The second one is true for sure.
        
         | leesec wrote:
         | If you're concerned, there's also hundreds of hours of it being
         | used on youtube by real users.
        
         | cyrux004 wrote:
         | I dont think there is an employee named Jason. Employees are
         | active on discord and github.
        
         | rvz wrote:
         | Here's a real testimonial: [0]
         | 
         | [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26147102
        
         | beastman82 wrote:
         | Just clicked on another and... it's another Comma retweet
         | factory. This is a super shady business!
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Recent and related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26146361
       | (not many comments but the Twitter link has info).
       | 
       | A thread from last year:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21986315
        
       | thethethethe wrote:
       | It seems like the market for a product like this (augmenting
       | older vehicles) will diminish over time as more and more vehicles
       | come with these features plus rolling updates and more advanced
       | sensors standard.
       | 
       | If this proves to be the case, I wonder what the company will do
       | to pivot
        
         | trulyme wrote:
         | Not sure why the downvotes, it is a legit risk for this
         | business. Remember how one could convert analog SLR cameras to
         | digital with some kits? It wasn't a success story...
         | 
         | EDIT: at least not for long.
        
         | stjo wrote:
         | Sell directly to manufacturers? Nearly no one (except Tesla)
         | has anything coming in the near future. Why anyone they pay
         | billions to develop the technology in-house if they can just
         | pay Comma.ai to integrate a sub $1000 thingy in their cars.
        
           | bri3d wrote:
           | I don't think Comma would pass compliance as any control-
           | related automotive system, much less a self-driving one, at
           | any established automotive manufacturer in a regulated market
           | (US, EU). The code isn't written to any commercial audit
           | standard that I can tell, the hardware is COTS mobile phone
           | hardware, and change management and testing (in a formal
           | sense) seems pretty much non-existent. Most manufacturers
           | demand compliance with standards like ISO 26262 for liability
           | reasons. Arguments about the value of these kinds of
           | standards aside, it's vanishingly unlikely that any mature
           | automaker would buy Comma's product as it stands - a major or
           | nearly complete overhaul would be required. Now, that's not
           | to say they couldn't sell into a less-mature company or one
           | in an unregulated market, but I don't think the opportunity
           | for them is as great as it seems.
        
           | t0mas88 wrote:
           | Nearly all luxury brands have had lane keeping for years.
           | Similar quality to what Tesla offers, just not marketed as
           | broadly and typically not available on a model 3 kind of
           | entry level. But at Tesla S price levels, all other
           | manufacturers offer similar lane keeping and adaptive cruise
           | capabilities.
        
         | leesec wrote:
         | So far there are only 2 car companies with comparable quality,
         | Tesla, and GM with Supercruise ( available on only 1 model ).
         | 
         | This is intended to provide functionality for all the rest
        
           | t0mas88 wrote:
           | Have you seen recent Volvo, BMW and Mercedes systems? They
           | all have good lane keeping and adaptive cruise / stop & go
           | for several years now. And I'm sure there are many more that
           | I'm not aware of.
        
         | lini wrote:
         | Perhaps they are waiting for someone to buy them. Even though
         | most of their software is open source, the crucial parts are
         | still closed IP. If it is really better than the current LKA
         | systems and has the potential to handle even more driving
         | scenarios in the future, it will be an easy decision for a big
         | auto company that needs to quickly catch up.
        
       | stunt wrote:
       | This is a link to the homepage. Is there a new announcement?
       | 
       | What is new about this? AFAIK Comma.ai has this since at least
       | 2-3 years ago!
        
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