[HN Gopher] Tesla to recall vehicles that may disobey stop signs
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Tesla to recall vehicles that may disobey stop signs
        
       Author : jjulius
       Score  : 280 points
       Date   : 2022-02-01 16:03 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.reuters.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.reuters.com)
        
       | natch wrote:
       | "Recall" lol. They will tweak a behavior in a software update.
        
       | gjsman-1000 wrote:
       | Did _anyone_ in Tesla 's Legal Department review the rolling stop
       | feature? This should have screamed illegal. Heck, I'm no legal
       | expert but it screams illegal to me.
        
         | bdamm wrote:
         | The responsibility for following the law is still on the
         | driver.
         | 
         | If I'm responsible, then I can choose to have the car break the
         | law on my behalf, and accept the consequences.
        
         | rini17 wrote:
         | Maybe Legal is next on chopping block after QA.
        
         | duxup wrote:
         | I gotta think there are some emails with some engineer "guies
         | wut?" out there.
         | 
         | I always wonder how this plays out on a granular level. Some
         | folks have to be thinking / asking if this is a good idea or
         | not.
        
         | loceng wrote:
         | This should initiate a conversation into following the spirit
         | of laws vs. authoritarian rigidity of law without nuance.
         | 
         | In high school there was only a handful of things I learned
         | that were actually useful, outside of social experiences. One
         | of them was a teacher who taught business and law classes. In a
         | business class he shared with us, first saying he could
         | probably get fired for telling us this, but that if we had good
         | ideas, new we had a good idea for a business, then instead of
         | going to university and getting $40,000+ into debt over 4 years
         | - get a job and/or apprenticeship and work on your idea. At the
         | end of that 4 years he suggested you'd be in a much better
         | position than those who went into higher education; of course
         | it depends on what someone's goals are. In law class he gave an
         | example: in some states in the US there are very long stretches
         | of road where you won't see anyone for awhile, and sometimes
         | there are traffic lights on a straight road - with no
         | intersection. He put forward to the question of what do you do
         | if that traffic light is red when you come up to it? There's
         | zero vehicles near you in either direction, there's no
         | intersection to worry about cross-traffic, and so do you stop
         | and wait for the light to go green, or do you go again even
         | though it's red? I think every reasonable person would answer
         | that they would go. E.g. A rolling stop in some circumstances
         | isn't dangerous for anyone; and I also see police doing it all
         | the time.
         | 
         | Of course AI deciding when to do it when it may not yet be
         | accounting for the whole or an adequate enough of environment
         | does add questions, and because it's not critical to self-
         | driving, I believe it's a good idea to not allow it until that
         | conversation can be thoroughly hashed out, as well as the
         | technology much more thoroughly tested and evolved.
         | 
         | Edit: Lazy people downvote - find something better to do with
         | your time, or some other form of entertainment.
        
           | gpderetta wrote:
           | Similarly airplane pilots should not wait for instructions
           | from the tower if they can clearly see that the way is clear.
           | 
           | Simple, binding, easy to follow rules are important when the
           | cost of mistakes is death or significant damage
        
             | toomuchtodo wrote:
             | > Simple, binding, easy to follow rules are important when
             | the cost of mistakes is death or significant damage
             | 
             | There is nuance. Pilots are the final authority when it
             | comes to the safety of the craft, and you're in the clear
             | if your actions were justified. With self driving cars,
             | we're discussing where the boundaries are and when the
             | vehicle's decision can take precedence over coarse legal
             | code (as occurs with human drivers every day).
             | 
             | https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/91.3 (14 CFR SS
             | 91.3 - Responsibility and authority of the pilot in
             | command.)
             | 
             | (private pilot who has deviated from ATC commands in GA
             | aircraft and had to fill out a written report over a cup of
             | coffee)
        
               | gpderetta wrote:
               | Of course! And you should definitely run a red light if
               | staying were you are would put you or other in dangers.
               | I'm commenting about running a red light just because the
               | road seems otherwise clear.
        
             | anonymousiam wrote:
             | Bad analogy. When driving, there is no "Tower" with an
             | overarching view of your situation.
        
               | loceng wrote:
               | And most of the sky for a pilot is a blind spot as planes
               | they can't currently see can intersect they could easily
               | and quickly collide.
        
               | gpderetta wrote:
               | Car drivers also have blind spots. See the Constant
               | bearing, decreasing range problem for example.
        
               | kfarr wrote:
               | In that case, you could say it's even more important for
               | all individual agents to adhere to a set of clear and
               | predictable rules.
        
           | notreallyserio wrote:
           | > Edit: Lazy people downvote - find something better to do
           | with your time, or some other form of entertainment.
           | 
           | If you must know, I downvoted you because you whines about
           | downvotes. Sure, I'm lazy, but at least I don't cry about
           | internet points.
        
             | loceng wrote:
             | And you're being naive or arrogant enough at this moment to
             | think this is "cry[ing] about internet points."
             | 
             | Maybe brainstorm as to what the actual implications of the
             | dopamine hit/easy reward to downvote/suppress content is
             | vs. simply having an upvote mechanism, and then share your
             | thoughts and I'd be happy to get into a conversation with
             | you. It doesn't sound like you've spent the time to
             | actually extrapolate to the full consequences of the
             | downvote mechanism.
             | 
             | Your response here though is one prime example as to why
             | downvotes for most content types shouldn't exist. That you
             | spent the tiny effort to click downvote to react to what
             | you perceived as my "whining" - that that was a strong
             | enough trigger or annoyance for you emotionally says more
             | about your emotional regulation than the content of what I
             | said, likewise by actually commenting you outed yourself or
             | rather shared your actual qualitative reaction/response -
             | so now there's an opportunity for a conversation, to
             | broaden or enhance your understand or perhaps get educated
             | by seeing things more from my perspective.
             | 
             | Don't you think having a qualitative response vs. a single
             | quantitative digit changing to suppress content in an
             | algorithm is more valuable to you, to society?
             | 
             | P.S. Upvoted you for commenting. Now maybe your comment
             | won't be at the bottom, interesting how the "worst" or less
             | valuable or lowest quality [qualitative] comments naturally
             | make their way to the bottom - without requiring the
             | downvote mechanism, isn't it?
             | 
             | P.P.S It'd be neat if HN/dang would offer a parallel view
             | of posts, and then in the actual thread view, have 2
             | columns of comments - one not influenced by downvotes, and
             | the other as the status quo - so people can start to
             | experience and contrast; because AFAIK downvotes/upvotes
             | aren't available in the API, so a third-party can't develop
             | this? I'd certainly develop this system if HN's API could
             | facilitate it.
        
           | lamontcg wrote:
           | You're just encouraging the normalization of deviance.
           | "Everyone does it".
           | 
           | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljzj9Msli5o
           | 
           | You can get away with it a hundred times, or a thousand
           | times, but eventually you'll be tired and do it and clobber a
           | pedestrian you didn't see because "you were tired" (so its
           | not your fault, even though it 100% is).
           | 
           | Stop thinking the way you do and stop being one of the 88% of
           | American drivers who think they're above average. Follow the
           | goddamn rules because you're not 99.99% perfect and its the
           | .01% that is going to hurt someone else.
           | 
           | And "I see the police doing it all the time" clearly isn't
           | the right moral barometer, if you haven't been paying
           | attention.
        
             | loceng wrote:
             | No, but you're attempting to put words into my mouth.
             | 
             | You're making assumptions too, it seems, of what scenarios
             | I believe it's safe for rolling stops to occur - or what
             | state a person will be in when they're doing it. For
             | example, I don't drive when I'm very tired, and whether I
             | am tired at all or not, if weather conditions or if traffic
             | conditions
             | 
             | Maybe we shouldn't allow airplanes to been flown anymore
             | because "you can get away with it a hundred times, or a
             | thousand times, but eventually you'll" crash?
             | 
             | I wonder if you're convoluting different rules, like your
             | assumptions, and not differentiating that different rules
             | are more serious than others - giving the same weight to
             | less serious rules than those that are more serious. E.g.
             | Speeding through a red light during rush hour is different
             | than a pedestrian jaywalking - yet both are illegal.
             | 
             | And before someone comes in to say a jaywalker can't do the
             | same damage as a vehicle, here's my personal story: I was
             | riding my bicycle, going a normal speed, vehicles parked
             | along the side as they were allowed to - and the perfect
             | scenario for a collision occurred: a tall, strong man
             | walked out into the street - looking the opposite direction
             | first - from behind a box van with no windows, and stepped
             | right into my path with no time for me to put my breaks on.
             | I crashed into him - he didn't actually move - and I had
             | whiplash, my jaw slammed shut, I bite the right side tip of
             | my tongue 80% off in a deep cut, and multiple teeth were
             | split and chipped; him and his girlfriend didn't stay
             | around, they actually laughed about it as they walked away,
             | and I was in shock - and in pain - and so I didn't realize
             | I should have called the police.
        
           | thrdbndndn wrote:
           | I agree this is worth a conversation so here is mine.
           | 
           | I think the law as-is is already ambiguous enough (due to its
           | complex nature) that our society waste huge amount of energy
           | and resources arguing about its meanings. Anything that can
           | be "rigidly" defined (and therefore enforced) with little
           | downside* is a win in my book, purely from a practical
           | perspective.
           | 
           | * Just like in this particular case (rolling stop), the
           | "downside" of enforcing full stop compared to a subjective
           | "safe rolling stop" is close to none.
           | 
           | And about the spirit of the law, to me it's pretty simple: if
           | an illegal practice works _better_ in this regard than the
           | "legal" alternative, sure, we should seriously consider if we
           | need to punish people doing so.
           | 
           | But in most of cases people bringing this in, both practices
           | are perfectly aligning with the spirit of the law. Paired
           | with the practicality argument above, there isn't much point
           | to allow rolling stop as it doesn't make the road "safer"
           | than full-stop.
           | 
           | Also, as someone coming from a country that doesn't have stop
           | sign, people are spoiled and don't know how genius this idea
           | is.
           | 
           | In an ideal world where everyone follows traffic law and pay
           | full attention to the road all the time, stop sign isn't
           | really needed. However, people are not machine. The whole
           | points of stop sign is to _force_ these distracted drivers to
           | pay attention at intersections, even if only out of fear of
           | getting a ticket. This kind of  "foolproof" safety technique
           | is not as excessive as it may look like at the first glance.
           | Therefore, I'd argue having people full stopping is exactly
           | the spirit of stop sign.
        
             | loceng wrote:
             | Okay, so safety wise let's say that's figured out. People
             | and planners also like to take into account flow of
             | traffic, and throughput wants to be maximized, you may then
             | conclude that there are safe circumstances where rolling
             | stops have practically no safety concerns - and if AI can
             | become amazing enough [let's say there are 100,000 baseline
             | safety experiments that need to be conducted/passed] to
             | account for and catalogue those scenarios, then we could
             | arguably loosen restrictions in at least some contexts.
        
               | thrdbndndn wrote:
               | I agree if AI were dominant in driving in future, it
               | could be loosen. But for now I'd say they should still
               | follow the same rule as the human driver.
        
           | jjulius wrote:
           | >This should initiate a conversation into following the
           | spirit of laws vs. authoritarian rigidity of law without
           | nuance.
           | 
           | That's why rolling stop laws _don 't_ always end up with you
           | getting a ticket. I was pulled over a year or two after first
           | getting my license for executing a rolling stop. The cop
           | reminded me what I'd done, recognized that I was a dumb kid
           | and a relatively new driver, told me to cross my heart and
           | promise I'd never do it again, and let me go. Enforcement is
           | circumstantial and nobody's going to follow that rule if
           | they're not aware that they _could_ get in trouble for it.
           | 
           | >In law class he gave an email: in some states in the US
           | there are very long stretches of road where you won't see
           | anyone for awhile, and sometimes there are traffic lights on
           | a straight road - with no intersection. He put forward to the
           | question of what do you do if that traffic light is red when
           | you come up to it? There's zero vehicles near you in either
           | direction, there's no intersection to worry about cross-
           | traffic, and so do you stop and wait for the light to go
           | green, or do you go again even though it's red? I think every
           | reasonable person would answer that they would go. E.g. A
           | rolling stop in some circumstances isn't dangerous for
           | anyone; and I also see police doing it all the time.
           | 
           | Many such stop lights exist because they provide a safe space
           | to cross the road for pedestrians. In fact there are a few
           | such lights near me in long stretches of road, among woods,
           | that allow people walking through trails in the woods to
           | cross the road. I stop at those lights every single time.
           | Why? Because I don't know if someone has crossed yet. Could
           | be that it's a family trying to cross the street, and they
           | had to go back to the trail to corral a kid that wandered the
           | other way and they'll be crossing the street in a second. Or,
           | it could be a group of people - some of them have crossed,
           | others are shortly behind and will be coming out in a second.
           | 
           | The point is that, often, _I don 't know_ what is or isn't
           | there. And unless I _know_ , I'm going to stop.
           | 
           | >Edit: Lazy people downvote - find something better to do
           | with your time, or some other form of entertainment.
           | 
           | Happy now?
        
             | loceng wrote:
             | > Happy now?
             | 
             | Morale has improved, the beatings can stop.
             | 
             | You're right, and it's the same with jaywalking - it's
             | usually only enforced or a fine or charge laid if the
             | action causes a collision or harm.
             | 
             | In the example I gave there wasn't pedestrian crossing as
             | part of the example, and in it you also stop at the light
             | first. In your scenario it sounds like there are blind
             | spots too, whereas I guess I left out some language, like
             | the road was in a desert with full visibility everywhere.
             | Of course, you need to always fully stop or be rolling
             | slowly enough, say if you're making a right-hand turn at a
             | red light [where legal], so that you can stop quickly
             | enough if you see past the blind spot that traffic is
             | coming.
        
               | jjulius wrote:
               | >... whereas I guess I left out some language, like the
               | road was in a desert with full visibility everywhere.
               | 
               | I'd guess that's a speed deterrent. Long stretches of
               | flat, open road with nothing around to crash into are
               | very inviting for people looking to race. Get going fast
               | enough and you risk losing control of your vehicle and
               | crashing into other people, say an oncoming car. Those
               | red lights, assuming I'm understanding your scenario
               | correctly, encourage people to maintain a safer pace of
               | travel.
               | 
               | >Of course, you need to always fully stop or be rolling
               | slowly enough, say if you're making a right-hand turn at
               | a red light...
               | 
               | ... no. There is no "or be rolling slowly enough".
               | _Stop_.
        
               | loceng wrote:
               | > I'd guess that's a speed deterrent. Long stretches of
               | flat, open road with nothing around to crash into are
               | very inviting for people looking to race. Get going fast
               | enough and you risk losing control of your vehicle and
               | crashing into other people, say an oncoming car. Those
               | red lights, assuming I'm understanding your scenario
               | correctly, encourage people to maintain a safer pace of
               | travel.
               | 
               | Sure, or perhaps it makes people who maybe zoned out give
               | them an opportunity to see how fast they're going - and
               | slow down, and they get an opportunity to see if they
               | slowed down fast enough to stop at the red light - before
               | reaching the next red light which maybe is in a little
               | town up ahead a bit, so if they didn't stop in time for
               | the first red light then they've kind of been notified to
               | be more careful next time. But the exercise was to ask:
               | if it's 100% safe to go at a red light [once you've
               | stopped at it], with zero potential for anyone getting
               | hurt, do you go through the red light, or do you wait
               | until it turns green?
               | 
               | It makes for quite the interesting psychological test
               | seeing how different people answer, similar I suppose to
               | the whole train track scenario - where your train is
               | going to crash - and you have a few options; Will Smith
               | in iRobot has related trauma as well, the robot's AI
               | determined to save him - an adult - over the young girl,
               | even though he was trying to command the robot to save
               | the little girl.
               | 
               | > ... no. There is no "or be rolling slowly enough".
               | Stop.
               | 
               | If you're at a stop sign or red traffic light, and if
               | it's legal in your jurisdiction to turn right on, you
               | have to start rolling forward - and are allowed to even
               | if there's a blindspot and can't see any traffic coming
               | yet [the road could be clear or not] - so if you're going
               | slowly enough and there's no traffic then you continue,
               | if you all of a sudden can see past the blindspot and
               | there's enough time to safely go then you continue, if
               | there isn't enough time to pull out then you stop.
        
         | nickthegreek wrote:
         | Agreed. In Ohio, I got a ticket for this exact behavior a
         | decade ago.
        
           | asdff wrote:
           | They ticket everything in ohio. Drive too fast? Ticket. Drive
           | too slow? Ticket. Lights not on after the legal definition of
           | dusk? Ticket. Hanging out in the left lane? Ticket. Not using
           | the blinker? Ticket. Leaving the blinker on? Also ticket. The
           | sucky part is when you are a teenager they sometimes couple
           | this with throwing all your belongings on the side of the
           | road in search of the weed that you must have.
        
             | FireBeyond wrote:
             | > Drive too slow? Ticket.
             | 
             | At least when I grew up in Australia, part of the road laws
             | was a statement, very close to this effect:
             | 
             | "You are required to drive at the maximum speed that is 1)
             | within the speed limit, 2) is appropriate for the
             | conditions, and 3) within your ability to control the
             | vehicle".
             | 
             | And that was the rationale for ticketing 'too slow'
             | drivers. Within those constraints, there was no reason for
             | you to go more slowly, and posed unnecessary risk to those
             | who were within those criteria.
        
         | NelsonMinar wrote:
         | Pretty sure Tesla's legal department isn't calling the shots on
         | stuff like this.
        
           | JohnWhigham wrote:
           | This. Elon is all "move fast and break things"; "things" in
           | this case being Teslas and the people inside them. And why
           | wouldn't he? The federal government barely pays attention to
           | wanting to audit self-driving technologies as it is.
        
         | modeless wrote:
         | It's about as illegal as breaking the speed limit. If self
         | driving cars aren't given the same leniency as humans to break
         | the traffic laws that 99% of humans break then they will be a
         | nuisance on the road.
         | 
         | Ideally the traffic laws should be updated to be more
         | realistic.
        
           | lariati wrote:
           | If you want to go over the speed limit then don't use self
           | driving.
           | 
           | If you increase the speed limit by 10mph, humans will just
           | adjust up too.
           | 
           | I do agree that interstate speed laws need to be updated. The
           | most dangerous spot I drive on an interstate is crossing a
           | state line that drops from 70mph to 55mph. The slower zone is
           | so dangerous because some people are then going 55mph and
           | some still want to go 80mph.
           | 
           | I don't see how self driving can be anything other than the
           | most perfect letter of the law driver though.
        
           | Slartie wrote:
           | So, self-driving cars are supposed to be, at the same time...
           | 
           | ...much safer than human-driven cars, because they never tire
           | and they never break traffic rules and thus never cause
           | accidents
           | 
           | and
           | 
           | ...supposed to bend and break traffic rules like humans quite
           | often do in order to be efficient drivers
           | 
           | How should that be possible? Ah yeah, by having self-driving
           | cars which are so extremely intelligent that they don't just
           | follow the legal rules, but some idealistic set of rules
           | deviating from the written laws that no human has ever been
           | able to write down concisely, let alone bring into
           | algorithmic form, but that is at the same time 100% safe and
           | very efficient at allowing a maximum number of vehicles to
           | reach their individual destinations in the shortest time
           | possible.
           | 
           | Anyone not convinced that L5 self-driving cars are impossible
           | without first developing a strong AGI way above human
           | intelligence levels should have a really good solution for
           | this obvious contradiction.
        
             | fallingknife wrote:
             | Easy. There is no contradiction. If I can think faster, see
             | better, and react faster than you, I can break exactly the
             | same traffic laws as you and still be a much safer driver.
             | Computers can do all of those things currently, and it is a
             | matter of time before that is applied to driving.
        
               | Slartie wrote:
               | > think faster
               | 
               | Computers cannot "think" at any speed.
        
               | Dylan16807 wrote:
               | Fine. "Plan" faster, if you want to be picky.
        
             | tgsovlerkhgsel wrote:
             | > because they never tire and they never break traffic
             | rules and thus never cause accidents
             | 
             | No, because they never tire and almost never break traffic
             | rules _in dangerous ways_ , and thus cause accidents _much
             | less frequently than humans_. Realistically, this means
             | that instead of following the speed limit they 'd follow
             | speed limit + X, instead of keeping the prescribed distance
             | they'd keep whatever distance human drivers typically
             | maintain (while still keeping enough distance to react and
             | stop), and it also means rolling through 4-way stops _when
             | they have sufficient confidence that it is safe to do so_.
        
             | deegles wrote:
             | A human breaks the rolling stop rule on a case by case
             | basis and is responsible for the consequences, while a
             | rolling-stop-avoidance feature acts on your behalf and
             | Tesla is responsible for it. An analogy might be that it's
             | the difference between getting food poisoning from home
             | cooking vs. from a restaurant. Even though you're consuming
             | food in both instances, the liability is assigned
             | differently.
        
               | FireBeyond wrote:
               | Oh, according to Tesla, not so. Their perspective is that
               | you're absolutely and solely liable in either case.
               | 
               | Their legal department works studiously to handwave away
               | every marketing statement.
               | 
               | "The driver is only in the seat for legal purposes. The
               | car is driving itself." - "You are entirely responsible
               | for driving the vehicle."
               | 
               | "Use Summon to bring your car to you while dealing with a
               | fussy child." - "Pay attention to vehicle at all times."
        
               | lamontcg wrote:
               | > A human breaks the rolling stop rule on a case by case
               | basis and is responsible for the consequences
               | 
               | Not really. You can fail to see a pedestrian and cripple
               | them and you won't see a whole lot of consequences for
               | your "accident" (negligence).
               | 
               | Breaking rules on a case-by-case basis is also how the
               | normalization of deviance occurs:
               | 
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljzj9Msli5o
               | 
               | If you break rules when you think you don't need to
               | follow them you'll find that you're not 99.9% perfect and
               | you will inevitably cause a crash.
               | 
               | If you follow the rules all the time you won't make that
               | error.
               | 
               | The reason why computers should ultimately replace human
               | drivers is precisely because we're dangerously
               | incompetent and overconfident and shouldn't be breaking
               | any rules.
        
             | AtlasBarfed wrote:
             | Traffic laws are draconian/inflexible because:
             | 
             | 1) they have to be simple enough to fit in an AVERAGE
             | DRIVER's head (it is a miracle to me that highways in
             | cities are as functional and low-error as they are yes I
             | know the death statistics on driving)
             | 
             | 2) the law makers know the laws will be bent, so they set a
             | baseline of VERY VERY SAFE and hope that most people only
             | bend the law to VERY SAFE or at worst MOSTLY SAFE.
             | 
             | It seems weird given how "bad" self-driving algs are right
             | now, but with a detailed database of locations and context,
             | I absolutely believe the "rolling stop" logic in the car
             | would be safer and more effective than a human observing
             | complete stops.
             | 
             | I definitely do not agree with Tesla's vision-only no-
             | location-context algorithm approach. Such a thing is a
             | baseline, but if you know the location to where you are
             | going, then route-specific data should be downloaded that
             | has been optimized with multiple specific AI computation
             | passes.
             | 
             | That's how humans work: we are slow and dumb when we are
             | driving in unfamiliar locations and routes, but for our
             | commute routes we know where potholes are, cracks in the
             | road, which lane to be in, dangerous sidestreets and
             | intersections and congestion points, etc.
             | 
             | So I disagree that L5 is impossible. Well, it depends on
             | "way above human intelligence". I think what you are trying
             | to say is you need a supersapient intellect with IQ 195.
             | 
             | But AIs can be "dumb" but have access to a far larger
             | memory space and database and respond to a far wider
             | bandwidth of sensor information. The AI programs may not be
             | solving Fermat's Last Theorem in the margin of a book, but
             | they can be smarter in the sense that it's like having a
             | million gnomes watching at once.
        
               | Slartie wrote:
               | > Well, it depends on "way above human intelligence". I
               | think what you are trying to say is you need a
               | supersapient intellect with IQ 195.
               | 
               | I'd say even "normal human intelligence" would suffice
               | for at least getting L5 to work (maybe not with perfect
               | safety and efficiency, but working at all). But you
               | cannot remove the need for actual "intelligence" from the
               | equation, and that's the problem: our AIs are not
               | "intelligent" at all. They are idiot savants, and driving
               | a car isn't exactly a problem where you need savant-like
               | capabilities. It is a very general, broad-range problem,
               | which is much more applicable for the broad mental
               | capabilities of even the not-so-smart part of humanity.
               | 
               | Case in point: there are human savants in areas like
               | playing chess or Go or recognizing text in many different
               | spoken languages, but there are no human savants in the
               | area of driving cars on public roads.
        
               | oneoff786 wrote:
               | There are public driving savants. They just don't see
               | much benefit from it.
        
               | rootusrootus wrote:
               | > the law makers know the laws will be bent
               | 
               | Or possibly they just know that real world driving
               | involves so many context-dependent decisions that trying
               | to cover it all with laws is about as reasonable as
               | making a self driving car.
               | 
               | I think it's the nerds that are delusional.
        
             | modeless wrote:
             | It's not complicated. Traffic laws are not perfectly
             | aligned with safety. Plenty of legal things are unsafe and
             | plenty of things that are illegal are not always dangerous.
             | 
             | This isn't surprising either. The process of making laws is
             | political and politics are clearly not an ideal way to
             | decide on a perfect and exhaustive and precisely detailed
             | set of rules for anything. The laws do not constitute an
             | algorithm for driving. They are necessarily simplified. And
             | yes, a self driving car is going to need a set of driving
             | rules that are much more detailed than anything humans have
             | written down before.
        
               | sutuplesu wrote:
               | Pragmatic rulemaking for large numbers of people also
               | needs to take into account the fact that the rule will
               | naturally be viewed as a loose guideline by some people,
               | and even as a thing to be defied for its own sake by
               | others. Setting the limit stricter than the actual
               | desired behavior can push average behavior closer to the
               | target.
        
               | jackson1442 wrote:
               | > Setting the limit stricter than the actual desired
               | behavior can push average behavior closer to the target.
               | 
               | Absolutely not, at least in the context of speed limits.
               | Where I live, most of the speed limits are at least 15mph
               | lower than they should be (why is a 6 lane road
               | 30mph???), so you get:
               | 
               | * people who follow the speed limit exactly: 30mph
               | 
               | * people who follow the speed limit the road was designed
               | for: 45mph
               | 
               | * people who see the limit as a "limit:" 25mph
               | 
               | It's a mess. Roads need to be designed to the desired
               | speed limit. Don't make a 6-lane straight road 30mph;
               | people unfamiliar with the area will assume the speed
               | limit's 50% higher than it is, and people from the area
               | will feel like they're going incredibly slow.
               | 
               | In short, it should be uncomfortable to go >= 20mph over
               | by design if you want people to follow your speed limits.
        
               | modeless wrote:
               | Yes, that's a great reason why laws made for humans may
               | not be perfect when applied strictly to machines.
        
               | donatj wrote:
               | > Setting the limit stricter than the actual desired
               | behavior can push average behavior closer to the target
               | 
               | I hate this so much. Selective enforcement only serves to
               | enable overzealous enforcement against unpopular and
               | disenfranchised groups.
               | 
               | One does one small thing wrong and they can then tack a
               | large handful of other charges that would never otherwise
               | be enforced. It's disgusting.
               | 
               | Make the rules things that should actually be rules.
               | Enforce them as written. The end.
        
               | mdoms wrote:
               | It actually is incredibly complicated. You can tell,
               | because every individual person you speak to will have a
               | different interpretation of which rules are there for
               | safety and which ones can be ignored.
               | 
               | The fact that you start your post about how an AI can
               | make such a determination with the words "it's not
               | complicated" discredits you.
        
               | modeless wrote:
               | Obviously rules for self driving cars are very
               | complicated. What's not complicated are the reasons why
               | the road laws made for humans are not directly suitable
               | as unbreakable principles for self driving cars to always
               | follow.
        
               | mdoms wrote:
               | No actually that's incredibly complication. It differs by
               | culture, regional attitudes, quality of infrastructure
               | and hundreds of other variables.
        
               | Dylan16807 wrote:
               | The _way_ it 's different is incredibly complicated.
               | 
               | The assertion that a significant difference _exists_ is
               | not complicated and is easy to prove.
        
               | wavefunction wrote:
               | That seems like an appropriate generalized take on "laws"
               | but in the specific case of ignoring a stop sign, I don't
               | think it applies. Stop signs are a traffic control device
               | that other drivers rely on to predict the intent of a
               | vehicle approaching the stop sign.
        
               | modeless wrote:
               | Stop signs are anything but "ignored". The actual
               | behavior only applies when the car recognizes a stop sign
               | and also assesses good visibility to ensure that no other
               | cars are around, and the car still slows regardless. It's
               | not just blowing through stop signs at top speed whenever
               | it feels like it.
        
           | lolsal wrote:
           | Following traffic laws is not a nuisance. Period.
        
           | cmurf wrote:
           | They're not equivalent illegalities. Speeding involves a much
           | higher energy state than rolling stop. If there's an
           | accident, very clearly one is much worse.
        
             | fabianhjr wrote:
             | If someone rolls a stop in a non-4-way stop and there was a
             | car approaching at 55mph at the same time from a
             | transversal road then a close to 55mph t-bone crash is
             | prone to happen. (And the vehicle involved might be a truck
             | with a heavy load vs a tesla rolling a stop)
        
             | gjsman-1000 wrote:
             | I feel like a Unicorn, but I obey the speed limit as
             | closely as I can. My speedometer says a perfect 60 on the
             | highway in my area, and I am always being passed like
             | crazy. I've never received a speeding ticket.
             | 
             | I'm not a "nuisance" for not going faster and breaking the
             | speed limit. Everyone else is the "nuisance" and I vote for
             | stronger enforcement where possible.
        
               | notreallyserio wrote:
               | One of the most frustrating things I deal with is people
               | driving too fast on the main street that is (basically)
               | just outside my cul-de-sac. It's a 35 mph limit but
               | people drive 40-45. That makes it harder to see them
               | coming, making the road less safe.
               | 
               | Too many people seem to believe that the only thing that
               | matters is the road in front of them, they don't consider
               | the side roads at all. The city is talking about
               | narrowing the lanes on the main street to reduce speed
               | and add bike lanes, and it can't happen soon enough.
        
               | asdff wrote:
               | Also your chance of surviving an impact at like 50mph is
               | next to zero as a pedestrian. You have a higher chance
               | surviving an impact at 35mph even though its still pretty
               | small.
        
               | mmanfrin wrote:
               | Going noticeably slower than the speed of traffic is
               | dangerous and more of a nuisance than people going 5-10
               | mph over.
        
               | fallingknife wrote:
               | The traffic engineering standard for the properly set
               | speed limit to minimize collisions is the speed of the
               | 85th percentile car on the road. https://www.lincoln.ne.g
               | ov/files/sharedassets/public/ltu/tra...
               | 
               | So if you are being passed like crazy and going the speed
               | limit, the speed limit is set incorrectly, and you are,
               | in fact, the nuisance.
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | It's not just the highway, I am frequently passed on
               | roads of all kinds for following the speed limit and
               | going no faster.
               | 
               | They are absolutely, for breaking the law, the nuisance
               | in these situations. The number of people breaking the
               | law does not change what the law is or, even necessarily,
               | what the law should be.
        
               | Sargos wrote:
               | People generally drive the safe speed for the road they
               | are travelling on. The fact that you're being passed
               | (probably on the right a lot of the times) means you are
               | driving slower than traffic and are actually a danger to
               | other drivers. You might think you are being morally high
               | and mighty but you are actually putting innocent lives in
               | danger. Please have some introspection here.
        
               | Xylakant wrote:
               | > People generally drive the safe speed for the road they
               | are travelling on.
               | 
               | Can you substantiate that assertion somehow? People drive
               | the speed that they feel safe with, but that is not
               | necessarily true. It may be safe most of the time, but
               | change due to external circumstances. It's safe most of
               | the time to drive 50km/h in a residential zone, except
               | that one time when a child jumps out from behind a car.
        
               | orangepurple wrote:
               | The taxi study proved that drivers tend to take greater
               | risks in cars equipped with ABS (although the difference
               | in collision rates was not significant). In short, ABS
               | may do more harm than good.
               | 
               | https://archive.ph/QKVjR
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | So I am the dangerous one for not engaging in dangerous
               | activity. Gotcha.
        
               | qubitcoder wrote:
               | You are behaving dangerously. Accidents are caused by
               | speed differences (one reason). People changing lanes to
               | pass you introduces all sorts of additional complexity,
               | increases speed deltas, reduces reaction time, limits
               | visibility, requires quicker maneuvers, forces other
               | drivers to double and triple check that others aren't
               | trying to pass simultaneously, increases the risk to
               | pedestrians and cyclists, etc.
               | 
               | Deliberately going the speed limit when it results in
               | other drivers constantly passing you increases the danger
               | to to everyone else around you significantly.
               | 
               | Please give this some thought.
               | 
               | Ideally, the German model would be enforced. Slower
               | traffic keeps right, left lanes are for overtaking. And
               | many places are unrestricted, meaning there's no speed
               | limit. The system works quite well, and the flow of
               | traffic is _vastly_ more predictable, and feels a lot
               | safer than the US interstate system.
        
               | orwin wrote:
               | No, you are just more conscious about speed-related
               | issues than your local council. They should engage in
               | road work to reduce the road width, making everyone slow
               | down.
        
               | HWR_14 wrote:
               | You are the dangerous one for not engaging in an illegal
               | but safer activity. It kinda assumes you're right if you
               | call it a dangerous activity.
        
               | Filligree wrote:
               | The illegal activity is in fact illegal. Nothing more
               | should need to be said.
        
               | HWR_14 wrote:
               | Plenty more should be said.
               | 
               | It's a bad law that endangers people and should be
               | changed. Going an unsafe speed is another law, and its
               | entirely possible that there is no speed that does not
               | violate one of those laws. The law is a relic of when
               | cars were less safe, and the same safety can be achieved
               | with much higher speeds.
        
               | fallingknife wrote:
               | If you are an authoritarian, yes.
        
               | HWR_14 wrote:
               | The number of people breaking the law definitely changes
               | what the law should be for traffic laws that primarily
               | are about coordination. If 80% of the population starts
               | driving on the opposite side of the road, or stopping in
               | green and going on red we should absolutely change the
               | law. Speed limits are primarily a similar law. It hardly
               | matters what they are as long as people go the same
               | speed.
        
               | notch656a wrote:
               | You drive the speed you feel you can drive without undue
               | risk to others, those around you may do the same. I take
               | the exceptional viewpoint that neither of you are
               | necessarily 'nuisance.' Reasonable rate of speed depends
               | on vehicle type/design, driver skill, sobriety,
               | wakefulness, attentiveness, safety features of those on
               | the road, density of traffic and environmental
               | conditions. Reasonable rate of speed does not depend on
               | whatever arbitrary number is on a sign.
        
               | asdff wrote:
               | All roads are not built to perfect standards. Chances are
               | your freeway interchanges are not built to be taken at
               | full highway speeds. If you tried to go 75mph to make the
               | 101s to 110s interchange in LA, you would crash into the
               | wall like many have done because the recommended speed is
               | 35mph (and speaking with experience it is VERY sketchy
               | going above that because the turn is entirely unbanked
               | and the lanes are narrow and there is zero shoulder to
               | speak of).
               | 
               | There is also the issue of meatspace. Maybe your modern
               | car can exceed the speed limit of the road surface and
               | safely handle itself. Meanwhile, we still have our
               | biology to deal with, which has not hardened itself to
               | survive an impact at a high speed with a car. Only after
               | millions of years of pedestrian deaths will that
               | evolution be possible. When you find yourself driving
               | 45-50mph on a road signed for 35mph, just know that if a
               | pedestrian were to step out and appear in front of you,
               | you are virtually guaranteed to kill them at this speed,
               | and if you respected the signage, they have a better
               | chance of surviving this impact.
        
               | Dylan16807 wrote:
               | The issue with an interchange is a sudden change in
               | speed, which is a separate issue from the natural speed
               | of roads.
               | 
               | > When you find yourself driving 45-50mph on a road
               | signed for 35mph, just know that if a pedestrian
               | 
               | Change the road to be a 35mph road. It'll be cheaper too.
        
             | sgc wrote:
             | Most accidents happen at intersections, and you don't know
             | how fast the other car is going. I would consider rolling
             | stop far more "dangerous" in that regard. If I were
             | programming it and laws were not a concern, I would
             | probably look at speed limits on both streets and disallow
             | on higher speed intersections, or those with obstructed
             | vision (data allowing of course).
        
               | bryanlarsen wrote:
               | That's exactly what Tesla did -- rolling stops were only
               | performed if both streets were 30mph limits or less.
        
               | asdff wrote:
               | This makes the big assumption that the other driver is
               | playing by the rules and respecting the speed limit and
               | also not going to ignore the stop sign (which I see
               | happen more and more lately in socal).
        
               | HWR_14 wrote:
               | That's exactly what Tesla did -- said to themselves "the
               | law is not a concern" (to quote GP)
        
               | hamburglar wrote:
               | There's nothing magical about a full and complete stop.
               | The reason we do it is to force humans to slow down and
               | give themselves some objective standard for how much time
               | they need to evaluate the conditions of the intersection.
               | And the reason rolling stops are so common is that in
               | many situations, it's very obvious that the full stop is
               | an unnecessary bit of ceremony. I don't think it's at all
               | unreasonable to say that a competent self driving car
               | should be equally capable of making the necessary safety
               | decisions whether it's paused for a full stop or not.
               | Given the premise that we are approving computers to make
               | high frequency decisions about multi-ton hunks of metal
               | driving around on our streets, there is simply no way in
               | my mind that the difference between a full stop and a
               | rolling stop for them is actually a safety issue.
        
               | sgc wrote:
               | It's more a question of whether it's a problem for the
               | other driver. But yes, I agree the best thing would be to
               | change the laws. Instead they have gotten even more
               | ceremonious in my area over the last few years. Tesla is
               | taking on a ton of liability even by going 5 mph over the
               | limit. This recall will be used in a court case over
               | another FSD feature for sure.
        
             | alexfringes wrote:
             | Presumably the cars driving on the intersecting lane of
             | travel could very well be in the aforementioned higher
             | energy state when an accident during a rolling stop occurs.
        
             | selectodude wrote:
             | A rolling stop has a far higher likelihood of hitting a
             | pedestrian than speeding on the freeway.
        
           | mikestew wrote:
           | _It 's about as illegal as breaking the speed limit_
           | 
           | Which, last I checked for the state of WA, is also illegal.
           | Just because there isn't a cop ticketing every rolling stop
           | at the intersection next to the elementary school by my house
           | doesn't make it "kind of okay because a lot of people do it".
           | It just means the municipality sucks at enforcement.
        
             | Sohcahtoa82 wrote:
             | FWIW, if we're trying to maximize safety, then violating
             | speed limits is often a must.
             | 
             | If the speed limit is 60 mph, but everybody is going 75
             | mph, then the safest speed for you as an individual is
             | going to be 75 mph. Otherwise, you're a rolling road block,
             | likely to get rear-ended, forcing tons of cars to change
             | lanes to get around you.
        
               | mikestew wrote:
               | All you've done is to make an argument for speed
               | governors. If the speed limit is 60mph, but everyone is
               | going 75mph, then the point of "automated self-driving
               | can't come fast enough, humans can't be trusted to pilot
               | automobiles!" is self-evident. Argue all day if you like
               | about whether the number on the sign is wrong, but that
               | discussion belongs elsewhere.
        
               | Sohcahtoa82 wrote:
               | A fair point. Indeed, I think speed limits on freeways
               | are too low, but that's another discussion.
        
               | asdff wrote:
               | Chances are the turns on the highway are designed to be
               | taken at the speed limit. Sure go ahead and go 75mph with
               | the crowd, don't be surprised when one day its you who is
               | leaving a bumper behind on the freeway. Also on
               | residential streets speeding is simply unaceptible. At
               | 35mph an impact with a pedestrian will kill them 70% of
               | the time. At 50 mph that goes up to nearly all of the
               | time. We shouldn't favor serving impatient people over
               | the safety of others. If the issue is everyone is going
               | 75mph and its dangerous for self driving cars to go
               | 65mph, then we should install speed cameras that send
               | tickets to people who go 75mph rather than letting self
               | driving cars also break the law and drive at dangerous
               | speeds that our road infrastructure is not designed to
               | handle.
        
               | FireBeyond wrote:
               | Technically, highway (construction) code is that roads
               | are engineered such that turns and such can be navigated
               | safely at 15mph above the speed limit (or of 'cautionary
               | speeds').
               | 
               | I state the above entirely on its own merits, not as a
               | judgment of "should I or should I not travel at speed X
               | on this road".
        
               | asdff wrote:
               | Maybe thats true with modern code, but thousands of
               | interchanges across the country that aren't being
               | reconfigured anytime soon have those yellow recommended
               | speed signs that imo should be headed in many cases
        
               | eproxus wrote:
               | Well, that's the purely driver oriented point of view.
               | Speed limits exist for other reasons, e.g. when going
               | through pedestrian heavy areas. Going above the speed
               | limit there endangers lives (regardless of if everyone
               | else is doing it or not).
        
               | Sohcahtoa82 wrote:
               | I could have been more explicit, I suppose.
               | 
               | On surface streets, speed limits are usually quite
               | reasonable. In all the streets I drive regularly, I think
               | the limits are good, except for one stretch where it has
               | two lanes in each direction, and so I often want to go 45
               | mph, but the limit is 35, likely because there are some
               | houses that directly face the street.
               | 
               | It's highways that often have unreasonably slow speed
               | limits, at least here in Oregon.
        
               | Dylan16807 wrote:
               | They said "often". There are no pedestrians on that 60mph
               | road.
               | 
               | When it's 35 vs. 40 it's a lot safer to sit at the speed
               | limit.
               | 
               | And in a 25 zone there's not really a flow of traffic to
               | worry about.
        
               | [deleted]
        
             | fallingknife wrote:
             | But it's not just that there isn't a cop watching, it's
             | that if there was, he still won't pull you over unless
             | you're going 10+ mph over (more where I'm from!). So the
             | official speed limit isn't really the law. Most cops also
             | won't get you for a rolling stop unless it's egregious.
        
               | lariati wrote:
               | Are you going to build in a random number generator then
               | for self driving to add speed sometimes above the posted
               | speed limit? Or a button to boost the speed above the
               | state laws?
               | 
               | It makes no sense when all you have to do is not use self
               | driving.
        
               | bryanlarsen wrote:
               | Tesla should use their interior camera to more closely
               | follow the speed limits when the driver is black to
               | reflect the reality that black drivers are more likely to
               | get stopped for minor infractions.
        
           | asdff wrote:
           | Humans aren't given leniency, there's just an issue enforcing
           | laws on the books. The answer isn't to give self driving cars
           | the same pass to endanger others especially when its lines of
           | code we could implement trivially.
        
           | ghostly_s wrote:
           | > If self driving cars aren't allowed to break the traffic
           | laws that 99% of humans break then cars will become less of a
           | nuisance on the road.
           | 
           | FTFY.
        
           | stefan_ wrote:
           | I think you will find once your car is just locked at the
           | speed limit you stop caring about doing some sort of manual
           | PID controller simulation.
           | 
           | Just like you will find people complain about taking their
           | manual shift away when none of the US drivers ever knew what
           | they are even missing.
        
           | trgn wrote:
           | That's exactly wrong. Human drivers need to get better, or
           | get off the road. Robots shouldn't mimic careless driving
           | habits.
        
             | ses1984 wrote:
             | How many times do human drivers need to actually stop at
             | stop signs? Probably hundreds of millions of stop signs are
             | rolled per day. How much more carbon is released, if all of
             | those vehicles actually came to a complete stop?
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | Now consider how many people have died or been
               | permanently injured from rolling stops. An extremely
               | common mistake is a failed right-turn on red where the
               | driver doesn't stop and rolls over a pedestrian in the
               | crosswalk. And how many drivers will live with the guilt
               | for the rest of their lives.
               | 
               | Who cares how much carbon it saves when people get
               | horrific injuries from it? If you want to save the
               | planet, build intersections designed for rolling like
               | roundabouts, crosswalks with signaling, and yield signs.
        
               | ses1984 wrote:
               | How many people have died or been permanently injured
               | from rolling stops?
               | 
               | There are loads of stop signs at intersections where
               | pedestrians would rarely if ever cross, maybe it would be
               | possible to differentiate those intersections from
               | crosswalks.
        
               | smileysteve wrote:
               | This is a great argument for round abouts and yield
               | signs. The safety of the stop sign is over stated.
        
               | fabianhjr wrote:
               | Change 4-way stop signs for roundaubouts like most of the
               | world. Not only does that increase throughput by allowing
               | to yield they also increase safety by forcing a curve and
               | avoiding frontal crashes. (Also, pedestrian crossings
               | should and are normally set back a bit from the
               | intersection, given some traffic calming like level
               | crossings and a median island and have better visibility
               | overall)
               | 
               | "Roundabout vs. 4-way stop, which one is superior?" -
               | Interesting Engineering:
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brkrYdlMCsg
        
               | xboxnolifes wrote:
               | You can't just replace every 4-way stop to a roundabout,
               | and the "rest of the world" doesn't do so either. The
               | vast majority of the roundabout would have to cut across
               | residential property.
        
             | lariati wrote:
             | Robots have to follow the letter of the law. This is so
             | obvious I don't even know how it can be debated.
        
               | bdamm wrote:
               | It is neither obvious, nor possible. There are zero real
               | world drivers that actually follow all the laws. Do you
               | think that people are just all bad? Or is there maybe a
               | higher level principle at play here?
        
               | aeturnum wrote:
               | In the immediate, of course you are correct.
               | 
               | In the longer term - I suspect we will develop two
               | different sets of laws as we understand what things
               | robots do well and what things they do not. For example:
               | I suspect that robots might be allowed to drive slightly
               | faster on highways because they are better at maintaining
               | the proper following distance, but always drive at the
               | lowest speed limit for roads with variable conditions
               | because they struggle to evaluate the environment.
        
             | depaya wrote:
             | When driving I follow the spirit of the law, not
             | necessarily the letter. If I'm approaching a stop sign and
             | I can see clearly there are no other vehicles, bikes,
             | people, etc, I slow down to very near a stop, but not a
             | full stop. Why bother? The spirit of the law is to make
             | sure I'm correctly yielding to other vehicles.
             | 
             | Perhaps a better example is stop lines at intersections;
             | sometimes stop lines are so poorly painted that you cannot
             | see any oncoming traffic unless you pull forward another
             | 5-6 feet. The letter of the law says you still must
             | completely stop at the stop line, pull forward and
             | completely stop again, then continue. Does anybody actually
             | do that?
        
               | globular-toast wrote:
               | > Why bother?
               | 
               | Because you're operating heavy machinery that regularly
               | kills people.
        
               | notch656a wrote:
               | The law is just a tool. It routinely does not permit the
               | optimal choice for neither yourself nor society as a
               | whole. Like other tools, sometimes the best choice is to
               | ignore it.
               | 
               | ----------
               | 
               | >The comment you are replying to said nothing about the
               | law.
               | 
               | >> Why bother?
               | 
               | >Because you're operating heavy machinery that regularly
               | kills people.
               | 
               | The context of the quote by globular-toast is from this
               | paragraph:
               | 
               | >When driving I follow the spirit of the law, not
               | necessarily the letter. If I'm approaching a stop sign
               | and I can see clearly there are no other vehicles, bikes,
               | people, etc, I slow down to very near a stop, but not a
               | full stop. Why bother? The spirit of the law is to make
               | sure I'm correctly yielding to other vehicles.
               | 
               | There's no doubt there was reference to law.
        
               | b3morales wrote:
               | The comment you are replying to said nothing about the
               | law.
        
             | seanmcdirmid wrote:
             | > That's exactly wrong. Human drivers need to get better,
             | or get off the road. Robots shouldn't mimic careless
             | driving habits.
             | 
             | One of those things will get better as technology advances
             | and more R&D is done on it, the other thing will not and
             | hasn't for a very long time. Unless I misunderstood your
             | comment and you are actually referring to some form of
             | transhumanity?
        
             | gjsman-1000 wrote:
             | Human drivers respond to incentives. Lax policing, lax
             | drivers. Strong policing, speed traps, and bigger fines
             | result in people driving better. It's not that people can't
             | drive, it's just that they don't care to drive well, but
             | they will drive well if the enforcement is frequent and
             | heavy enough.
        
               | colinmhayes wrote:
               | How are you defining better? Because personally I find
               | taking rolling stops when it won't cause any harm is
               | better than always stopping, even if it's not legal.
        
               | orwin wrote:
               | I think that if your country have signs for rolling stops
               | (a yield sign basically), and chose not to put one at
               | this very intersection (even if its a new road that had
               | not seen much usage yet), you should do a full stop, even
               | with a car doing a full stop in front of you.
               | 
               | In some countries, it's not clear if you don't read the
               | local language(Morocco, i'm looking at you!), but if the
               | inverted red triangle exist, just do full stop.
        
               | HPsquared wrote:
               | Driving is all about risk management.
               | 
               | Erring towards 100% cautious at all times isn't always
               | better, it needs to be a balance between controlling the
               | risk of accidents with the costs: time taken for
               | individual drivers, general congestion of roads, even
               | things like fuel consumption.
               | 
               | Risks vary according to weather conditions, traffic
               | levels, times of day, etc etc. A prescriptive approach
               | (e.g. always drive at X speed) isn't usually optimal.
        
               | trgn wrote:
               | > the risk of accidents with the costs
               | 
               | are you joking? The risk of driving is injuries and
               | death, primarily born by those _not_ in a car. How
               | somebody weighs this with speeding or rolling stops, or
               | any other form of acting like a careless driver is beyond
               | me.
               | 
               | Most importantly, safe driving is good form. Speeding is
               | trashy.
        
               | HPsquared wrote:
               | It's always safest to not drive at all, or never leave
               | the house. On the other hand, exceeding the speed limit
               | when driving through the desert doesn't endanger
               | pedestrians to any significant degree (how many zeroes is
               | sufficient?)
        
               | Xylakant wrote:
               | How many miles are driven through the literal desert
               | compared to where people are around? If anything, the
               | speed limit in the desert could be adapted to local
               | conditions, but not base the default rules on that
               | exception.
        
               | sidewndr46 wrote:
               | Why are they called "speed traps"? If you're driving over
               | the speed limit and get a citation, it isn't a trap. This
               | isn't like a sting operation for vehicle theft with a car
               | left parked and running with keys in the ignition.
               | 
               | There are some states where it was found illegal to have
               | someone slow down too fast, i.e. you can't have a 70 mph
               | zone followed by a 30 mph zone. That would in fact
               | constitute a speed trap of kinds, since no one can safely
               | slow down 50 mph in an instant. The practical effect of
               | this is 3 or 4 series of signs spaced exactly 100 ft or
               | so, each one lowering the speed limit no more than 15
               | mph. It's the equivalent of a 'braking zone' on a race
               | track, but on the street.
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | I'm a little incorrect in my use of "speed trap," my
               | apologies. I meant where the police are hanging out out-
               | of-view and ready to spring on anyone speeding or doing
               | other obvious violations, not sudden speed transitions
               | which are mainly used as a revenue stream.
        
               | rdtwo wrote:
               | Is a trap because its below the natural speed of the
               | road. My city for example lowered the speed to 25mph by
               | roads are designed for 35-45 mph so naturally traffic
               | flows at that spees
        
       | devnulll wrote:
       | The tension between "Follow the Law" and "Drive like a human" is
       | interesting. On the one hand, humans violate the law all the
       | time: Rolling Stops, Speed Limits, Driving without Registration /
       | Insurance, Passing on the Right, Left Lane Camping, Carpool lane
       | violations, Stopping after the white line at a stop sign / light,
       | not using turn signals properly, following too closely.
       | 
       | Any FSD System that drives on the freeway and follows the speed
       | limit is doomed to failure. Likewise, as evidenced by the crazy
       | amount of "right on red" fines in cities, humans don't come to a
       | full 3-second stop.
       | 
       | "Drive like a human" seems a reasonable goal for now.
        
       | caaqil wrote:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30163663
        
       | rsync wrote:
       | Cars neither obey nor disobey stop signs if they have an human
       | operator.
       | 
       |  _Please drive your car_. You owe this to everyone else on the
       | road.
        
         | cmusfan wrote:
         | If the company accepts the liability, I can't be charged for a
         | driving crime while the car is out of my control, and it is
         | statistical safer to let the car drive itself I am on board,
         | but the courts haven't cleared the liability problem, and there
         | are safety concerns with large white trucks being detected, so
         | driving your own car seems like the right choice for 2022.
        
           | deegles wrote:
           | At the moment, Tesla's liability position is "heads I win,
           | tails you lose," since you're supposed to be hands-on-wheel
           | and alert at all times while using FSD. -\\_(tsu)_/-
        
           | rsync wrote:
           | " ... so driving your own car seems like the right choice for
           | 2022 ..."
           | 
           | It is my belief that this will always be true.
           | 
           | From yesterday:
           | 
           | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ESJH1NLMLs
           | 
           | "... as we look at this accident history what we find is that
           | in 68% of these accidents, _automation dependency_ plays a
           | significant part ... "
           | 
           | "... _automation dependent_ pilots allowed their airplanes to
           | get much closer to the edge of the envelope than they should
           | have ... "
        
       | xyst wrote:
       | FSD might be a complete joke at this point. Tesla should open
       | source all of their data, code, and documents at this point.
       | Clearly Tesla or any of this vulture capital funded companies
       | cannot get the job done.
        
       | turdnagel wrote:
       | What is it with this headline? Tesla is deploying new firmware
       | OTA. No vehicles are being recalled. If deploying new software is
       | a "recall" then I do recalls dozens of times a week.
        
       | ctdonath wrote:
       | This is one of the really hard issues of automation: humans
       | normalize disobedience to the point that strict obedience ranges
       | from irritating to dangerous; the gap is not an engineering
       | problem.
        
       | jmpman wrote:
       | My Tesla will allow me to engage autopilot in a school zone,
       | obeying the adjustment I'd set on speed limit - while using, not
       | the correct school zone speed limit, but the non-school time
       | speed limit. It would allow me to go 30 mph over the school zone
       | speed.
       | 
       | How can Tesla claim self driving if the car can't read a sign
       | that says - speed limit 25 mph during school hours, and properly
       | adjust? Humans just look around to determine if school is likely
       | in session by the number of cars in the parking lot during normal
       | school hours, or they know the school calendar.
       | 
       | How does a self driving car make that determination? Query the
       | school district website for the school, identifying their bell
       | schedule and tacking on a buffer ahead and behind? Assume a
       | school schedule that's M-F? What if it's a religious school that
       | operates Sun-Thursday? Now the car has to determine which
       | religious sects obey which calendar? Is it different in each
       | country?
       | 
       | Just another example of a massive hurdle self driving cars
       | have......
       | 
       | And another recall that should be issued.
        
         | morpheuskafka wrote:
         | As far as I know, these signs always have either flashing
         | lights when active or a printed schedule. I don't think it
         | would be enforceable against human drivers otherwise.
        
         | natch wrote:
         | It's not self driving yet, that's how.
        
         | cmelbye wrote:
         | Tesla doesn't claim that the car is responsible for setting the
         | correct speed limit -- they actually claim the opposite. From
         | the Owner's Manual:
         | 
         | > Warning
         | 
         | > Do not rely on Traffic-Aware Cruise Control or Speed Assist
         | to determine an accurate or appropriate cruising speed. It is
         | the driver's responsibility to cruise at a safe speed based on
         | road conditions and applicable speed limits.
        
           | Barrin92 wrote:
           | We should mail a copy of the owners manual to Elon Musk then
           | because just a few days ago he, for about the fourth time,
           | announced that he would be shocked if "Tesla does not achieve
           | Full Self-Driving that is safer than human drivers this year
           | (and 5 years ahead of everyone)".
           | 
           | Maybe we have different definitions of FSD and being safer
           | than a human but to me that includes obeying the speed limits
           | and stop signs
           | 
           | https://electrek.co/2022/01/31/elon-musk-tesla-full-self-
           | dri...
        
           | dawnerd wrote:
           | A problem with that is the car sometimes decides to change
           | the set speed based on the signs and its not always obvious
           | when you're in traffic until the car decides to take off.
           | Alternatively it will slam breaks on if it misreads a sign
           | and you have your speed set high. They need an option for a
           | more dumb cruise control that ignores speed limits.
        
           | throwaway1777 wrote:
           | Of course the fine print covers their asses, but this is not
           | what you'd think watching the marketing demos and YouTube
           | videos around fsd capabilities.
        
           | cma wrote:
           | That's in the manual, the fan marketing essential says it
           | reads speed limit signs so you don't miss any of the action
           | while your passenger plays Cuphead (I think though eventually
           | they removed the ability for the passenger to play while you
           | drive).
        
         | lazyjones wrote:
         | This has nothing to do with the article really, but stupid
         | signs will always be a problem as long as they exist. In
         | Austria, there are signs on the highway that allow electric
         | cars to obey a higher speed limit (130 Km/h instead of 100
         | Km/h; https://autorevue.at/ratgeber/ig-l-
         | immissionsschutzgesetz-lu... ) provided they have (optional,
         | but now standard) green number plates. My car doesn't know that
         | it doesn't have the green plates, so it cannot know what limit
         | to use. Also, it can't look up the paragraph quoted on the sign
         | to read the current version of the law, presumably.
        
           | bo1024 wrote:
           | Does that make it a stupid sign, though?
        
             | lazyjones wrote:
             | Yes, because it doesn't contain the necessary information
             | to interpret it and on top of that it's hard to read at
             | highway speeds and thus dangerous.
        
         | Robotbeat wrote:
         | Interestingly, Tesla's earliest autopilot software (made by
         | Mobileye) could read and respond to speed limit signs, but
         | MobilEye patented that ability and so when Tesla switched to
         | their in-house software, they lost that ability.
         | 
         | Seems insane to me that you can patent reading a speed limit
         | sign, since reading signs is what signs are for and is
         | necessary to obey the law, but there we go... "with a computer"
         | seems sufficient grounds to make something patentable.
        
           | Bedon292 wrote:
           | I was wondering what happened. I knew they used to be able to
           | actually read the signs, but now its all a database that can
           | be quite wrong. I think the DB is nice to have, since signs
           | can be few and far between, but would really like to see it
           | back to reading signs.
           | 
           | I don't understand how that could possibly stand up as a
           | patent. It shouldn't pass the obviousness test. Reading a
           | sign is a super obvious thing to do. But you would still have
           | to spend millions fighting it in court. Which is insane.
        
           | jsight wrote:
           | Current Tesla AP can read speed limit signs too.
        
           | bbarnett wrote:
           | Heh. I wonder what might happen to a person with a bionic
           | eyes.
           | 
           | After lawsuit, signs are blacked out in their vision.
        
             | netsharc wrote:
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | Sebb767 wrote:
             | Technically, to black them out, you'd need to recognize
             | them first - which would violate that patent.
        
         | moralestapia wrote:
         | That, among other things, is pretty much why fully autonomous
         | cars == artificial general intelligence; and that's also why it
         | won't happen this year, neither the next one, neither on the
         | next 10. It will happen someday, for sure, just not soon.
        
         | throwaway22032 wrote:
         | Er, so?
         | 
         | My 20 year old Civic will allow me to drive 70mph in a 20. Why
         | shouldn't it? It's my car.
        
         | monkeybutton wrote:
         | Are the signs not delimited by day of week, time and month
         | where you are? E.g. 7:30-18:30 Mon - Fri Sep - Jun
         | 
         | Where I live, police can and will ticket you for speeding
         | during those times. Regardless of if there's students around or
         | if school is even in session or not.
        
           | jjulius wrote:
           | >Are the signs not delimited by day of week, time and month
           | where you are?
           | 
           | Depends on the locale. A lot of places just say "Speed Limit
           | is X When Children Present", or "Speed Limit is Y when Lights
           | [on the sign] are Flashing".
        
             | rurp wrote:
             | Yeah I've seen many such signs and it seems like the clear
             | best approach. People should drive carefully around crowds
             | of children and normally otherwise, regardless of some
             | schedule posted on a given school's website.
        
           | rdtwo wrote:
           | Yeah it's a racket they can hit you with double fines at any
           | time they feel like it.
        
           | com2kid wrote:
           | > Are the signs not delimited by day of week, time and month
           | where you are? E.g. 7:30-18:30 Mon - Fri Sep - Jun
           | 
           | In my local area the signs say either "during school hours",
           | "while children are present" or they say nothing at all and
           | you just have to know what hours and days the lower speed
           | limit is enforced.
        
           | seanmcdirmid wrote:
           | Where I live, the school zone speed limits are only in affect
           | when school is actually in session, and the yellow lights are
           | flashing to let you know that it is (but we are also talking
           | about the difference between 15MPH and 25MPH). Sounds like a
           | plum income stream for your city's police department.
        
           | colinmhayes wrote:
           | In my state the school zone speed limit is only in effect if
           | it's a school day and there are children around. If all the
           | kids are all inside it's the normal speed limit. I guess
           | Tesla could just use the school zone limit all the time
           | during school times, but people would be annoyed.
        
             | smachiz wrote:
             | which state has "when children are around" as part of the
             | law? Feels ripe for abuse and kind've unlikely....
        
               | ben174 wrote:
               | California signs all say "When children are present". But
               | I do think that's not a terribly difficult determination
               | for a machine to make.
        
               | core-utility wrote:
               | The idea of _present_ might be a difficult one. I 'm not
               | up to speed on any court cases that have determined what
               | _present_ means, but it 's likely more nuanced than a
               | simple "can Tesla identify a child in sight". A human
               | would be more likely to play it safe and just obey
               | regardless.
        
               | sgustard wrote:
               | My understanding is "present" means "school is in
               | session", regardless of whether any children are visible.
        
               | colinmhayes wrote:
               | Illinois https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.a
               | sp?DocName=0...
               | 
               | > On a school day when school children are present and so
               | close thereto that a potential hazard exists because of
               | the close proximity of the motorized traffic
               | 
               | this lawyer https://www.jolietlaw.com/will-county-
               | attorneys/understandin.... claims that means the limit is
               | not in effect when kids are inside
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | tshaddox wrote:
               | I don't know the actual law, but California has school
               | zone speed limit signs that say "when children are
               | present."
        
               | burkaman wrote:
               | Massachusetts: https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/htm/2009r1r2/pa
               | rt7/part7b.htm#sec...
               | 
               | Can be times of day, "when flashing", or "when children
               | are present". Time of day isn't great because of
               | irregular after school activities, events, delayed starts
               | because of snow, etc.
        
               | hateful wrote:
               | New York is one also, even though the signs don't say it.
               | 
               | https://www.dot.ny.gov/about-nysdot/faq/posting-speed-
               | limit-...
        
               | smachiz wrote:
               | This doesn't say when children are present - it says
               | school days and maybe specific times. No?
        
               | hateful wrote:
               | meant to reply one level higher in the thread.
        
               | GravitasFailure wrote:
               | California is one.
               | 
               | https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/what-does-
               | when-ch...
        
               | vkou wrote:
               | This doesn't have to be state law, it can be municipal
               | law. All it takes is city council putting up a sign that
               | says "15 MPH when children are present".
        
             | qubitcoder wrote:
             | At least in Georgia, there's at least one yellow light with
             | a speed limit sign attached. During active school hours,
             | the yellow light will flash on and off.
             | 
             | On my daily commute, there's two overhead flashing yellow
             | lights. Previously, my Model Y would begin to brake and
             | then speed back up, thinking it's a normal traffic light
             | (prior to FSD). With FSD, it's at least smart enough to
             | know not to brake; but it certainly doesn't read the speed
             | limit from the sign, as it normally would.
        
         | jvanderbot wrote:
         | There are no truly self driving cars, and probably won't be.
         | When a traffic cop or school teacher holds up a hand to stop
         | cars or say "turn left NOW", what training data exists?
         | 
         | There should be a much stronger involvement from cities /
         | states legislating a ban on any kind of self-driving in these
         | areas. (self-braking -- sure!) It will have to wait for a child
         | to die, unfortunately.
         | 
         | I'd like to see a self-lane-keeping lane on interstates with a
         | 120 mph speed limit and concrete barriers. If we can have "Zero
         | emissions" cars incentivized with access to HOV lanes, why not
         | cars that can do a good job at lane-keeping and merge-
         | scheduling in areas where there are exactly zero other
         | distractions?
        
           | hotpotamus wrote:
           | This reminds me of when I was driving in rural Texas a few
           | months back and came across an apparently very recent
           | accident involving a jack-knifed truck. The firefighters had
           | just arrived on scene. While slowly and carefully driving
           | around the accident, a firefighter got out seemed quite upset
           | with me and seemed to be yelling something at me as loudly as
           | he could, but I couldn't make out a word. I still have no
           | idea if I did something wrong. Driving is 99.9% routine and
           | boring and that .1% is ambiguous and quite potentially life
           | threatening. I share the skepticism of self driving cars.
        
             | jsight wrote:
             | I had someone go in front of me while circling his
             | flashlight as if to proceed. When I did, he casually walked
             | in front of me. He wasn't actually paying attention and was
             | just flinging his light for directing traffic without
             | thinking about it.
             | 
             | Yeah, the .1% can be really ambiguous and dangerous.
        
           | rootusrootus wrote:
           | > It will have to wait for a child to die, unfortunately.
           | 
           | Even then. The US has a pretty high tolerance for that.
        
             | boredumb wrote:
             | Unless the death is being exploited in order to remove
             | constitutionally protected liberties, the US has pretty
             | close to zero tolerance for the death of minors.
        
           | dahfizz wrote:
           | I agree with you. Real self driving is impossible, IMO.
           | Current "AI" tech will never get us there. And even if we
           | cracked real AGI, I don't see a reason to expect the computer
           | intelligence to be a better driver than a human. AGI does not
           | mean the absence of emotions, distractions, or
           | miscalculations.
           | 
           | We as a society should be realistic about the advantages and
           | limitations of self driving technology. On a highway with
           | well marked lanes and no construction, pedestrians, etc, self
           | driving is _awesome_. That is the use case that should be
           | optimized and encouraged by states. Everything else should
           | realistically be banned.
        
             | petters wrote:
             | > And even if we cracked real AGI, I don't see a reason to
             | expect the computer intelligence to be a better driver than
             | a human.
             | 
             | You can't be serious. Human are notoriously bad in
             | situations where nothing happens 99.9% of the time but
             | requires quick reaction 0.1% of the time.
        
               | jvanderbot wrote:
               | You're assuming an AGI would have all the characteristics
               | of a machine algorithm _and_ enough intelligence to do
               | exactly what a human would /should (or better) in all
               | driving situations.
               | 
               | That's a big ask, and is a huge superset of AGI.
        
               | dahfizz wrote:
               | Why would a computer intelligence be any less prone to
               | distraction?
        
               | reaperducer wrote:
               | _Why would a computer intelligence be any less prone to
               | distraction?_
               | 
               | Just wiggle the mouse when you're in a construction zone,
               | so the computer's processing speeds up. Just like on the
               | desktop!
        
               | bun_at_work wrote:
               | Easy - we can define the computer's objective function.
               | Why would it get distracted by things it doesn't care
               | about?
               | 
               | Meanwhile, humans are checking Instagram and Pornhub
               | while driving around.
        
               | nradov wrote:
               | Well we haven't invented AGI yet, and so we don't even
               | know if it will be possible to control them with an
               | objective function. So your opinion is entirely
               | speculative and not based on any science.
        
               | heavyset_go wrote:
               | And yet there is no evidence that self-driving systems
               | are any safer than human drivers, or that they'll ever
               | even be as safe as human drivers, let alone safer than
               | them.
        
             | nradov wrote:
             | It's still vaporware for now, but next year GM is
             | supposedly going to start selling a system that will allow
             | true hands-off self driving on highways. It will be
             | interesting to see if they really deliver. The claims seem
             | to be well beyond what Tesla currently sells.
             | 
             | https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a37886786/general-
             | motors-u...
        
               | dahfizz wrote:
               | > General Motors is adding another tier to its hands-free
               | driving technology with its new Ultra Cruise system that
               | it claims will work in 95 percent of driving situations.
               | 
               | This seems to be exactly what I mean. They admit that
               | their system can't handle the 5% of edge cases, and
               | market it appropriately. This is not a full self driving
               | car.
        
         | wallscratch wrote:
         | Couldn't there just be some google maps / waze API that
         | jurisdictions can enter speed limit information into for
         | different days and times of the week, and just have the car
         | query that?
        
         | clvx wrote:
         | Even worse, there are school signs that say 15mph when children
         | are present. Kids could be behind cars, bushes, people, etc.
         | That's a very hard task to deal with.
        
           | barbazoo wrote:
           | > That's a very hard task to deal with.
           | 
           | Not really though, you could just assume there are kids and
           | do 15mph. Not everything is a hard to solve machine learning
           | challenge.
        
             | clvx wrote:
             | So many ifs. Look, even if you pass the school zone, kids
             | play around. In rural areas, this is very common. Yeah, you
             | could go at the speed limit, but people are just careful or
             | make a judgment call.
        
           | abletonlive wrote:
           | I mean if the kids are in the bushes I'm not sure a human
           | would be able to figure that out either. It's been said
           | before: self driving cars don't have to be perfect, just
           | better than humans. And humans are super flawed.
        
             | Cederfjard wrote:
             | Well, for PR purposes, they might have to be substantially
             | better than humans, or the backlash to incidents might be
             | too great.
        
             | bcrosby95 wrote:
             | The US has about 100 million miles driven per traffic
             | fatality.
             | 
             | Humans are flawed but human drivers are way safer than the
             | human detractors would have you think.
        
               | b3morales wrote:
               | Could you clarify what interactions that figure includes?
               | I.e. is it fatalities for people _inside_ motorized
               | vehicles, or does it include something like a car-bicycle
               | accident?
        
               | earleybird wrote:
               | Human drivers "can" be way safer; they aren't always.
               | There's likely some balance where overall, self driving
               | is statistically safer than some group of suboptimal
               | drivers. It remains to be seen but there's always hope.
        
               | pythonaut_16 wrote:
               | Unless the unsafe parts of self driving only apply to
               | previously unsafe drivers it will still struggle to take
               | off.
               | 
               | Not every human driver has the same risk, but every self
               | driving car will. (Or it will be based on which car you
               | are in rather than how safe you are.) In other words,
               | relatively safe human drivers could actually see their
               | risk levels go up in a self driving car, even it if it
               | statistically safer than all human drivers.
        
         | novalis78 wrote:
         | The reality is that life is full of edge cases. For full
         | autonomous driving we probably need full AGI.
        
           | BenoitEssiambre wrote:
           | It seems to be one of these AI-complete problems.
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI-complete
        
           | Minor49er wrote:
           | I think what we'll end up seeing are the developments of
           | sensors and protocols that are invisible to people, but can
           | be sensed by cars nearby. Traffic lights and road signs will
           | have sensors that emit electronic messages identifying what
           | they are and what rules they are communicating that self-
           | driving vehicles should obey. Other cars will start to have
           | them as well. We may even see small barriers constructed
           | between roads and sidewalks that exist only to discourage
           | pedestrians from entering the road to make automated driving
           | even safer. Your vehicle will be rented from a third party.
           | The owner will legally have to have it registered with the
           | city so that the interior cameras can conduct facial
           | recognition to identify the drivers and passengers. Law
           | enforcement can remotely disable a car and could also send
           | signals to get all other cars to pull over to ease the
           | arrests of carjackers and other criminals. Possibly coming to
           | a small town near you.
        
           | dahfizz wrote:
           | Humans have general intelligence and are pretty bad drivers.
           | Why would a computer intelligence be any better? If anything,
           | a computer intelligence would be more likely to get bored or
           | distracted if their "brain" is running faster than ours.
        
         | jpollock wrote:
         | The answer is for the car to always drive according to the
         | slowest speed allowed.
         | 
         | So, it's always 25mph in that zone. Changing it based on
         | "school hours" is a bad idea anyways.
        
           | XorNot wrote:
           | This isn't really safer.
           | 
           | Driving behind a driver not keeping up with traffic and
           | breaking erratically is a traffic hazard (happened to me a
           | few days ago with a human driver).
        
             | userbinator wrote:
             | I remember the story on here a while ago about a self-
             | driving car that got rear-ended because it stopped in the
             | merging lane of an empty highway rather than accelerating
             | like any human would...
        
             | akira2501 wrote:
             | It's generally a bad idea to fit safety regulations around
             | the safety limitations of the item they're regulating. We
             | set speeds, sometimes based on time of day or presence of
             | children. Humans handle this just fine.
             | 
             | If your car can't, then the car needs to be fixed or it's
             | "self-driving" functionality entirely disabled. Changing
             | speed limit laws to compensate for these limitations is
             | entirely the wrong direction.
        
               | XorNot wrote:
               | My point is that FSD needs to be at least as capable as a
               | human to follow speed limit signs.
               | 
               | The problem generalises - it's also unacceptable for FSD
               | not to keep up with traffic on a freeway or randomly
               | throw in the brakes to avoid spurious hazards for the
               | same reasons.
        
           | delsarto wrote:
           | In Australia, it's not just little side roads that run by
           | school entrances that have this rule; the school zone thing
           | applies even on fairly major free-flowing roads. Two examples
           | I can think of are
           | 
           | https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.9293496,145.0051951,3a,59y,.
           | ..
           | 
           | https://www.google.com/maps/@-33.7710688,151.0985503,3a,75y,.
           | ..
           | 
           | As the usual speed limit is quite a bit higher at 70km/h,
           | driving at 40km/h (25mph) outside these times would make you,
           | at best, a rather annoying obstacle to surrounding traffic.
        
         | winternett wrote:
         | Impossible... None of the people mine has hit have ever filed a
         | complaint?
         | 
         | [Sorry in advance]
        
         | pcurve wrote:
         | "How can Tesla claim self driving if the car can't read a sign
         | that says - speed limit 25 mph during school hours, and
         | properly adjust?"
         | 
         | Self driving will always be dangerous unless overall traffic
         | infrastructure is updated.
         | 
         | Can you imagine a train where the 100% of the onus of auto-
         | baking falls on the train itself, without zero input from
         | sensors and towers outside the train?
        
           | vkou wrote:
           | > Can you imagine a train where the 100% of the onus of auto-
           | baking falls on the train itself, without zero input from
           | sensors and towers outside the train?
           | 
           | I'm not hugely familiar with trains, but as I understand it,
           | trains in the general case have a much worse braking distance
           | to visibility ratios than cars do.
           | 
           | Roads are generally designed to be safely navigable in good
           | conditions when their occupants are obeying the speed limit,
           | without external sensors. Rail lines are designed to be
           | safely navigable only with the aid of external sensors.
           | That's why trains can take blind corners at speed.
        
           | systemvoltage wrote:
           | I think the central thesis of OP is that the current
           | infrastructure is built for humans. We seem to do OK. So, if
           | anything, these kinds of issues are an indictment of the
           | failure of self-driving tech that was boosted to insane hype
           | around 2017-2018. Now we're getting to a phase called "Trough
           | of Disillusionment" in the Gartner terminology. If we require
           | the rest of the infrastructure to be rebuilt for self-driving
           | tech, then it is a irrefutable admission of failure.
        
           | semi-extrinsic wrote:
           | > Self driving will always be dangerous unless overall
           | traffic infrastructure is updated.
           | 
           | I don't see how people can propose this kind of thing with a
           | straight face, when we live in a world where we can't even
           | afford to replace the paint on the road when it gets worn
           | away.
           | 
           | Yeah, sure, governments everywhere will be lining up to pay
           | billions of dollars for putting up and maintaining new
           | infrastructure to provide us with some low ROI shiny toys.
           | And I have a bridge on a blockchain to sell you.
        
             | kazen44 wrote:
             | Also, this kind of investment could be far better invested
             | in making cities and (especially the US) far less dependant
             | on cars in general.
        
             | pcurve wrote:
             | We would need to re-think resource allocation. Fewer deaths
             | means smaller healthcare expenditure. Disability claims.
             | Improved road infrastructure doesn't need to be that
             | expensive.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | reaperducer wrote:
           | _Self driving will always be dangerous unless overall traffic
           | infrastructure is updated._
           | 
           | I prefer to have the computers work for people, rather than
           | the other way around.
        
           | villuv wrote:
           | Yes! I would rather spend resources to standardize "smart"
           | traffic control infrastructure, where vehicles and
           | road/street constantly communicate with each other even if it
           | would just be for augmenting drivers' awareness. For example
           | in-car warnings about abrupt stop ahead, train approaching
           | level crossing, positions of nearby vehicles, traffic light
           | cycles, actual speed limits etc... Training "AI" to make
           | sense of (sometimes barely) human readable signs and clues is
           | waste of time in my opinion. Maybe just for helping with low
           | speed obstacle avoidance...
        
           | bluGill wrote:
           | Reading speed limits signs is the easy part compared to
           | figuring out how to handle all the kids walking to school on
           | the sidewalk next to the road (any kid might get pushed into
           | traffic, or decide to start crossing right there...). Even
           | figuring out school hours is easy. Of course it isn't just
           | kids, I've had to handle a bear on the road in front of me
           | before.
        
           | jerf wrote:
           | Yes. Such a train wouldn't be allowed to drive.
           | 
           | Logical extrapolation of that point left as an exercise for
           | the reader.
        
           | WJW wrote:
           | Yes? That is pretty easy to imagine actually. It would be
           | much less efficient than the current system with a central
           | train controller, but it is definitely imaginable.
           | 
           | In the case of Tesla massively failing to drive safely in a
           | school area: If you cannot operate safely, don't allow
           | autopilot to engage at all.
        
         | option_greek wrote:
         | Not specific to tesla but I guess the answer is in your
         | question. Most likely all the current self driving efforts
         | across board will fail till we have smart roads. A road that
         | can help a vehicle self drive will ensure the complexity of
         | self driving is reduced. And of course that might mean these
         | roads will have to be human driver, pedestrian free.
        
         | dheera wrote:
         | They don't. This is why stocks like TSLA should NOT be subject
         | to quarterly earnings reports, they should be subject to
         | quarterly safety reports _instead_ and earnings should not be
         | public for a long period of time.
        
           | pelorat wrote:
           | Well, they are far safer that the other guys, so the same
           | should be applied to all the manufacturers then.
        
             | dheera wrote:
             | Well, yes.
             | 
             | We have an economy run by a corpus of idiot shareholders
             | who neither use the product nor are affected by the
             | product, and are free to crash its value at will, and will
             | crash it when earnings doesn't "beat" expectations, so the
             | company is forced to prioritize the entirely wrong things.
             | 
             | If a company wants to "accelerate the transition to clean
             | energy", quarterly earnings is NOT the thing to be
             | prioritizing. Earnings are important for business
             | sustainability, but on much longer cycles than quarterly.
        
             | gamblor956 wrote:
             | Far safer than who?
             | 
             | Tesla leads the world in terms of self-driving fatalities.
             | It's not even close; the total deaths involving self-
             | driving vehicles from _every other automaker in the world
             | combined_ is less than 1 /10th the number of Tesla self-
             | driving fatalities.
             | 
             | Note that I include autopilot in the meaning of "self-
             | driving" here because Tesla does in its marketing.
        
               | dheera wrote:
               | In terms of total deaths per miles driven, all factors
               | considered, Tesla is very close to the top of the best in
               | terms of safety.
               | 
               | Yeah, there are idiots misusing autopilot but there are
               | about a couple more orders of magnitude more people who
               | die due to drowsy driving a car without driver assistance
               | features.
        
         | amelius wrote:
         | Can't we tag children with a 5mph transponder tag?
        
           | d0gsg0w00f wrote:
           | Seems like a good way for child predators to find prey.
        
         | globular-toast wrote:
         | The simplest thing would be to just get rid of the temporary
         | speed limit and set it to 25mph at all times. 25mph is fast
         | enough.
        
           | smileysteve wrote:
           | Another example of a walkable "neighborhood" (with sports,
           | after school, and community events, community usage of
           | facilities at 6-7 days a week) that we ignore the safety of
           | in favor of cars to get wherever else they are going faster.
        
           | BitwiseFool wrote:
           | >"25mph is fast enough."
           | 
           | No, it absolutely isn't.
        
         | me_me_mu_mu wrote:
         | As a former Tesla owner.. I love the car but I honestly don't
         | believe full self driving is worth the effort nor necessary.
         | 
         | Otherwise Tesla has been great for my portfolio and the couple
         | years of zipping around were great.
        
         | dekhn wrote:
         | You're basically asking the question of what is the minimum
         | sufficient level of general intelligence required to allow
         | self-driving cars to go forward.
         | 
         | I instead have a different criteria. If somebody could show
         | that their self-driving car can drive 250 million miles without
         | a person (pedestrian, driver, or passenger) across a fleet and
         | range of conditions, then that's good enough for me (currently,
         | people drive 100 million miles before somebody gets killed).
         | 
         | I figure 2.5X more safe than the average human would lead to an
         | enormous savings in lives and one might even make the argument,
         | at that point, that there was a moral imperative to disallow
         | people driving!
         | 
         | (BTW I live next to an elementary school and people drive past
         | exceeding the posted limit all the time. I struggle to move my
         | car safely through all the distractions. The one thing that
         | helps the most is the radar which hits the breaks if it thinks
         | I'm gonna back into a person or car.)
        
           | Barrin92 wrote:
           | the roads self-driving cars drive on at this point are
           | heavily self-selected as well. I want see a few thousand
           | self-driving cars interact on the streets of Delhi or see one
           | go through a snowy mountain pass with barely any signs
           | 
           | when people make these safety stat comparisons nowadays seems
           | to be often ignored under how much more ambiguous conditions
           | humans still drive safely.
        
             | dekhn wrote:
             | I don't think either the Delhi Street or Snowy Mountain
             | Pass are really required to deploy self-driving cars to 65%
             | of the drivers in the world.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | ape4 wrote:
         | In addition to knowing the school hours, a self-driving car has
         | to read and understand the sign - in every language.
        
           | henrikschroder wrote:
           | That's not the biggest problem: All drivers have to obey hand
           | signals from policemen and other people who are authorized to
           | direct traffic. Which means your car has to know what police
           | officers and state troopers and highway patrol and mounties
           | look like where you happen to be located right now, and not
           | be confused by some dude dressed up as one. Oh, and it has to
           | understand the hand signals as well.
           | 
           | Good luck little car.
        
             | caf wrote:
             | I don't think it's reasonable to expect either car or human
             | to determine the distinction between "person dressed as
             | cop" and "sworn police officer acting in accordance with
             | his duties".
             | 
             | Probably shouldn't anyway. It's not unusual for civilians
             | at the site of some unexpected hazard to warn traffic.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | dragontamer wrote:
         | > My Tesla will allow me to engage autopilot in a school zone
         | 
         | https://twitter.com/TaylorOgan/status/1478802681141645322
         | 
         | Just a reminder at how awful Tesla cars "self driving" cars are
         | at actually stopping.
         | 
         | Please do NOT rely upon autopilot, fsd, or any other "Tesla-
         | tech". They're incapable of seeing objects like small children
         | in time.
         | 
         | This was a test done at CES on January 6th, 2022.
         | 
         | -------
         | 
         | In contrast, the people who setup the demo were showing a more
         | advanced self-driving car who could actually stop when the
         | child suddenly runs out onto the street.
         | 
         | https://twitter.com/luminartech/status/1479223353730756608
        
           | treeman79 wrote:
           | When I learned to drive the only advise my mom gave was. "If
           | you see a ball then slam on the break"
           | 
           | I was told this for months.
           | 
           | Few years later Driving down a road that had endless cars
           | parked along sides. So no visibility of yards.
           | 
           | A small ball came from behind a parked car and bounced in
           | front of me. All I heard was my moms voice. Instantly slammed
           | on brakes.
           | 
           | Sure enough a kid ran out in front of me chasing the ball.
           | 
           | Car stopped inches from kid. He never even noticed me. Even a
           | moments hesitation and that kid would have been dead.
           | 
           | I was going a little below speed limit too, which clearly
           | helped.
        
           | manishsharan wrote:
           | Reminds me of this incident that happened to me a last
           | December: I was driving my kid to school and I noticed some
           | pedestrians on the sidewalk . The mom was walking and texting
           | and the little boy was dribbling a soccer ball while they
           | walked to the school. And suddenly the soccer ball got on the
           | road and the kid dove after it .. in the middle of the road
           | inches from my car. I am so grateful to whatever braking
           | system my car had for stopping just in time. I honked and the
           | mom flipped me the birdie and cussed me out in what I think
           | was Russian.
           | 
           | Kids are stupid and unpredictable and AI/ML can't work out
           | all the insane ways kids can put themselves in harms way. No
           | autopilot or FSD can . Peolple should not rely upon them.
        
             | [deleted]
        
           | TrainedMonkey wrote:
           | I totally agree with you that this tech needs to get better,
           | but I really want to see apples-to-apples comparison. I would
           | expect Tesla to also stop if a child was running across the
           | movement path in broad daylight.
           | 
           | The night example looks to be specifically stacked against
           | autopilot. Tesla vision is notoriously bad at detecting
           | stationary objects and it needs a lot of light to function
           | well. Lidar/Radar are significantly better than cameras
           | detecting straight ahead obstacles in low light conditions. I
           | would really like to hear Tesla to defend their decision to
           | not use them.
           | 
           | In any case, this testing is great because it lets us know
           | when the autopilot requires extra supervision.
        
             | borski wrote:
             | > The night example looks to be specifically stacked
             | against autopilot.
             | 
             | I would argue so is the real world.
        
               | AareyBaba wrote:
               | It is exactly the same scenario where Uber self-driving
               | killed a pedestrian crossing the road at night
        
               | thepasswordis wrote:
               | The exact situation where "uber self driving" killed a
               | pedestrian was: the driver was literally watching a movie
               | at her job, while she was supposed to be driving a car
               | and training a self driving system.
               | 
               | A _driver_ killed a pedestrian because she wasn 't paying
               | attention: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hthyTh_fopo
        
               | borski wrote:
               | Sure, but this was supposed to be fully autonomous.
               | Nobody is arguing the human didn't make a mistake. The
               | autonomous system, however, definitely also did.
        
             | vngzs wrote:
             | Tesla didn't use LIDAR because it is more expensive [0].
             | Quoting Musk:
             | 
             | > Anyone relying on LIDAR is doomed. Doomed. Expensive
             | sensors that are unnecessary. It's like having a whole
             | bunch of expensive appendices... you'll see.
             | 
             | [0]: https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/24/18512580/elon-musk-
             | tesla-...
        
               | lordnacho wrote:
               | How much more expensive are we talking? Also won't it get
               | cheaper with time, like the batteries?
        
               | fundatus wrote:
               | Every Pro iPhone has one. So it already got pretty cheap
               | by now. Looking at Mercedes' Level 3 Autopilot tech you
               | can also see how well you can integrate the sensors into
               | the front of a car.
        
               | mensetmanusman wrote:
               | Short range VCSEL is very different than the automotive
               | rotary lidar systems.
        
               | vngzs wrote:
               | At the time of comment, a LiDAR rig would cost around
               | $10,000. A few years before that, they were more like
               | $100,000. Presumably the cameras are much cheaper.
               | 
               | I would be willing to bet that production efficiencies
               | will be found that will eventually drive that cost down
               | significantly.
        
               | leobg wrote:
               | Cost is not the only point he was making. The problem you
               | need to solve is not just "Is there something?", but also
               | "What is it? And where is it going to move?". LIDAR
               | cannot do that. Or at least if you get LIDAR to do that,
               | then you would have also been able to get it done with a
               | camera, in which case you wouldn't have needed LIDAR in
               | the first place.
               | 
               | LIDAR certainly is the low hanging fruit when it comes to
               | the firmer question though (i.e. what is there in my path
               | right now).
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | ohgodplsno wrote:
               | "You'll see" is the perfect Musk sign for "I have no idea
               | what I'm talking about and I'm frankly just interested in
               | a few suckers believing me."
        
             | dragontamer wrote:
             | > but I really want to see apples-to-apples comparison.
             | 
             | EDIT: Luminar's car is on the other lane, and there's also
             | a balloon-child in the Luminar's lane. You can see
             | Luminar's car clearly stop in the head-to-head test.
             | 
             | There's also the "advanced" test, where the kid moves out
             | from behind an obstacle here. Luminar's tech does well:
             | 
             | https://twitter.com/PatrickMoorhead/status/1478764515260911
             | 6...
             | 
             | > I would expect Tesla to also stop if a child was running
             | across the movement path in broad daylight.
             | 
             | Nope.
             | 
             | https://jalopnik.com/this-clip-of-a-tesla-model-3-failing-
             | an...
             | 
             | https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-09-03/tesla-
             | was-...
             | 
             | This "tech" can't even see a firetruck in broad daylight.
             | Why do you think it can see a child?
             | 
             | This isn't a one-off freak accident either. "crashing into
             | stopped emergency vehicles with flashing lights in broad
             | daylight" is common enough that NHTSA has opened up an
             | investigation into this rather specific effect:
             | https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2021/INOA-PE21020-1893.PDF
        
               | Kaytaro wrote:
               | Tesla partnered with Luminar by the way and even tested
               | their LiDAR on a model 3 last year. I guess they weren't
               | impressed though, since they seem to still be all-in on
               | passive optical recognition.
        
               | celsoazevedo wrote:
               | The camera alone seems to see a lot:
               | 
               | - 2018: https://youtu.be/_1MHGUC_BzQ
               | 
               | - 2021: https://youtu.be/XfqabC_akV0
               | 
               | Is the car reacting to what it's seeing? Probably not,
               | but I'm not sure if adding a lidar fixes that.
        
               | dmitriid wrote:
               | > The camera alone seems to see a lot:
               | 
               | In perfect conditions, on a sunny day.
               | 
               | I'm in Sweden, and the sun shining directly into your
               | eyes from barely above the horizon while the road is
               | wet/covered with snow and reflects that sun at you is a
               | regular occurence during winter months. I odubt Tesla's
               | camera will be able to see anything.
        
               | bananabreakfast wrote:
               | "Opening an investigation" means nothing before a
               | conclusion is reached.
               | 
               | The accusations could be valid or totally baseless,
               | investigations are opened regardless and specifically to
               | find out validity.
        
               | dragontamer wrote:
               | > The accusations could be valid or totally baseless
               | 
               | Read the listed report. All 11 accidents were confirmed
               | to be:
               | 
               | 1. Tesla vehicles
               | 
               | 2. Confirmed to be on autopilot / full self driving.
               | 
               | 3. Against a stopped emergency vehicle with flashing
               | lights or road flares.
               | 
               | These facts are not in dispute. The accusations aren't
               | "baseless", the only question remaining is "how
               | widespread" is this phenomenon.
               | 
               | These 11 accidents have resulted in 1-fatality and 11
               | injuries.
               | 
               | --------
               | 
               | We are _WAY_ past "validity" of the claims. We're at
               | "lets set up demos at CES to market ourselves using Tesla
               | as a comparison point", because Tesla is provably that
               | unreliable at stopping in these conditions.
        
             | caf wrote:
             | _I would really like to hear Tesla to defend their decision
             | to not use them._
             | 
             | Andrej Karpathy talks some about it in this (it's quite
             | long, but the whole thing is quite interesting):
             | 
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSDTZQdo6H8
        
           | w0m wrote:
           | While 1000% agree the current Tesla FSD beta is in serious
           | need of work; comparing it to unreleased specialized hardware
           | in trials setup by makers of said specialized hardware is a
           | little disingenuous.
        
           | loceng wrote:
           | This isn't an honest test. Think through the reality and then
           | mimic that - but the reality isn't a child standing still in
           | the middle of the road in the middle of the night.
           | 
           | Also, Tesla requires you pay attention still - which is
           | relying on it, but they tell you NOT to rely on it 100%, so
           | in this demo the driver is at fault for not watching ahead of
           | them and breaking. So your claim that they're awful at
           | stopping is pretty disconnected.
        
           | rvz wrote:
           | That's definitive proof that it still doesn't work reliably,
           | let alone the system confusing the moon with the traffic
           | light. [0] It shows that it is even worse at night.
           | 
           | I have to say that FSD is so confused, you might as well call
           | it _' Fools Self Driving'_ at this point.
           | 
           | Oh dear.
           | 
           | [0] https://twitter.com/jordanteslatech/status/14184133078625
           | 853...
        
             | mey wrote:
             | Puts them in good company. Not the first system to get the
             | wrong ideas about the moon.
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_Missile_Early_Warni
             | n...
        
           | hansendc wrote:
           | I think the main point is to know the limitations of the
           | technology and to deploy it appropriately. For instance, I
           | don't rely on old-school cruise control to stop for small
           | children, either, even though I engage it in school zones.
           | 
           | This isn't limited to "Tesla-tech". The same rules apply to
           | _ALL_ technology.
        
             | snicker7 wrote:
             | People intuitively understand the capabilities of cruise
             | control. Can the same be said if FSD?
        
               | jsight wrote:
               | Given the crashes with cruise control in bad weather, I
               | think the level of understanding is likely fairly
               | similar.
        
               | lotsofpulp wrote:
               | I am not seeing the relation between cruise control and
               | crashes in bad weather?
               | 
               | If I bought something that says it can drive itself, then
               | I expect I do not need to pay attention to the road
               | because it can drive itself. Just like if my friend can
               | drive themselves and I am a passenger, I can trust them
               | to handle paying attention to the road.
               | 
               | To go out of your way and call something "full" self
               | driving only indicates that I should have zero qualms
               | about trusting that I do not need to pay attention to the
               | road.
        
               | drewzero1 wrote:
               | I'm guessing the 'bad weather' comment is referring to
               | the common belief[1], possibly exaggerated[2], that
               | cruise control can be dangerous and cause crashes when
               | the road is slippery. Not sure what's changed with newer
               | traction control systems. I'd have to believe this has
               | gotten even less likely but I don't know; my cars are too
               | old to even have ABS.
               | 
               | One of the anecdotes in the Jalopnik article mentions
               | that the vehicle is a Town Car, which is significant
               | because those are rear wheel drive and handle very
               | differently from most cars on the road in slick
               | conditions. I would certainly expect more issues with
               | older RWD cars and trucks because they tend to fishtail
               | and spin if the rear wheels are given power without
               | traction.
               | 
               | [1] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/wild-when-wet/ [2]
               | https://jalopnik.com/lets-debunk-the-idea-that-its-not-
               | safe-...
        
             | ClumsyPilot wrote:
             | "I think the main point is to know the limitations of the
             | technology and to deploy it appropriately"
             | 
             | Where does Tesla provide a list of such limitations for
             | it's customers, I am sure it would be extensively
             | documented given that lives are at stake ?
             | 
             | Or should I find out those limitations myself, potentially
             | killing a few children in the process?
        
               | hansendc wrote:
               | > Where does Tesla provide a list of such limitations for
               | it's customers,
               | 
               | One specific place is first sentence of the FSD Beta
               | welcome email:
               | 
               | "Full Self-Driving is in limited early access Beta and
               | must be used with additional caution. It may do the wrong
               | thing at the worst time, so you must always keep your
               | hands on the wheel and pay extra attention to the road.
               | Do not become complacent."
               | 
               | That's been my experience with it. Right now, the beta
               | doesn't reduce my workload, it _increases_ it. When I
               | want to  "just drive", I turn the beta off.
               | 
               | That said, Tesla can and should do more. They need to
               | better frame the capabilities of the system, staring with
               | the silly marketing names.
        
               | idop wrote:
               | > It may do the wrong thing at the worst time.
               | 
               | So, basically, I need to somehow predict that FSD will do
               | the wrong thing and react myself, _before_ the worst
               | time, because the worst time is when it's already too
               | late.
               | 
               | Or, in other words, whereas any other car manufacturer
               | has fallbacks for when the driver is not doing what
               | they're supposed to, Tesla treats the driver as the
               | fallback instead. I just don't understand what is this
               | magic that is supposed to allow the driver to predict
               | incorrect AI behavior.
        
               | ClumsyPilot wrote:
               | That's really a legal disclaimer, a list of limitations
               | has to be sspesific to be usefull: don't use beyong X
               | temperature range, beyong X speed, below X
               | visibility,etc.
        
               | cbo100 wrote:
               | Find them yourself by RTFM maybe?
               | 
               | Tesla puts all the info you need in the owners manual,
               | just like every other manufacturer with automated systems
               | on their cars.
               | 
               | https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-8EA7
               | EF1...
               | 
               | There are dozens of warnings throughout the manual
               | explaining limitations and cautions around using the
               | systems.
               | 
               | Every other car I've owned with the same or similar
               | systems has the same warnings littered throughout the
               | manual.
        
             | Miner49er wrote:
             | Why would you ever engage cruise control in school zones?
        
               | jsight wrote:
               | To avoid speeding. It can be hard to avoid accidentally
               | speeding by 1-2 mph and enforcement is sometimes zero
               | tolerance.
        
               | dahfizz wrote:
               | To make sure you aren't speeding?
        
               | hansendc wrote:
               | I personally have a tendency to match the speed of the
               | cars around me. IMNHO, most cars speed through school
               | zones. I use cruise control as a tool to prevent me from
               | accidentally matching the speed of the cars around me and
               | breaking the school zone speed limit.
        
               | lkxijlewlf wrote:
               | I live on a road with two schools zones about a mile
               | apart. I have had people _pass_ me in the morning _in_
               | the school zone! People do.not.care.
               | 
               | EDIT: Fixed "ppl" to "people".
        
               | BitwiseFool wrote:
               | This is a pet peeve of mine, but why use 'ppl' when you
               | spell out every other word, and then spell out people in
               | the end?
               | 
               | Edit: Yes, ppl bugs me and there is no rational reason
               | why. Emphasis on 'pet peeve'.
        
               | lkxijlewlf wrote:
               | Fixed it for you.
        
               | borski wrote:
               | Because typing on phones can be annoying and ppl is
               | quicker than people. :)
               | 
               | Or maybe they were texting and using FSD ;)
        
             | kllrnohj wrote:
             | > I think the main point is to know the limitations of the
             | technology and to deploy it appropriately.
             | 
             | Such as, for example, by not calling it "autopilot" or
             | "full self driving"?
        
               | glennpratt wrote:
               | I'll give you FSD, but autopilot makes sense to me as
               | someone familiar with aviation.
        
               | Swenrekcah wrote:
               | I'm not familiar with aviation and the only reason I'm
               | aware that airplane autopilot is actually not a self-
               | flying system is because of Tesla and their weasel
               | excuses for their reckless marketing.
        
               | czzr wrote:
               | Does it? What's the expected response time on
               | disengagement for a plane?
        
               | dragontamer wrote:
               | How about "The person in the driver's seat is only there
               | for legal reasons. He is not doing anything. The car is
               | driving itself."
               | 
               | Tesla Marketing: 2016
        
               | heavyset_go wrote:
               | > _Tesla Marketing: 2016_
               | 
               | For reference, this same marketing video is still up on
               | Tesla's site[1].
               | 
               | [1] https://www.tesla.com/videos/autopilot-self-driving-
               | hardware...
        
               | glennpratt wrote:
               | Sounds like trash, but then that's not relevant to what I
               | said.
        
               | dragontamer wrote:
               | The important thing here is that for over half-a-decade,
               | Tesla has been lying to its customers about its
               | capabilities.
               | 
               | When in actuality, Tesla will reliably crash into
               | pedestrians and stationary firetrucks. To the point where
               | people at other companies are confident to make live-
               | demos of this at electronic shows.
               | 
               | ---------
               | 
               | Calling it "autopilot" or "fsd" isn't the problem. The
               | problem is that Tesla actively lies about its
               | capabilities to the public and its customers. It doesn't
               | matter "how" they lie or exactly what weasel words they
               | use. The issue is that they're liars.
               | 
               | We can tell them to change their name or change their
               | marketing strategy. But as long as they're liars, they'll
               | just find a new set of weasel words to continue their
               | lies.
        
               | avalys wrote:
               | Is the average purchaser of autopilot familiar with
               | aviation and the technical capabilities of an autopilot
               | in that context?
        
               | kllrnohj wrote:
               | Does autopilot make sense? Aviation autopilot seems to be
               | many orders of magnitude more reliable than Tesla's
               | autopilot.
               | 
               | In fact, autopilot in aviation contexts is regularly used
               | when human pilots are _worse_ , such as landing at
               | airports that regularly experience fog & low visibility
               | conditions. As in, autopilot is the _fallback for humans_
               | , not the other way around.
               | 
               | Heck, aviation autopilot is now available for use in
               | emergency landings ( https://www.avweb.com/aviation-
               | news/garmin-autoland-wins-202... ).
               | 
               | Compared to Tesla autopilot, these are seemingly two
               | vastly unrelated situations.
        
               | dkjaudyeqooe wrote:
               | It may work somewhat like airplane autopilot, but the
               | environments are not comparable. A plane has nothing to
               | hit but terrain which is easily identified and almost all
               | other obstacles in the air are transmitting their
               | position.
               | 
               | It's entirely deceptive.
        
               | epicide wrote:
               | In addition, pilots are required to have thousands of
               | hours of training for that specific model airplane. I'm
               | sure the limitations of autopilot come up.
               | 
               | Meanwhile, in most US states, an adult can walk into a
               | DMV, demonstrate the ability to turn on the vehicle and
               | do a 3-point/k turn, and walk out with a license.
        
               | scrose wrote:
               | And at least in one state, all a kid needs is their
               | parent to tell the DMV they can drive
               | 
               | [0] https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a32329549/georgia-
               | no-drive...
        
         | junon wrote:
         | I'm not a fan of Tesla personally but it is worth mentioning
         | that "autopilot" and "self driving" are not the same. Autopilot
         | is, and has always been, cruise control on steroids. Full self
         | driving hasn't reached the consumer market. To expect your
         | Tesla to be that is lying to yourself.
        
           | bjtitus wrote:
           | Meanwhile, Tesla seems to be using them nearly
           | interchangeably in its marketing.
           | 
           | https://www.tesla.com/support/full-self-driving-computer
           | 
           | Tesla attempts to bury the lead by saying drivers shouldn't
           | use these features without being "fully attentive" but uses
           | names like "Full Self-Driving" all over their marketing
           | material.
           | 
           | https://www.tesla.com/support/autopilot
        
             | tedivm wrote:
             | Elon has also publicized cases where users filmed
             | themselves not being attentive.
             | 
             | https://nypost.com/2019/05/10/elon-musk-weighs-in-on-porn-
             | fi...
        
               | heavyset_go wrote:
               | Tesla itself has marketing material that's even worse[1].
               | 
               | [1] https://www.tesla.com/videos/autopilot-self-driving-
               | hardware...
        
           | throwawayboise wrote:
           | I think Elon was the one doing the lying.
        
           | zardo wrote:
           | Doesn't Tesla have beta software the driver can turn on with
           | the name "Full Self Driving"? And isn't it intended to be
           | used, "beta tested", on public roads?
        
             | 6gvONxR4sf7o wrote:
             | Apparently they came out and said that "Full Self
             | Driving(tm)" isn't supposed to be understood as full self
             | driving.
        
               | shmatt wrote:
               | Ah, the Wyngz of the AI industry
        
           | WheatM wrote:
        
         | rhacker wrote:
         | If I see a sign like that near a "church school" or whatever I
         | likely won't know it's 25mph on a Sunday.
         | 
         | If there are crossing guards or whatever I'm sure I will stop
         | however, not sure a Tesla will.
        
         | FireBeyond wrote:
         | Absolutely. My 2021 Audi has traffic sign recognition, and
         | recognizes school zone signs, flags them as such on the console
         | and heads up display. It also recognizes the flashing light
         | indicating that the school zone is "active".
         | 
         | But yet, Tesla, the "not-dinosaur", screws this up completely?
         | 
         | Oof.
         | 
         | AND, if you have adaptive cruise, it will absolutely recognize
         | the discrepancy between your speed and school zones, and will
         | decelerate the car to that speed.
        
           | johnmaguire wrote:
           | Many school zones do not have flashing lights.
           | 
           | Isn't the correct answer today that humans should override in
           | these situations?
           | 
           | Frankly, as a human I also find "during restricted hours"
           | signs frustrating. How do I know which hours those are?
        
             | ohgodplsno wrote:
             | Then just respect those limitations at all times. The
             | school zone will last a whole 200m, you can live with
             | driving 20 in there all the time instead of wondering if
             | you can go full speed in a school zone.
        
             | nkrisc wrote:
             | It is frustrating that it isn't clearly delineated, but you
             | should be fine basing your guess on some reasonable
             | assumptions: schools are busiest during drop off and
             | pickup, with kids out and about near the road, very good
             | chance those times are included in the "restricted hours",
             | possibly the hours in between as well. Public and secular
             | schools are typically not open on weekends, very likely any
             | weekend hour is not restricted. Schools are usually closed
             | during the summer months and for a time during winter
             | break. This can be tricky because school still can have
             | very different schedules and you may not know them if you
             | don't have kid sin school, but again context can help: is
             | the parking lot completely empty? No one around? School's
             | probably not in session, restricted hours probably don't
             | apply. If you were ticketed for speeding in a school zone
             | during morning drop off, I think you'd have a hard time
             | arguing you didn't know it was a restricted time. Maybe
             | during lunch you could make a case, I guess it would depend
             | on the judge you got.
        
             | reaperducer wrote:
             | _Frankly, as a human I also find "during restricted hours"
             | signs frustrating. How do I know which hours those are?_
             | 
             | As a human being, you weigh the risks and make a choice.
             | Which has the worse outcome -- getting to your destination
             | 18 seconds later, or killing a child?
        
             | mjevans wrote:
             | A zone near me has two different sign indicator systems.
             | They appear to go off at different intervals. In both cases
             | I don't see humans around. I would not be surprised if the
             | time the crossing guards and children were present was a
             | completely different, third time.
        
               | rconti wrote:
               | I still don't know what is meant by "when children are
               | present". On the sidewalk? In the playground? In the
               | classroom?
        
           | GordonS wrote:
           | I'm sure I saw cars with an option to read speed limit signs
           | about 10 years back. Really boggles the mind that Tesla have
           | gotten away with calling their cars "Full Self Driving".
        
             | Sebb767 wrote:
             | > I'm sure I saw cars with an option to read speed limit
             | signs about 10 years back.
             | 
             | To be fair, those systems were just best-effort. I'm pretty
             | sure Teslas can handle far harder sign situations than
             | those.
             | 
             | The problem is the edge case and while Telsa may fair
             | better, the older assistant systems did explicitly warn you
             | that it was best effort.
        
         | belltaco wrote:
         | >How can Tesla claim self driving
         | 
         | Autopilot and self driving are two distinct things.
        
           | jjulius wrote:
           | Not to the average, non-technical person.
        
             | jimmaswell wrote:
             | Everyone knows airplane autopilot still needs a human
             | pilot. Everyone.
        
             | burkaman wrote:
             | I consider myself a pretty technical person and I don't
             | know the difference. Are they not synonyms? Auto=self,
             | pilot=driving
        
           | JohnWhigham wrote:
           | And yet a couple years ago, they claimed Autopilot was full
           | self-driving.
        
           | yupper32 wrote:
           | Are you saying that Tesla shouldn't claim to have a "Full
           | Self Driving" feature if it's still not autonomous? Because
           | they do.
           | 
           | "Will the FSD computer make my car fully autonomous?
           | 
           | Not yet. All Tesla cars require active driver supervision and
           | are not autonomous. "
           | 
           | https://www.tesla.com/support/full-self-driving-computer
        
         | nixass wrote:
         | Tesla's self driving is gimmick actually and far from being
         | serious piece of technology.
        
         | asdff wrote:
         | Can they handle construction zones where lanes split all over
         | the place and speeds change? I'm guessing no. Based on the
         | constant amount of scuff marks along the guards of the 5
         | freeway and pretty much every other freeway in California I'm
         | assuming thats a hard challenge even for human drivers.
        
           | akerl_ wrote:
           | For what it's worth, the one thing my Tesla has been
           | consistently good at is picking the correct lines out of a
           | jumble of nonsense on the road.
           | 
           | I've used AP heavily in highway construction zones, and at
           | night with bad visibility, and in inclement weather, and in
           | combinations of the above. AP does better than I can manually
           | do at picking the correct set of road marks to follow, even
           | in cases where the construction has left partial incorrect
           | marks underneath / conflicting_with the right ones.
           | 
           | AP has a ton of other issues of varying levels of severity,
           | but if you're asking "can I trust it in a construction zone",
           | I'd say yes based on my usage.
        
           | bluGill wrote:
           | All they need to do is recognize a construction zone a minute
           | ahead of time and get the human to take over. This would
           | allow level 4 through construction zone. Level 4 is self
           | driving "in the easy parts", and give humans enough time to
           | take over in the "hard parts" (level 5 is everywhere, and as
           | you note a much harder problem). Note though that you can't
           | just stop driving, you need to allow time for the human to
           | figure out what it going on, how to properly have humans take
           | over is itself a hard problem.
        
             | elil17 wrote:
             | Right, but they don't do that, do they? Their failure mode
             | is beeping at you to take over at the last possible second.
        
             | mjevans wrote:
             | I could see construction zones required to setup self-
             | driving parking buffers for the cars to 'fail' into safely.
        
           | alanh wrote:
           | It's actually remarkably good at this now. Source: Me driving
           | with FSD
        
           | JohnWhigham wrote:
           | No, they fail spectacularly at ad-hoc road work lane setups
           | or setups where the "official" lanes are temporarily blacked
           | out. I think that was the cause of the Tesla smashing into a
           | freeway median a couple years ago.
        
             | kortilla wrote:
             | > I think that was the cause of the Tesla smashing into a
             | freeway median a couple years ago.
             | 
             | If it happened a couple of years ago you're not talking
             | about FSD.
        
         | suifbwish wrote:
         | OR maybe the Tesla is so good at driving it doesn't need to
         | slow down. Maybe it should actually speed up to give people
         | less time to get in front of it.
        
         | BitwiseFool wrote:
         | One way to address this problem is to designate which sections
         | of road are school zoned and which are not. Then, include
         | information about the school zone schedule. I can't imagine
         | this information hasn't been digitized in some way yet.
        
           | caf wrote:
           | The mapping data that Tesla uses does know about school
           | zones, as well as other time or season based speed zones, and
           | even weather-dependent speed zones. They all get rendered on
           | screen, with the currently-active zone shown.
        
           | akira2501 wrote:
           | Even if it is.. how does it get updated? Or verified? Or
           | protected? Who's at fault if the information is inaccurate?
        
             | BitwiseFool wrote:
             | I know some municipalities publish this information on
             | their city websites. Granted, I do not know much about
             | municipalities and GIS, but I imagine it is possible this
             | is in some format that can be made available to map data
             | services.
        
             | nwiswell wrote:
             | It's an easily solved problem: the state legislature writes
             | a law mandating a statewide database, and schools are
             | required to enter their information.
             | 
             | Like some other commenters pointed out, ad-hoc situations
             | like police directing traffic and one-direction-at-a-time
             | utility work are a much bigger concern.
        
       | tonyhb wrote:
       | I wish all stop signs would be replaced with roundabouts, or mini
       | roundabouts like those in the UK. Stop signs are wildly time
       | inefficient, less gas efficient, and more dangerous. Not
       | necessarily best practice, but I'm all for rolling stops in the
       | meantime.
        
         | ngngngng wrote:
         | We have one roundabout in my small town, and there is strong
         | hatred towards it. There's a perception that it's far more
         | dangerous than any alternatives.
        
         | WillPostForFood wrote:
         | Roundabouts are awesome (for cars), when the intersection was
         | designed and has space for it. Retrofitting them into
         | intersections often doen't work. They do it a lot in my city in
         | smaller residential intersections. They can be so tight that
         | the turning radius of a mid-large size car or SUV won't allow
         | circumnavigation. People drive over the center, and still make
         | left turns because it is so hard to get around.
        
           | alistairSH wrote:
           | In that use case, the goal is simply a rule for determining
           | right-of-way. Doesn't really matter if they drive over the
           | center as long as they wait their turn to do so.
        
           | netr0ute wrote:
           | Where I am, they fix the "drive over the center" problem by
           | making it a giant concrete barrier so you can't drive over
           | the center unless you have a monster truck.
        
             | FireBeyond wrote:
             | Paramedic here. Have been called to more than one MVA where
             | your regular sedan has successfully "climbed" a 20"
             | vertical concrete raised center of a roundabout. Energy and
             | inertia is a powerful thing!
        
             | Isthatablackgsd wrote:
             | There is one in my city and it is in popular shopping
             | center, so it get a heavy usage out of it. In the center,
             | there is trees and rocks as decorations and designed to
             | prevent anyone from driving over the center. There is other
             | city that have a small (1-lane) roundabout, the center is
             | protected with chain "rope-like" barrier with the sign to
             | drive right.
        
         | twobitshifter wrote:
         | Many stop signs could be replaced by yield signs. The energy
         | savings would be enormous. A full stop should only be needed
         | when making a left hand turn or needed for sighting, and there
         | are many stop signs in places where left turns are impossible.
        
         | dawnerd wrote:
         | Whats funny is FSD currently (maybe 10.9 changed this) stops at
         | roundabouts.
        
         | Isthatablackgsd wrote:
         | The issue is space to put roundabouts. Majority of American
         | cities already have roads set up and it would be difficult to
         | put in the roundabout to replace existing infrastructures.
         | Roundabout requires more space than a simple 2-lane wide 4-way
         | intersection.
         | 
         | And there is a driver problem, majority of American almost
         | never have any experience driving on roundabouts. I seen some
         | would simply cut off the roundabout traffic and proceed on
         | their way without yielding.
        
           | throwawayboise wrote:
           | I think most crossroads could accomodate a mini roundabout,
           | maybe lopping off each corner a bit. Where I live, converting
           | an crossroad to a roundabout seems to take about a year, they
           | close and completely excavate the existing roadway, relocate
           | storm drains, build a huge center island, and take an
           | additional 10' of property all around. It seems excessive.
        
           | alistairSH wrote:
           | Many roundabouts in small towns in Scotland are simply a
           | painted circle in the center of the intersection. Hopefully
           | this link works...
           | 
           | https://www.google.com/maps/@56.5903811,-3.3375594,3a,75y,21.
           | ..
        
         | Someone1234 wrote:
         | I'd wish new construction aimed for that, but converting
         | _existing_ four-way stops to roundabouts would require widening
         | of the road at all four corners which is impractical (i.e. you
         | may have to knock down buildings, but certainly have to re-
         | place sidewalks).
         | 
         | The data shows that roundabouts are safer and even improve
         | traffic flow. But they're also a nightmare to install after the
         | fact, which is why it is so uncommon. All we can do is stop
         | making the same mistakes going forward.
         | 
         | Same thing with burying power lines: Far cheaper to do with new
         | construction, substantially more reliable and better able to
         | withstand natural disasters, but we aren't. Society is just bad
         | at planning for tomorrow if it costs us a little today at every
         | level.
        
         | anonymousisme wrote:
         | I live in an area with roundabouts. The frequency of collisions
         | actually seems higher because people do not know the rules and
         | do not yield before entering the roundabout.
        
           | foxfluff wrote:
           | I live in an area with roundabouts. There are very few
           | accidents in roundabouts and it's impossible to get a license
           | if you don't know how the rules for a roundabout.
        
         | samwillis wrote:
         | There are issues with mini roundabouts, two I regularly see in
         | my home town:
         | 
         | - If you have one 'entrance' to the roundabout which is
         | partially busy, say at rush hour, it becomes near impossible to
         | enter the roundabout from a different direction. With a normal
         | roundabout many more cars can be on the roundabout at once and
         | a natural flow, even from less used entrances, just happened.
         | This does not work on a mini roundabout.
         | 
         | - Where they have replaced a T junction, people often ignore it
         | causing (near) accidents when going "straight on" when they
         | don't have right of way.
         | 
         | They are definitely not a one size fits all solution.
        
         | gjsman-1000 wrote:
         | Then ask our legislatures to change the law. Don't let private
         | companies make cars that disobey the laws developed by elected
         | officials and those they appoint.
        
         | DavidPeiffer wrote:
         | In Iceland they have many roundabouts all over, and at most low
         | residential intersections there's simply a yield for one of the
         | intersecting roads. Having a yield instead of having to come to
         | a stop is so refreshing.
         | 
         | You are also required to have your lights on when you are
         | driving. It notably increases visibility even during the day.
         | 
         | I came back to the US really wishing those policies would go
         | into effect nationwide.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | throwawayboise wrote:
           | Yes I would love to see the elimination of the four-way stop
           | intersection. One road should be designated as the "arterial"
           | road and should not stop. The crossing road should yield.
           | There are very few cases where a four-way stop is justified.
        
         | duxup wrote:
         | They're almost the default now in my area of the US if at all
         | plausible.
         | 
         | Having said that a lot of roads in my area are already built
         | around 4 way stops and it's not easy to undo that, but new
         | construction in my area of suburbia US has adopted the
         | roundabout.
        
       | sschueller wrote:
       | I want to government to change the rules and make Tesla
       | responsible for all accidents causes by FSD. Then let's see how
       | long until that feature no longer exists and Tesla has to admit
       | that what they have been peddling is vaporware.
        
         | jacquesm wrote:
         | I'd give it about 15 minutes until an OTA recall of all
         | software that allows the car to move without a human directing
         | it all the time.
        
       | CalRobert wrote:
       | Note that rolling stops can seem safe but in some cases there are
       | surprising circumstances where intersections can leave you blind
       | to other road users. https://www.wired.com/story/the-physics-of-
       | the-69-degree-int... for instance discusses an intersection where
       | the angle caused a person-size blind spot behind a car's pillar.
        
         | natch wrote:
         | Good thing cameras mounted under the windshield glass are not
         | obstructed by pillars.
         | 
         | Direct sun glare can be an issue though. I have yet to see how
         | Tesla plans to solve this, although having five different
         | forward facing cameras surely helps.
        
         | zinekeller wrote:
         | The Wired reporting is based on Bez's article on Singletrack
         | (as stated): https://singletrackworld.com/2018/01/collision-
         | course-why-th...
         | 
         | Tom Scott made a good complementary video about this:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYeeTvitvFU
         | 
         | It's already fixed just last month:
         | https://www.hants.gov.uk/News/25012022Ipleycrossroadsopening
         | and https://www.advertiserandtimes.co.uk/news/new-forest-
         | acciden...
        
           | darknavi wrote:
           | Interesting video. I didn't know STOP signs were so rare in
           | the UK!
        
       | mensetmanusman wrote:
       | Will be hilarious if FSD gets halted by 80% of humans committing
       | rolling stops and never allowing FSD vehicles to cross the street
       | (which are programmed to follow the letter of the law).
        
       | tohnjitor wrote:
       | become ungovernable
        
       | mortehu wrote:
       | When I moved to San Francisco from Europe I had to take a drive
       | test to get a US license. In every single intersection I did a
       | rolling stop, and got like 15 minor "errors" on my score sheet.
       | However, since I had no other errors I got the license. Perhaps
       | the FSD beta would also pass this test.
        
       | dawnerd wrote:
       | The problem with the assertive setting is it didn't really work.
       | The car would still do a rolling stop even in chill. I think in
       | those cases it might have been creeping for visibility but often
       | the creep is a full blown drive into the intersection.
       | 
       | They really need to add some explicit controls over this like
       | navigate on autopilot has. I've had to disengage so many times
       | due to it making really dumb moves that could be fixed with just
       | asking me first. I know thats against their end goal but their
       | models just are not there yet.
        
       | mauvehaus wrote:
       | Virtually all humans roll stop signs from time to time. It's safe
       | when done in appropriate circumstances, yet it's illegal.
       | 
       | The law is at complete odds with normal human behavior, and we've
       | been ignoring the contradiction for, what, decades?
       | 
       | The most interesting possible outcome of widespread self-driving
       | vehicles is reconciling the legal fictions on the books with
       | reality as code is unambiguously breaking the laws that aren't
       | based in any semblance of reality.
        
         | CalRobert wrote:
         | The problem is that judging whether the circumstances are
         | appropriate is nearly impossible from the limited perspective
         | of the driver. You can't see things hidden by A/B/C pillars,
         | you can't see short objects (like children) obstructed by your
         | doors, and too often people using cars forget that things like
         | kids on bikes, motorcycles, pedestrians, etc. exist.
         | 
         | This is indeed normal human behaviour, but we've also seen a
         | dramatic increase in drivers killing people with their cars.
        
         | paxys wrote:
         | > when done in appropriate circumstances
         | 
         | If a law leaves "appropriate circumstances" to the discretion
         | of the public then it is effectively useless. If you get hit by
         | a driver who refused to stop at a stop sign, you're most
         | certainly not going to think that rolling stops are fine.
        
           | camjohnson26 wrote:
           | Basically every law eventually boils down to someone's
           | discretion, either the enforcer, the judge, or a jury.
        
           | epgui wrote:
           | > [...] a law [...] is effectively useless.
           | 
           | Indeed! :)
        
         | bhauer wrote:
         | Indeed. Similarly, we may eventually need to contend with the
         | fact that posted speed limits are, in most jurisdictions that I
         | know, at least 5 to 10 MPH lower than the enforced limit.
         | Virtually all human drivers drive some small amount over posted
         | speed limits.
         | 
         | If we were to force all autonomous drive systems to _always_
         | perform full stops and _always_ obey the speed limit, the human
         | drivers mixed among them will lose their minds.
         | 
         | At least so far, NHTSA has not said that Tesla and others need
         | to ensure that in autonomous drive modes, the speed limit may
         | not be exceeded.
        
         | jcims wrote:
         | That was something that occurred to me when I first heard about
         | this. It's probably safer to drive in an expected way than a
         | legal way.
        
         | ceejayoz wrote:
         | > The law is at complete odds with normal human behavior, and
         | we've been ignoring the contradiction for, what, decades?
         | 
         | No, we've been _using_ the contradictions as pretexts for
         | otherwise illegal traffic stops.
        
         | com2kid wrote:
         | > Virtually all humans roll stop signs from time to time.
         | 
         | Are you in California by chance?
         | 
         | Because I rarely see that behavior in Washington state. Dead of
         | night empty roadway people will come to a full stop at a stop
         | sign.
         | 
         | > It's safe when done in appropriate circumstances, yet it's
         | illegal.
         | 
         | You mean like when a driver thinks they don't see anyone else
         | around? While driving a car with giant A pillars that block a
         | large % of the street and sidewalk from view?
         | 
         | Just, like, always stop at stop signs. It isn't that hard.
        
           | chucksta wrote:
           | You are in an exceptional area then. The entire city of
           | Philadelphia operates on the idea stop means slightly tap on
           | breaks. I've even seen cops regularly roll them.
        
             | legerdemain wrote:
             | "Even" cops? Here in the Bay Area, cops blow through every
             | intersection without turn signals and barely any hint of
             | slowdown. And everyone's happy, because only our blue
             | domestic warfighters stand between us and the unwashed mobs
             | robbing Lululemon stores.
        
           | duped wrote:
           | I know we're playing the anecdote game here, but I've lived
           | and driven all over the US and can't recall a place where
           | stop signs were respected by anyone (cross walks are a
           | different story)
        
             | com2kid wrote:
             | From what I understand in Seattle (and I believe all of
             | Washington State), every intersection at a corner is also a
             | crosswalk, even if unmarked.
             | 
             | So people don't have to walk multiple blocks just to cross
             | the street. :)
             | 
             | Accordingly I treat all intersections as potential
             | crosswalks because people often cross at them!
        
               | duped wrote:
               | I meant more that in some places (NYC) no one waits for
               | the crossing signal, yet in other places (like LA)
               | everyone does.
        
           | DaveExeter wrote:
           | >Just, like, always stop at stop signs. It isn't that hard.
           | 
           | I hate people who reflexively come to a full stop at stop
           | signs!
           | 
           | And some stop signs, I just completely ignore. Drive right
           | thru as if there was no stop sign at all.
           | 
           | I have eye-balls so I don't have to stop at stop-signs.
        
           | ryandrake wrote:
           | Not justifying rolling stops, but I can understand why people
           | do it. I've lived in infuriating neighborhoods with a 4 way
           | stop sign at every... single... intersection... You could
           | drive a mile and hit fifteen of them. Cities get a complaint
           | about an intersection and the cheapest way to "calm traffic"
           | is to plop down a 4 way stop sign. You've basically created
           | stop-and-go traffic without the traffic.
           | 
           | Most stop signs I encounter in my commute and trips into town
           | could be safely converted into roundabouts while still
           | keeping neighborhood driving speeds low, but since this is
           | the USA, nobody understands how to use roundabouts, so we sit
           | there like idiots stopping every 300 feet of travel.
        
             | com2kid wrote:
             | There is one intersection in Kirkland WA that needs to be a
             | round about. Every day during rush hour one stop sign is
             | responsible for a 3-5 minute line of traffic.
             | 
             | But you know what? _Everyone stops at it_ Even though it is
             | stupid, and there is almost no chance of cross traffic,
             | people stop at it.
             | 
             | (It is on 116th ave in Bridal Trails, anyone local reading
             | this knows the stop sign I'm talking about!)
             | 
             | So yes, some very stupid stop signs exist.
             | 
             | The neighborhood I live in now has a compromise stop signs
             | every block going east/west, but no stop signs going
             | north/south. It works out well enough!
             | 
             | Indeed, roundabouts would solve a lot of these problems.
             | 
             | One private gated community around here just uses _giant_
             | speed bumps. Another, somewhat jarring, solution to the
             | problem!
        
         | HWR_14 wrote:
         | I mean, most speed limits are also ignored safely and commonly.
        
           | mauvehaus wrote:
           | And there are circumstances where it's both reasonable and
           | expected to pass a vehicle over a double yellow line (a slow-
           | moving agricultural vehicle or a horse and buggy, for
           | instance).
           | 
           | And there are definitely cases when it's preferable to
           | closely cut a yellow light than risk a collision if you're
           | being tailgated and don't have much faith in the person
           | behind you stopping if you do.
           | 
           | At best, the law codifies best practices for the typical
           | case.
           | 
           | At worst it's a tool used to selectively target some people
           | over others. See, for example, the concept of "driving while
           | Black".
        
         | Eric_WVGG wrote:
         | It's attitudes like this that me bull-ish about the future of
         | self-driving cars.
         | 
         | Cars can be programmed to never speed, double-park, or roll
         | through stops (I'm aghast that Tesla even tried this). Loads of
         | drivers seem to think this kind of shit is just fine and
         | normal, and desperately need to be taken off the road.
         | 
         | Self-driving car skeptics seem to think that the barrier is
         | "being good at driving." I think the barrier is "being better
         | at driving than most people." That's a low bar.
        
           | throwaway0a5e wrote:
           | >Loads of drivers seem to think this kind of shit is just
           | fine and normal, and desperately need to be taken off the
           | road.
           | 
           | For every few hundred cars going 65-80 on a 55mph stretch of
           | interstate highway there's maybe a couple going the speed
           | limit. Who is contributing the most danger to the roadway on
           | a per-capita or per vehicle basis?
           | 
           | > That's a low bar.
           | 
           | You only think that because you mentally bucket people who
           | casually violate the letter of the law when they deem it safe
           | to do so and who's judgement on such matters is roughly in
           | line with everyone else's into the "bad driver" category.
           | 
           | The bar is not actually that low.
        
             | Eric_WVGG wrote:
             | > Who is contributing the most danger to the roadway on a
             | per-capita or per vehicle basis?
             | 
             | The people who are speeding. That's what "limit" means.
             | 
             | > casually violate [the letter of] the law
             | 
             | key word "casually". Casually hurtling tons of metal at
             | speeds that turn bodies to jelly.
             | 
             | And just to throw some statistics into the fray: 16,000
             | people were murdered in the United States in 2019, and
             | every time that number fluctuates up it's "an epidemic."
             | Over 30,000 people died in car crashes, but that's just
             | normal cuz "hey, accidents happen." Casually.
        
         | travisporter wrote:
         | > safe when done in appropriate circumstances That's a truism
         | about anything, no?
        
           | stavros wrote:
           | Read as "usually safe".
        
         | cronix wrote:
         | It's also more environmentally friendly as it takes more power
         | (exhaust) to get moving from a complete stop, more brake dust
         | created coming to a complete stop, etc.
         | 
         | > The law is at complete odds with normal human behavior
         | 
         | > that aren't based in any semblance of reality.
         | 
         | Dunno how true it is, but way back when, when I was in driving
         | school, the instructor said the reason for coming to a complete
         | stop was in order to accurately gauge the speed of
         | cross/oncoming traffic, which is not nearly as accurate if you
         | are in motion, in order to know if you can pull out/turn
         | safely.
        
         | micromacrofoot wrote:
         | A lot of traffic laws are guidelines until you do something
         | worse, or fit a cop's profile of "suspicious." In the same vein
         | as the old "broken taillight" ruse (the trope is that you get
         | pulled over for no reason and the cop breaks your taillight).
         | 
         | Roll through a stop sign during rush hour? in most places
         | you're fine.
         | 
         | Roll through a stop sign late at night when bars close? Maybe
         | you'll get pulled over for it and a sobriety check.
         | 
         | The laws are rooted in safe ideals, but are applied on a whim
         | based on police bias.
         | 
         | Personally I think self-driving cars should err on the side
         | safe ideals (even if they're slightly less practical), and the
         | laws should be applied to human drivers in a more uniform
         | manner.
         | 
         | I've had some bad run-ins with police myself (pulled over and
         | searched for having a mirror ornament, pulled over for doing 5
         | over the limit, etc)... and follow every asinine road rule
         | because of it.
        
         | woliveirajr wrote:
         | Reminds me of the "Industrial Society and Its Future" manifesto
         | (not that I agree with it or with the author's method).
        
       | krajzeg wrote:
       | In a few months: Tesla baffled as regulators crack down on their
       | "I'm in a rush" feature, which makes Tesla cars with FSD ignore
       | any and all speed limits as long as the car deems that's safe to
       | do and won't bother anybody.
        
         | ajross wrote:
         | I'm not sure I understand the joke here. That's the way it
         | works. The cars already allow you to speed (up to a limit,
         | obviously). Just roll the right scroll wheel. And you can
         | control its default choices via a menu (e.g. "limit + 5mph",
         | etc...). Being able to match traffic speeds is a good and
         | useful feature.
         | 
         | But yes, it's technically "illegal", just like a rolling stop.
         | Which prods the question of why one is subject to regulatory
         | oversight and the other is not.
        
           | zamadatix wrote:
           | Limit + 5mph is an explicit control by the driver, not a
           | decision by the car. "I'm in a rush" described here is not
           | explicit, the car is making decisions on how much faster to
           | go. Self driving regulations naturally only regulate
           | decisions by the car, not decisions by the driver. "break all
           | speeding laws however you want" isn't a decision as much as a
           | directive on how to make driving decisions.
           | 
           | Same with rolling stop in fsd, it's even more clearly a
           | decision by the car which would naturally fall under self
           | driving regulation while decisions by the driver naturally
           | wouldn't. I.e. this isn't a "perform rolling stops" button
           | the driver pressed to force the decision.
        
           | warkdarrior wrote:
           | > But yes, it's technically "illegal", just like a rolling
           | stop. Which prods the question of why one is subject to
           | regulatory oversight and the other is not.
           | 
           | Because one is a safety issue when done, and one is a safety
           | issue when not done. Not obeying the speed limit is (mostly)
           | safe when matching the traffic around you. Not stopping fully
           | at a stop sign is unsafe since it can lead to accidents
           | regardless of what everyone else around you does.
           | 
           | Or to flip it around... obeying the speed limit but not
           | matching the traffic around you is generally _unsafe_. While
           | obeying the stop sign and stopping fully is always _safe_.
        
             | bryanlarsen wrote:
             | InTheArena got rear-ended and road raged for coming to a
             | full stop: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30165411
        
         | sidewndr46 wrote:
         | Just wait till they add a full self driving pit maneuver option
         | to the caR!
        
         | gjsman-1000 wrote:
         | Nah, they wouldn't call it "I'm in a rush." They'd call it
         | "Cannonball Run Challenge Mode." ;)
        
           | LastMuel wrote:
           | Apparently, it's "Assertive Mode"
        
         | duxup wrote:
         | I look forward to:
         | 
         | <button>DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?</button>
         | 
         | Personally I'd like a Foghat option:
         | 
         | <button>Slow ride, take it easy.</button>
        
           | tgsovlerkhgsel wrote:
           | I hope robotaxis will have a setting for this.
           | 
           | It can be a real pleasure to enjoy a buttery-smooth ride, and
           | robots will excel at it. And of course manufacturers will
           | optimize for it since it demonstrates confidence and safety.
           | OTOH, you know what can also be fun? Having a Tesla kick your
           | butt with almost 1 G.
           | 
           | There should be a reasonably-smooth default setting, a "show
           | me your skills" super-smooth setting, a "sporty" setting, and
           | "madman". The latter would probably cost extra due to the
           | extra wear and tear, and I'm sure I'd pay for it, at least
           | once, for the experience.
        
           | natch wrote:
           | Chill mode...
        
       | mrfusion wrote:
       | Why is it a recall instead of a software update?
        
         | alexfringes wrote:
         | > Tesla will perform an over-the-air software update that
         | disables the "rolling stop" functionality, NHTSA said.
         | 
         | I was perplexed by the wording as well. Apparently software
         | updates can be labeled recalls now? Did someone inform
         | Microsoft, maybe this would help Windows 11 adoption.
        
         | gcanyon wrote:
         | It is a software update.
        
         | jaywalk wrote:
         | It is a software update.
        
         | ajross wrote:
         | "Recall" is the only term available to express a software
         | update via the NHTSA's public notification process. It's just
         | the word we have. And yes, it implies things that are
         | salaciously untrue, which is one of the reason it finds its way
         | into headlines like this.
        
           | colonelxc wrote:
           | Most recalls are just to fix things. It might be replacing
           | brake pads, or a bumper, or in this case some software.
        
         | jjulius wrote:
         | According to the NHTSA[1]:
         | 
         | >A recall is issued when a manufacturer or NHTSA determines
         | that a vehicle, equipment, car seat, or tire creates an
         | unreasonable safety risk or fails to meet minimum safety
         | standards. Manufacturers are required to fix the problem by
         | repairing it, replacing it, offering a refund, or in rare cases
         | repurchasing the vehicle.
         | 
         | So basically, regardless of whether the fix is a software or
         | hardware update, any issue a car has that "creates an
         | unreasonable safety risk or fails to meet minimum safety
         | standards" falls underneath the "recall" banner. I can see the
         | benefit here; a recall generally gets a certain level of
         | publicity that a "software update" might otherwise not. It
         | might not be a bad idea for people crossing at stop signs to
         | think, "Hmm, Tesla approaching, let's exercise just a bit more
         | caution", until this is resolved.
         | 
         | [1]https://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/rulemaking/pdf/Recalls-
         | FAQ...
        
       | tdiggity wrote:
       | Just throwing in my experience here. Come down to Southern
       | California. The rolling stop is everywhere. Not so much in SF Bay
       | Area where I grew up. People get irritated if you drive the speed
       | limit and make full stops. Especially at 4 way stop signs, I
       | often feel like people are confused by a full stop, lol.
       | 
       | I am also an FSD beta user, and I have my car set to standard
       | assertiveness and it does not roll through stops.
       | 
       | And, one last comment on the vision of the car - it's a whole
       | different beast with the new fsd beta code. The highway autopilot
       | code is not safe on the streets and until you see the fsd beta
       | code at work, it's easy to think that it will perform poorly on
       | local roads. Yes, it can do stupid things and cause anaccident,
       | but not in the way the autopilot code will. It's different.
        
       | CamelCaseName wrote:
       | It would be fantastic if one day, with a high degree of
       | certainty, self driving cars were legally allowed to run stop
       | signs if they deemed it safe.
       | 
       | There must be some fascinating cost/benefit analysis here looking
       | at the waste that comes from breaking and starting again vs. a
       | small chance of causing an accident.
       | 
       | Think about all the cool ways you could alter urban design or
       | traffic law with self driving vehicle data.
        
       | ccorda wrote:
       | The actual implementation is a little more nuanced than always
       | roll or never roll, with seven conditions required to avoid
       | coming to a complete stop:                 1. The functionality
       | must be enabled within the FSD Beta Profile settings; and
       | 2. The vehicle must be approaching an all-way stop intersection;
       | and            3. The vehicle must be traveling below 5.6mph; and
       | 4. No relevant moving cars are detected near the intersection;
       | and            5. No relevant pedestrians or bicyclists are
       | detected near the intersection; and            6. There is
       | sufficient visibility for the vehicle while approaching the
       | intersection; and            7. All roads entering the
       | intersection have a speed limit of 30 mph or less.            If
       | all the above conditions are met, only then will the vehicle
       | travel through the all-way-stop intersection at a speed from 0.1
       | mph up to 5.6 mph without first coming to a complete stop. If any
       | of the above conditions are not met, the functionality will not
       | activate and the vehicle will come to a complete stop
       | 
       | https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2022/RCLRPT-22V037-4462.PDF
        
         | b3morales wrote:
         | The safety of this procedure rests heavily on the determination
         | of "relevant" and the result of "detection". What is the
         | outcome if those fail?
        
         | margalabargala wrote:
         | If a cop watches me roll through an otherwise empty stop sign
         | intersection at 5.6mph, they would absolutely give me a ticket.
        
           | onphonenow wrote:
           | Pathetic by the police - you can see how disrespect builds in
           | these cases.
           | 
           | They ignore rampant theft and violence and are busting people
           | on empty cross roads in middle of nowhere for not coming to a
           | full and complete stop.
           | 
           | I continue to support policing, but I wish they wouldn't get
           | sucked into this type of work where they basically make even
           | normal people hate them.
        
           | bpodgursky wrote:
           | This is not true for cops anywhere I have lived, and I'm
           | sorry you live somewhere with such pointlessly strict
           | policing. 5.6mph is de facto stopped.
        
             | misiti3780 wrote:
             | I second this, it is different depending on where you live.
        
             | mdoms wrote:
             | So presumably the Tesla is aware of all local laws and,
             | more importantly, how strictly they are enforced from town
             | to town, in every market the Tesla is sold or imported, in
             | order to use this functionality safely and without
             | resulting in ticketed traffic violations?
        
             | margalabargala wrote:
             | IMO 5.6mph is a lot faster than de facto stopped, and
             | hitting someone at 5.6mph can seriously injure someone.
             | 
             | 2-3mph I think is more reasonable for rolling through.
        
             | sorokod wrote:
             | De facto but not de jure.
        
             | Tarrosion wrote:
             | A heavy car or SUV at 5.6mph has about the same kinetic
             | energy as me on my bike at 28mph (25x weight difference /
             | 5x speed difference).
             | 
             | I don't know about you, but I would prefer not to be hit
             | head on by an adult on a bike traveling 28mph!
             | 
             | On the other hand, an _actually_ stopped car could
             | definitionally not hit someone.
        
             | bo1024 wrote:
             | Speaking as a city runner, you are 100000% wrong, and I
             | have had numerous close calls demonstrating this.
             | 
             | If you roll through at 5.6mph while I am jogging into the
             | intersection from your side, I will often be hidden by your
             | A pillar the entire time right up until you hit me. And a
             | 5.6mph point-blank hit to a pedestrian can be serious.
             | 
             | (edit: I have avoided these hits so far by watching
             | people's eyes. If I can't see them see me, I stop
             | regardless of right of way. This usually gives them a nice
             | scare as they're rolling into the intersection and glance
             | out their side window to see a person standing right there
             | 'out of nowhere'. Not sure how I'll tell with FSD.)
        
               | Mavvie wrote:
               | > Not sure how I'll tell with FSD
               | 
               | In theory, FSD shouldn't have blind spots like an A
               | pillar for human drivers.
               | 
               | But I agree with your point.
        
           | colinmhayes wrote:
           | This just depends on location I guess. Everyone here rolls
           | through at 10-15, especially cops.
        
             | rootusrootus wrote:
             | That's no longer a stop sign.
        
         | ec109685 wrote:
         | "As of January 27, 2022, Tesla is not aware of any warranty
         | claims, field reports, crashes, injuries or fatalities related
         | to this condition."
         | 
         | Wish they would have looked at data with the feature enabled
         | versus disabled (more rear end collisions possibly)?
        
         | stefan_ wrote:
         | How about 1. stop
         | 
         | It's wild they even put this into a NHTSA filing, not to
         | mention rolling it out in the first place.
        
           | tgsovlerkhgsel wrote:
           | Presumably because it matches the behavior of human drivers.
           | 
           | If self-driving cars were widely rolled out already, any
           | large manufacturer could probably completely break traffic
           | nationwide by rolling out an update that makes the cars
           | actually follow every law and speed limit. (Just like work-
           | to-rule can be as effective as a strike.)
        
             | Osiris wrote:
             | Which, to me, just means the laws are wrong. The police
             | often don't obey basic traffic laws like speed limits and
             | signaling (in my experience of following police on the
             | freeway).
        
               | b3morales wrote:
               | I recently read an interview with a highway patrol
               | officer whose opinion was that it's not really feasible
               | for them to drive at the speed limit. Since a marked
               | police car is already effectively a pace car -- no one
               | wants to pass it for fear of being pulled over -- they
               | would just distort the natural flow of traffic and
               | probably create tailbacks everywhere they went, which
               | would end up being more dangerous.
               | 
               | I'm not sure I agree completely with this reasoning, but
               | it was an interesting perspective.
        
               | Osiris wrote:
               | That's the same as saying that the speed limit (on
               | freeways) is wrong because if everyone obeyed the speed
               | limit, it would cause significant traffic congestion. In
               | fact, you can see this when there IS a police officer
               | driving the speed limit on the freeway and no one passes
               | them. Traffic backs up for miles.
        
               | b3morales wrote:
               | Exactly, yeah, this is the problem I have -- it's
               | pragmatic in a certain way, but also contributing to a
               | vicious spiral.
        
               | robryan wrote:
               | It becomes harder to change though because if the culture
               | is to go x over the speed limit, people will probably
               | still go x over the new higher speed limit.
        
           | alanh wrote:
           | Hard to imagine your outrage is real. Go to the closest stop
           | sign and watch who comes to a complete stop. Is it _anyone_?
        
             | gamblor956 wrote:
             | Maybe my part of LA/SoCal is weird, but almost all of the
             | people at the nearest stop signs stop at the signs, _even
             | when no other cars are there_ and no pedestrians are near
             | the intersection.
             | 
             | In fact, the most annoying thing is that they will stop for
             | _too long_ despite the lack of cross-traffic or pedestrians
             | traversing the intersection (in any direction).
        
             | stefan_ wrote:
             | This is ironic because next time there is a bike article,
             | you get all the professional drivers in this thread
             | commenting "but they never stop at stop signs!".
             | 
             | Can't have it both ways. The statistical evidence is clear:
             | the average US driver is tremendously unsafe, untrained,
             | unobservant and unskilled despite their country being built
             | around driving everywhere. Their remonstrations on all the
             | rule breaking they can perform safely stems purely from
             | ignorance of their own inabilities.
        
             | jcranberry wrote:
             | I wouldnt say outrageous but its pretty audacious to
             | actually program in law breaking behavior. I would imagine
             | this would instantly expose the company to liability?
        
             | yupper32 wrote:
             | You'll see me stop. It takes 1 second more to come to a
             | complete stop. Just do it.
             | 
             | You sound like the kind of person to not signal when you
             | change lanes because you think there's plenty of room.
        
             | jsight wrote:
             | In my area, the vast majority do. The rolling stops are
             | called a "california stop" for a reason.
        
             | kazen44 wrote:
             | in my country (the netherlands) i have seen people stop at
             | stop signs at times when there is very, very little traffic
             | (04:00 at night).
             | 
             | The point is also much more about creating a habit in which
             | this kind of behaviour is just done, regardless of the
             | state of the traffic on the road. The law says you must
             | stop for a stop sign, stop signs are placed in places in
             | which sudden traffic participants could enter your field of
             | vision at a time in which it is too late to react properly.
             | 
             | Also, people get fined for ignoring stop signs, even if no
             | one is present. Driving education in the netherlands is
             | quite strict and so are punishments for drivers. For
             | instance, the driver of a car is always at fault for an
             | accident with a "weak" traffic participant (foot/bike
             | traffic), even if technically they werent at fault. (there
             | is process to fight this in court if you assume ill
             | intent/fraud is at play, although it is rarely used).
             | 
             | the reasoning being that the driver of a car has had a
             | drivers education and can thus act responsible while
             | driving a hunk of metal down the road at lethal speeds.
        
               | rootusrootus wrote:
               | > in my country (the netherlands) i have seen people stop
               | at stop signs at times when there is very, very little
               | traffic (04:00 at night).
               | 
               | This is also normal in the US, despite what a few
               | commenters on HN may have you believe. Hell, if anything,
               | regular people out and about at 4am are _better_ about
               | following the basic laws, because you stand out a lot
               | more when you flout them, and in the wee hours of the
               | night the proportion of drunk drivers is far higher and
               | so cops are looking for it.
        
             | Reubachi wrote:
             | The average driver is incredibly unsafe. due in part to
             | willingness, ignorance, stress, unperfect road conditions,
             | etc.
             | 
             | The laws say to stop, LEO say to stop, etc. I can't think
             | of a defence to not stop beyond "No one else does it."
        
       | lelag wrote:
       | That's an interesting challenge for autonomous vehicles though...
       | On one hand, the idea of programming your self-driving system to
       | violate the law seems baffling. On the other hand, there are
       | unwritten local rules everywhere. I suspect that even though
       | rolling stop are illegal in California, the traffic density
       | requires drivers to adopt a more aggressive stance if they want
       | to move effectively and rolling stop helps that, especially when
       | multiple cars are stopped in line waiting at a stop sign.
       | 
       | If most people adopted that unsafe unlawful behaviour but which
       | help reduce congestion, what are you suppose to do as a car maker
       | if respecting the law will make other users road-rage against
       | your client using your self-driving system?
        
         | jeromegv wrote:
         | I don't think we should program-in unsafe driving behaviours to
         | accommodate road-ragers. As those self-driving features get
         | more main-stream, this will just become more normal. And if
         | road-ragers are still around, they should get fined.
        
         | SketchySeaBeast wrote:
         | I guess we're headed towards yet another slice of future
         | dystopia - where once we saw the opportunity for clean and
         | efficient automated driving by the time it's here it'll have
         | been so heavily influenced by current bad driving habits that
         | they'll have to keep the bad traditions up, if not to be
         | defensive against people but instead to be defensive around
         | other older AI drivers that are still assuming bad habit.
        
           | a9h74j wrote:
           | Memetic driving? Actually with humans in the mix, being
           | "predictable" can be positive for safety.
        
       | judge2020 wrote:
       | For reference, there is specifically a flag/toggle called
       | "California stop" (rolling stop) in the feature flag control
       | panel for FSD / autopilot features. Screenshot[0] and full
       | scroll-through on Greentheonly's twitter[1]. This panel is only
       | available to Tesla employees, as no FSD beta tester had seen it
       | before it was posted to Twitter.
       | 
       | That was back in December 2020 So I the 'chill/average/assertive'
       | setting changes how it works, but it is true that Tesla
       | intentionally allowed the cars to roll through a stop sign[2].
       | 
       | 0: https://i.judge.sh/LtHmP/5deuksuc_L.png
       | 
       | 1:
       | https://twitter.com/greentheonly/status/1336467057366487040?...
       | 
       | 2: https://twitter.com/cooperlund/status/1488549356873695232
        
       | gibolt wrote:
       | 'Recall' is not the correct word, even if it is officially what
       | NHTSA uses. This is an 'option' in a 'beta' version that applies
       | below 5mph. The recall is just an OTA update in a few days.
        
       | gcanyon wrote:
       | "recall" is a funny word to use for "software update"
        
       | thepasswordis wrote:
       | "recall" is a bit of a strong word here. They'll push an update
       | that removes a feature (rolling stops).
        
       | alanh wrote:
       | This is BS. Most human drivers do rolling stops. If you didn't
       | want your Tesla to do a rolling stop, you had the option to set
       | your FSD beta profile to a more conservative setting.
       | 
       | Full stops, when no cross traffic is present, waste time and
       | energy.
        
       | pgib wrote:
       | "Tesla to push software update to update beta software
       | behaviour."
       | 
       | _Recall_ makes it sound very different from what will actually
       | happen.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | InTheArena wrote:
       | I was rear-ended in Colorado when I didn't do a rolling stop. Had
       | a road-rage incident when the other driving was livid that I
       | would stop under thoose circumstances.
       | 
       | My dad (when gowing up) was pulled over for a cop for doing a
       | california stop in Colorado. The police officer let us off,
       | because we had california plates.
       | 
       | When I got my Tesla, it was immediately evident that _no one_
       | travels the speed limit. They travel 5-10mph over it on anything
       | other then a local road. or they drive way under it.
       | 
       | This is the problem with our mental model - FSD/Autopilot has to
       | co-exist with human drivers - and human drivers don't follow the
       | law. FSD/Autopilot has to exist in a world where roads do not
       | follow standards, lines are not marked, deer jump in front of
       | cars, people do California stops (it's called that for a reason),
       | cars have accidents.
       | 
       | Computers, today, change none of that.
        
         | caf wrote:
         | Is no-one else bothered that the term "rolling stop" is an
         | obvious oxymoron?
        
         | honkycat wrote:
         | > When I got my Tesla, it was immediately evident that _no one_
         | travels the speed limit. They travel 5-10mph over it on
         | anything other then a local road. or they drive way under it.
         | 
         | It is amazing to me how angry and insane people driving on the
         | roads can be.
         | 
         | I don't want to have a constant battle with every other driver
         | on the road, I want to set cruise control, stay in my lane, and
         | turn off on my exit when I need to. Doing this almost always
         | triggers a tail-gaiting session and a driver becoming enraged
         | at me ( I am not in the passing lane, for the record ).
         | 
         | 99% of the pain in driving is other drivers deciding to just be
         | assholes and not let me merge onto a highway for no apparent
         | reason. Perception of "me in front me go fast" maybe?
         | 
         | Driving today, it is pathetic. We are all locked into our
         | little cages and make each other miserable for no benefit.
         | 
         | I'm completely fed-up. There should be a system where I can
         | send dash-cam footage for review and get a ticket mailed to
         | their house. Don't defund the police: direct them at the
         | asshole-fucking-drivers making everyone's life miserable while
         | they play speed racer on the freeway.
        
           | bryceacc wrote:
           | >Doing this almost always triggers a tail-gaiting session and
           | a driver becoming enraged at me ( I am not in the turning
           | lane, for the record ).
           | 
           | Or the fast/left most lane I hope. I cruise control in middle
           | lanes and still have people tailgate like there isn't one or
           | two open lanes to the left of me
        
         | llbeansandrice wrote:
         | Colorado highways seem to have a weird thing I haven't seen
         | elsewhere. The right lane is consistently going ~10mph below
         | the speed limit while the left lane goes ~10mph over. Any and
         | all middle lanes are also a bit of a crapshoot.
        
           | d0gsg0w00f wrote:
           | Did you notice the same behavior before Marijuana was
           | legalized?
        
           | Osiris wrote:
           | In my experience in Colorado, the right lane is usually empty
           | and it's often easier to go faster than traffic in the right
           | lane (at least on sections of freeway without exits close
           | together). The left lane is usually traveling at least 20mph
           | faster than the limit (on I-25 anyway). 85mph in a 65mph zone
           | is the norm.
        
         | mikysco wrote:
         | I think it's reasonable to say "nobody" follows all the rules
         | of the rules of the road. The ones you deem important enough to
         | rigorously follow come down to local social dynamics/norms more
         | than written law.
         | 
         | I'm from Colorado and drivers there are much tamer than the Bay
         | Area - and rightly so! Traffic conditions in SF/peninsula
         | (where I live now) are way more hectic & dense than Colorado.
         | It's almost weird to expect uniformity across all regions
        
           | actually_a_dog wrote:
           | I don't think it's _that_ weird to expect people who are
           | licensed and tested on the rules of the road to actually
           | follow them. Granted, if you _do_ have that expectation, you
           | 'll be disappointed approximately 100% of the time, but I
           | don't think the expectation itself is that weird.
        
         | jMyles wrote:
         | The more insidious problem is that much of this is by design.
         | Legislators know that people don't obey the speed limits.
         | Police officers too. It just gives them license to stop and /
         | or charge whomever they please. It is an obvious and vulgar
         | workaround to undermine the principle of equal protection.
        
         | jiveturkey wrote:
         | It's actually called a "California coast". Or if you're from
         | the east coast, a "Philly roll".
        
         | LastMuel wrote:
         | > My dad (when gowing up) was pulled over for a cop for doing a
         | california stop in Colorado. The police officer let us off,
         | because we had california plates.
         | 
         | I'm confused. A "California Stop" isn't even legal in
         | California.
        
           | mullingitover wrote:
           | > A "California Stop" isn't even legal in California.
           | 
           | I'm informed that these are actually legal as long as you
           | don't disrespect the police by doing it in front of them.
           | It's the same way that going slightly over the speed limit on
           | freeways is legal as long as you don't insult the police by
           | passing them.
        
             | LastMuel wrote:
             | > I'm informed that these are actually legal as long as you
             | don't disrespect the police by doing it in front of them.
             | It's the same way that going slightly over the speed limit
             | on freeways is legal as long as you don't insult the police
             | by passing them.
             | 
             | You and I have a very different view of what makes
             | something legal.
        
             | pvarangot wrote:
             | Yeah, it's "California Legal".
        
             | bdamm wrote:
             | There's a difference between legal and enforced.
             | 
             | Going over the speed limit is not legal, but no officer
             | will pull you over at +1, unless you piss them off for some
             | other reason, like by being black in a white community, for
             | example. Racial biases aside, this is actually a really
             | good thing. If every law was enforced perfectly today,
             | everyone would be arrested, fined, or jailed tomorrow.
        
               | walrus01 wrote:
               | realistically everywhere on I-5 between Seattle and the
               | border, people do +5 over, and often 10 over. I'd wager
               | it's near impossible to get pulled over for doing 65 in
               | the 60 zone north of Seattle, and when the speed limit
               | changes to 70, for doing 75 in the 70 zone on cruise
               | control.
               | 
               | Usually when I have cruise control set to exactly 75 and
               | I'm in the right lane, I'm very often passed by people
               | who are probably doing 80 to 82 mph.
        
               | gen220 wrote:
               | In New York, the highway norm is 13-15 over for the "I
               | want to go fast but not get a ticket" crowd. (i.e. 80 in
               | a 65).
               | 
               | AFAICT, the reason is that there's a big jump in the
               | median fine if you're going >15mph over the speed limit
               | vs <= 15mph over. Economically-speaking, it's not worth
               | the police officer's time to pull somebody over who's
               | "merely" 10 over, because somebody going 16+ over will
               | appear in a few more minutes of waiting.
               | 
               | Interestingly, the state website says the official
               | "maximum" fine bump occurs at 11+ mph over. I suspect
               | they wait for 15mph to rule out the plausible cover
               | stories "I was only going that fast to overtake the other
               | car" or "new here, I didn't realize the incline was so
               | sharply downhill with nobody in front of me".
               | 
               | You probably wouldn't get pulled over for going 80-82 in
               | Washington (i.e. they people passing you probably have
               | their cruise controls set for 80), but it might be less
               | enjoyable of a drive. You have to pay more frequent,
               | closer attention, because you're overtaking people more
               | frequently.
               | 
               | Ironically, California dives deep into "low fines for
               | speeds under 15 over". the under-15-over fine base is a
               | meager $35! For 16-25, it jumps to $70, which is still
               | paltry.
        
               | kelnos wrote:
               | > _There 's a difference between legal and enforced._
               | 
               | I think the parent knows that, and was being a bit
               | tongue-in-cheek ;)
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | tshaddox wrote:
           | Also I'm pretty sure lots of places say "{somePlace} Stop"
           | where somePlace is some nearby place known for supposedly
           | having bad drivers.
        
             | LastMuel wrote:
             | I don't disagree. It was the comment about the California
             | plate - almost like it was supposed to validate the
             | practice - that I don't understand.
             | 
             | I commented as I have a concern that an uneducated reader
             | may walk away with the idea that it's legal in that state.
             | It most certainly is not.
             | 
             | Apparently, though, Idaho does have some provision for
             | bicyclists and rolling through stop signs. So, there you go
             | - an "Idaho Stop" is a thing for any potential bicyclists
             | in Idaho.
        
               | rootusrootus wrote:
               | > Idaho does have some provision for bicyclists and
               | rolling through stop signs.
               | 
               | As does Oregon. I would guess there are others, too.
        
             | jMyles wrote:
             | Idaho stop?
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho_stop
        
             | FeteCommuniste wrote:
             | We say "California stop" or "California roll" even way out
             | here in Texas.
        
             | CGamesPlay wrote:
             | I am also more familiar with the term "california stop"
             | than "rolling stop", and I was taught it by my parents who
             | have never lived west of Texas. Looks like this admonition
             | did a California stop all the way to the east coast.
        
           | actually_a_dog wrote:
           | It's not, but approximately everybody does it. I've even seen
           | cops do it. Once, I sat at a stop sign for a while, just to
           | see if I could observe anybody actually stop. Nobody did.
        
             | saila wrote:
             | I've done this a few times. Almost no one stops, unless
             | they're looking at their phone.
        
           | kelnos wrote:
           | Yeah; 15 years ago got a ticket for (allegedly; I still
           | maintain that I came to a full stop) doing a California Stop
           | in California.
        
           | bryanlarsen wrote:
           | "California Stop" is an insult, implying that people drive
           | badly in California.
        
             | alanh wrote:
             | OK? It's also a common term for it.
        
           | d0gsg0w00f wrote:
           | Who knows where these things come from.
           | 
           | Here in Georgia I've heard people call it a "Texas Turn Off"
           | when someone dives for the exit from the center lane of the
           | highway.
        
             | jcranberry wrote:
             | At least in Houston there are some insane highway
             | intersections where that happens very often.
        
             | parkingrift wrote:
             | Probably commentary on the road designs with absurd and
             | massive interchanges.
        
         | matsemann wrote:
         | One thing I'd like modern cars to implement, given that they're
         | supposedly close to self-driving, is to cap your speed at some
         | percentage above the speed limit.
         | 
         | There is no reason why a driver should be capable of driving
         | the car 130 km/h in an 80 km/h zone.
        
           | akira2501 wrote:
           | So, you're entirely removing the option of "escape" from
           | people caught in bad situations then. I'm not sure that's
           | wise. Further, you'd have to ask, how hard would it be to
           | disable that? Then, given that some users will have this
           | disabled, how does that impact the roadway as a whole?
        
           | technothrasher wrote:
           | I've always wanted a slightly less draconian version of this-
           | a speed limit setting that makes the throttle pedal harder to
           | push down once you've hit the a given speed. Sort of like a
           | natural cruise control. This would keep you from accidentally
           | creeping up over the limit, which is certainly something that
           | I do, but still allow you to go faster if you make the
           | conscious choice.
        
           | asdff wrote:
           | Good luck passing that law when we can't even gather
           | political will to put in average speed cameras in most
           | cities, which would also solve speeding without needing self
           | driving.
        
             | moistly wrote:
             | British Columbia once had radar cameras on the highways.
             | Instead of getting pulled over for speeding, you'd get a
             | ticket in the mail. People hated it and consequently we
             | elected a thoroughly corrupt government on the promise to
             | rescind the practice.
             | 
             | But for a while there we all drove at around the same
             | speed, within about 10% of the posted limit, and it was
             | fucking _glorious_. It was so much less stressful: very
             | little passing of one another, fewer idjits weaving in and
             | out, left turns off the highway less of a guessing game,
             | fewer accidents ... it was just fantastic when most
             | everyone did the same speed.
             | 
             | Of course now we're worse off than ever, because without
             | cameras the cops essentially gave up enforcing speed limits
             | and now there's an over 50% difference in speed between the
             | slower and faster vehicles.
        
           | rocqua wrote:
           | I believe there is a push in Europe to include this in cars
           | based on computer vision. It was pitched as "not above speed
           | limit". I would at least hope it is "not above speed limit
           | for long" or have some form of slack.
        
           | kllrnohj wrote:
           | Both emergency situations exist & also cars aren't that
           | infallible, so there would need to be a way to override such
           | a system or disable it. Otherwise imagine the chaos of a
           | track day or autocross when someone's car suddenly thinks
           | they are on the road _next_ to the track and slams on the
           | brakes...
        
             | matsemann wrote:
             | For every suggestion to curb the car problems of society,
             | there will always be someone bringing up edge cases to
             | defend status quo.
             | 
             | How many meters are done on a track each year, compared to
             | public roads? I'd wager most people have never even set
             | foot on a track. Cases like that should have absolutely no
             | bearing on policy making.
             | 
             | And emergency is always used as am excuse as well to not
             | limit car use or rebuild streets. If anything, getting rid
             | of traffic means that it's now easier for them to get to
             | where they are going. Same for disabled people. It's always
             | people shouting "you can't ban cars here, think of the
             | disabled", when the truth is that getting rid of most of
             | the cars and building better infrastructure would make
             | their day easier.
        
               | kllrnohj wrote:
               | > How many meters are done on a track each year, compared
               | to public roads? I'd wager most people have never even
               | set foot on a track. Cases like that should have
               | absolutely no bearing on policy making.
               | 
               | It absolutely should have a bearing as you are
               | essentially arguing that those cases you should be
               | illegal & banned. You can't ban something and then argue
               | that "well, not many people were doing it anyway, so we
               | can ignore it even though we're banning it."
               | 
               | Your policy impacts it, therefore your policy must
               | account for it. Even if that account is to decide that
               | the impact is justified, you _are_ making significant
               | changes to things outside of your stated  & claimed goal.
               | 
               | > And emergency is always used as am excuse as well to
               | not limit car use or rebuild streets.
               | 
               | I did no such thing?
               | 
               | All I said is there needs to be an 'off' switch, just
               | like there is for traction control in the majority of
               | vehicles today. The overwhelming majority of people leave
               | it enabled (as that's the default), and the world is
               | better. Rules don't need to be black & white to have
               | broad societal improvements.
               | 
               | > It's always people shouting "you can't ban cars here,
               | think of the disabled", when the truth is that getting
               | rid of most of the cars and building better
               | infrastructure would make their day easier.
               | 
               | Except you were arguing that cars should be banned for
               | uses outside of being on the road as part of normal
               | traffic. As in, your "rule" wasn't improving your
               | hypothetical excuse situation here. It was instead making
               | it the only legal usage of a vehicle, to compete with
               | mass transit.
        
               | darkwizard42 wrote:
               | I think the issue of "always bringing up edge cases" is
               | meant to illustrate that a LOT can go wrong with some of
               | these hard and fast rules. It is why humans are
               | simultaneously great and terrible at driving. One
               | slightly bad driver can be accounted for by several
               | slightly better drivers navigating around the bad one's
               | behavior. This smooth "self-correction" on the roadway
               | leads to lots of rule breaking but also probably saves a
               | lot of time/lives by allowing individual humans to
               | navigate a situation (especially since lots of people
               | forget the exact rules of the road...ex. do you yield in
               | a turning situation or not, what exceptions would you not
               | yield?)
               | 
               | However, I really do like your last point, the easiest
               | way to solve is just remove the cars from as much of the
               | equation and introduce transit that follows rules
               | (trains, busses -higher compliance with road rules
               | perhaps) and let humans navigate the last meter
               | themselves
        
               | dionidium wrote:
               | > _I think the issue of "always bringing up edge cases"
               | is meant to illustrate that a LOT can go wrong with some
               | of these hard and fast rules._
               | 
               | This makes more sense as an objection in a vacuum than it
               | does in the reality where the alternative is that
               | speeding is a big problem within cities. We don't have to
               | solve every edge case. We just need the edge cases to be
               | less of an issue than speeding already is. And that's a
               | much easier bar.
               | 
               | Asking, "what if we do this?" is fine, but one should
               | also always consider, "what if we don't?"
        
               | darkwizard42 wrote:
               | But that is the point... if we don't do something here,
               | humans can continue to take their own actions to resolve
               | the situation (speed up with traffic or move to the right
               | or choose an alternate route). That level of flexibility
               | allows for each person to make the choice they want and
               | feel comfortable with (as opposed to the car making a
               | decision for you)
        
               | dionidium wrote:
               | Let's be clear here that "letting the car make the
               | decision for you" in context means "you can't go as fast
               | as you want in an urban area because the car will prevent
               | it." As in, you can't drive many multiples of the speed
               | limit in urbanized areas packed with buildings and
               | pedestrians and other cars. The car should prevent that
               | in practically all cases. The car _does_ know that that
               | 's a good idea in practically every conceivable case. A
               | human driver who thinks they should drive many multiples
               | of the speed limit in an urban area is _wrong_.
               | 
               | It's so manifestly wrong that it shouldn't even be
               | technically possible. There's no good reason to
               | manufacture a car that responds so stupidly to such a
               | dangerous and irresponsible input.
               | 
               | And when the day finally comes that the conditions are
               | just right so that a driver dies attempting to flee an
               | avalanche because this tech prevented them from escaping
               | at speed, we will put a lone checkmark in the "lives lost
               | to this technology" column that's adjacent to a "lives
               | saved" file 10 miles long.
               | 
               | If I could be permitted just a little bit of levity: http
               | s://twitter.com/dril/status/464802196060917762?lang=en
        
               | yupper32 wrote:
               | More often is people trying to implement solutions
               | without thinking the problem through to the end.
               | 
               | Like trying to ban the sale of combustion engines without
               | having a robust charging infrastructure. Or making
               | parking in a downtown area a nightmare without improving
               | the public transit infrastructure.
               | 
               | Or in this case, trying to implement maximum speeds in
               | cars when the technology (GPS? Accurate speed limit maps?
               | Extra sensors on cars and roads?) isn't good enough or
               | isn't there.
        
             | dionidium wrote:
             | If you gathered up every single one of these edge cases and
             | multiplied them by 10 you wouldn't get anywhere near the
             | _actually-existing, non-hypothetical, measurable_ problem
             | of speeding.
             | 
             | So, sure, we should talk about edge cases and people who
             | implement this technology should work on them, but even if
             | they didn't, the tech would still be a good idea given
             | fairly pedestrian calculations of the relevant tradeoffs.
             | 
             | And even if we accept your premise that the edge cases are
             | a big deal, the solution presents itself quite readily: let
             | there be an override with serious consequences for
             | frivolously engaging it. Simple.
        
           | rootusrootus wrote:
           | First I'd need to be convinced that speed is the problem. How
           | about we work on road design before we starting trying to
           | second guess drivers?
           | 
           | Even then I'd probably still vote against whichever
           | politician decided it was a good idea.
        
             | matsemann wrote:
             | Why? Is it some kind of human right to endanger others with
             | reckless driving?
        
               | rootusrootus wrote:
               | That's begging the question, how did you decide that 130
               | kph was reckless?
        
         | alanh wrote:
         | Thank you, this is one of the few insightful comments I see
         | here.
        
         | consp wrote:
         | > and human drivers don't follow the law.
         | 
         | You need to design the road to the speed you want, not the
         | other way around like it mostly happens in some countries. That
         | solves quite a lot of problems.
        
           | moistly wrote:
           | I thought my city's potholes were due to poor maintenance
           | when it turns out they're a traffic calming device!
        
       | aimor wrote:
       | Does it at least check for cops before rolling through the stop
       | sign?
       | 
       | Kinda cheeky, but I bet a lot of people would love automated
       | driving features that change behavior around police.
        
       | anonymousiam wrote:
       | This sort of conflict highlights the difference between the
       | traffic laws (which are often rooted in revenue generation
       | instead of safety) and the way people really drive. Speed limits
       | have the same issue. Some governments (such as Germany) have
       | roads with no speed limit. Why don't we have those everywhere?
       | 
       | In the end, it comes down to personal responsibility. Apparently
       | the people in Germany drive more responsibly than everywhere
       | else?
        
       | onphonenow wrote:
       | Rolling stops are how a fair number of folks drive, especially
       | when there is no traffic on a cross street. I was in a small down
       | growing up, and you'd slow to maybe 1-3 MPH, then turn.
       | 
       | I know everyone on HN get's outraged by these decisions with FSD
       | (and regulators do too). One thing I think this exposes is
       | actually human driving. This is in fact common - the system is
       | reflecting things back to us.
       | 
       | I was on road up higher and the number of people on their phones
       | is mind boggling. THey will literally sit at a green because they
       | are so checked out, they will be texting while merging. It's
       | madness.
        
         | grepfru_it wrote:
         | today i approached a 4 way stop. the car to the left of me
         | arrived later, as I was coming to a complete stop. well the
         | driver to the left used a rolling stop and continued through
         | the stop line. then he had the audacity to beep at me as he cut
         | me off.
        
           | katbyte wrote:
           | The issue there is not so much the rolling stop but not
           | respect right of way.
           | 
           | Personally I think almost all stop signs should be replaced
           | with roundabouts as it better represents how people want to
           | drive and allows for rolling stops but that's just me
        
             | FireBeyond wrote:
             | I do like the Australian perspective, where I learned to
             | drive before I moved to the US.
             | 
             | There's no concept of "right of way" on Australian roads.
             | There's only "duty to yield". It might seem like a subtle
             | concept/difference, but when it comes time to stand up in
             | court/ be pulled over/ avoid an accident, it frames things
             | better.
             | 
             | Too many in the US are "it's my road, asshole, I got the
             | right of way".
        
             | ak217 wrote:
             | We have a heavily trafficked roundabout in our neighborhood
             | and it's a big hazard to pedestrians because drivers take
             | it way too fast and fail to yield to pedestrians in the
             | crosswalks around it. Aside from that, the roundabout is
             | great but takes up a lot more space than an intersection
             | would. Maybe some bumps to calm the traffic approaching the
             | roundabout would help.
             | 
             | The problem that I see is just insufficient respect for
             | traffic laws. I'm not sure what to do about it, aside from
             | more police presence.
        
             | asdff wrote:
             | They kinda suck because American drivers stop at
             | roundabouts even when the sign says to yield
        
             | Sohcahtoa82 wrote:
             | A stop sign at the end of a neighborhood road at the
             | intersection of a main thorough street makes sense.
             | 
             | But four-way stop signs absolutely should not be a thing.
             | Anywhere a 4-way stop exists should certainly be a
             | roundabout.
             | 
             | The only problem is that roundabouts in the USA are
             | exceedingly rare in most of the country. There would need
             | to be a massive education campaign for them to work for
             | most people. There are an alarming number of Americans that
             | think that the people already on the roundabout have to
             | yield for the people coming on.
        
               | ak217 wrote:
               | It depends on the location. There are plenty of city
               | intersections where 4-way stops are completely
               | appropriate, and a roundabout would be impossible because
               | it would have a much bigger footprint (and would block
               | trucks and emergency vehicles).
        
               | abraae wrote:
               | Some places use virtual roundabouts, where the roundabout
               | part is simply a small painted circle on the road.
               | Emergency vehicles can drive straight over it
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | Osiris wrote:
         | No one _wants_ to crash their car. People do rolling stops
         | because they are generally perfectly safe.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | metabagel wrote:
         | If a police officer sees you roll through a stop where I live
         | (southern California), you will be ticketed.
        
           | asdff wrote:
           | If a police officer sees you do a donut in the middle of an
           | intersection where i live (also southern california) you will
           | just flee home and do it again tomorrow night. Traffic
           | enforcement varies strikingly in California it seems.
        
           | SuoDuanDao wrote:
           | If you lack the situational awareness to recognise a police
           | car in the vicinity, it's probably better to actually come to
           | a stop. I suspect that's part of why the law works well
           | enough.
        
             | metabagel wrote:
             | I was going to argue with you that rolling stops are
             | dangerous, but I ran into this interesting article which
             | recommends replacing stop signs with more informative
             | indicators:
             | 
             | https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/adaptive-
             | behavior/20...
        
         | spamizbad wrote:
         | Right, but the promise of self-driving vehicles is about them
         | being safer than humans. Humans are irrational and impulsive.
         | Those actions disrupt the flow of traffic. The idea is that a
         | self-driving vehicle can be safer than a human because it will
         | do things like follow speed limits, always come to a complete
         | stop, etc.
         | 
         | If self-driving vehicles are simply going to operate like
         | facsimiles of human driving behavior their benefits are greatly
         | diminished.
        
           | alanh wrote:
           | How and why does stopping completely at a stop sign, with
           | good visibility and no present pedestrians or cross traffic,
           | increase safety? Will wait for an answer.
        
           | bhauer wrote:
           | I think as long as autonomous drive systems are intermingling
           | on regular roads with human drivers, they need to behave like
           | human drivers. Human drivers will get angry with autonomous
           | systems, especially during rush hour, if they adhere strictly
           | to all laws such as full stops and speed limits.
           | 
           | As others have pointed out, this may force us to contend with
           | the laws first since it's clear local enforcement and laws
           | are not aligned.
           | 
           | When a majority of driving is autonomous, laws will likely
           | evolve slightly. If/when all driving is autonomous, then
           | things get really interesting: short following distance,
           | peer-to-peer intersections without stops, etc.
        
             | newaccount74 wrote:
             | Humans get outraged all the time. If you drive exactly at
             | the speed limit, they get angry, if you drive 5km/h over
             | they get angry that you don't drive 10km/h over it, others
             | get angry that you are tailgating them when they are
             | driving exactly as fast as allowed and will brake check you
             | --- I really think autonomous cars should just mechanically
             | stick to the rules, then they are at least predictable.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | jliptzin wrote:
           | I don't see anything wrong with copying human driving
           | behavior except without any risk of drunk driving, driving
           | and texting, falling asleep at the wheel, having a heart
           | attack or stroke at the wheel etc. The average truck driver
           | appears to be morbidly obese and gets little to no physical
           | exercise, yet they drive enormous trucks that can do insane
           | amounts of damage if they suffer a heart attack or stroke,
           | personally I can't wait for self driving vehicles to come
           | online.
           | 
           | EDIT: Not really sure why I am getting downvoted for this,
           | you can search google and get maybe hundreds if not thousands
           | of results about truck/bus drivers and heart attacks/strokes
           | causing deadly crashes, but they get maybe 1% of the media
           | attention of an FSD video rolling through a stop sign
           | https://fox4kc.com/news/family-says-driver-of-tractor-
           | traile...
        
             | legerdemain wrote:
             | Seriously! I was going to make the same observation about
             | truck drivers. It takes so little to exercise effectively.
             | Why not pull over your truck for 30 minutes twice a day and
             | do some basic calisthenics/bodyweight exercises? Who's
             | going to notice?
        
               | asdff wrote:
               | Your dispatcher who sees you are an hour behind schedule
               | for stopping for no reason on the route and fires you
        
               | mensetmanusman wrote:
               | Would be an extreme form of exercise since it would be so
               | dangerous on the Highway.
        
               | jliptzin wrote:
               | Certainly would get your heart rate up, lol
        
         | AlexandrB wrote:
         | Setting aside legality, It's hard to believe that Tesla's FSD
         | has the ability to successfully evaluate its current context
         | (weather, time of day, visibility, vehicle "body language") and
         | decide when a rolling stop is safe and when it's not. Not that
         | humans always do this well either, but resorting to rolling
         | stops _always_ while ignoring the circumstances seems like a
         | bad move.
        
           | tahoeskibum wrote:
           | I have FSD Beta and I can tell you I have never seen FSD do a
           | rolling stop.
        
             | qubitcoder wrote:
             | I have FSD Beta as well. Even in Assertive mode, I've never
             | actually seen it do a rolling stop, including rural areas
             | with nothing around. I'm not saying it doesn't happen. In
             | fact, I'd prefer it didn't--or at least provide an option
             | to toggle it on and off.
        
             | bhauer wrote:
             | In the Assertive profile, it can do rolling stops, but only
             | under circumstances where it is very safe, such as four-way
             | stops with no other driving vehicles present.
        
             | lolpython wrote:
             | It does it in "assertive" mode. https://www.techtimes.com/a
             | mp/articles/270296/20220109/tesla...
        
         | elif wrote:
         | Not to mention that a rolling stop itself is inherently safer
         | when a 360 view is evaluated 200 times per second with
         | superhuman response latency.
        
           | mikeyouse wrote:
           | Sure in a perfect world.. but then again..
           | https://twitter.com/TaylorOgan/status/1488187856749318154
        
         | Johnny555 wrote:
         | Driving drunk is also how a fair number of people drive,
         | especially in remote areas when home is far from the bar.
         | 
         | I'm not sure that modeling human behavior is the right way to
         | design a self driving car.
        
           | harambae wrote:
           | The human behavior here (slow rolling stop signs) at least in
           | theory can prevent being rear-ended by someone who is used to
           | everyone else in the area doing that (of course it's the
           | rear-ender's fault in a crash... but still an annoyance for
           | everyone involved)
           | 
           | There's no benefit to the computer swerving in and out of the
           | lane like a drunk driver, or taking an intentionally
           | inefficient route like a crooked taxi driver, or other pure-
           | downside criminality.
        
             | Johnny555 wrote:
             | The human behavior can also result in an accident when a
             | car or pedestrian that expects the car to stop walks out in
             | front of the car.
             | 
             | In theory, the car should be paying attention in all
             | directions at the same time and won't get into an accident,
             | but car sensors are not infallible, especially when
             | detecting pedestrians, moreso if they are partially
             | obscured by foliage, newspaper stands, etc.
             | 
             | Automated cars should stop 100% of the time at
             | intersections where they are required to do so. When the
             | stop signs are changed to "Self-driving yield" signs, then
             | the cars can do a rolling stop.
             | 
             | So my point wasn't that cars should act like drunk drivers,
             | but that modeling human behaviors is not the right mindset
             | for self-driving cars.
        
         | r00fus wrote:
         | 4-way stops are so fuel inefficient. Would traffic circles be
         | more efficient with automated vehicles?
        
           | Ekaros wrote:
           | Or equal crossings that is yield to right. Or just have yield
           | signs. Both means that no need to stop unless other traffic.
        
             | r00fus wrote:
             | Fully blind intersections are a nightmare for 4-way yields.
             | Not to mention non-automotive traffic that may not be seen.
             | 
             | Easy to retrofit a 4-way intersection into a roundabout.
        
         | bhauer wrote:
         | Rolling stops were only enabled in the "Aggressive" FSD Beta
         | driving profile, one of three available profiles. Several FSD
         | Beta testers used the Aggressive profile in areas where rolling
         | stops are common. They did this because when using the other
         | profiles, they would be embarrassed or honked at because their
         | car insisted on always coming to a full stop.
         | 
         | Anyone familiar with driving in Los Angeles knows that when
         | it's safe to do so (e.g., when there is no cross traffic on a
         | turn), a rolling stop is _extremely_ common. So common that it
         | is plausible that people behind you might honk if you insist on
         | doing a full stop and then cautiously proceed. Especially
         | during rush-hour.
         | 
         | By the same token, most people in Los Angeles drive 5 to 10 MPH
         | over the posted speed limits. Driving at the posted speed limit
         | will cause other drivers to hate you.
        
           | jjulius wrote:
           | I truly don't understand this line of reasoning. "Oh no, I've
           | been honked at! Someone in a car, who I'll never meet,
           | doesn't like me! I guess I'd better start driving a bit more
           | unsafely so that people don't honk at me!". I'll ignore
           | someone honking at me if it means I'm driving more safely.
           | 
           | And I've driven in LA plenty of times. It might be the norm
           | for LA drivers, sure, but I would also argue that that whole
           | region could use at least a _bit_ more patience when on the
           | road.
           | 
           | The speed limit differential gets into a bit more of a grey
           | area, though, in regards to laws that require you to maintain
           | a speed that's in line "with the flow of traffic". It's
           | similar in Atlanta; posted speed limit might be 55, but
           | you're likely going to be going at least 70 in the slow lane
           | in order to maintain the flow.
        
             | Dylan16807 wrote:
             | > I truly don't understand this line of reasoning. "Oh no,
             | I've been honked at! Someone in a car, who I'll never meet,
             | doesn't like me! I guess I'd better start driving a bit
             | more unsafely so that people don't honk at me!". I'll
             | ignore someone honking at me if it means I'm driving more
             | safely.
             | 
             | Sometimes a "bit" of safety isn't worth the tradeoff in
             | throughput. But that also assumes it's safer to stop
             | completely. It's very possible that smoother traffic flow
             | is safer. Or maybe there's more risk that you get rear-
             | ended than is caused by a rolling stop.
        
               | jjulius wrote:
               | Then let's get the road designed that way. I'm onboard
               | with the argument you're making about flow, but - and
               | perhaps this is just me - traffic is safer when it's
               | predictable.
               | 
               | Let's say you have a stop sign in your neighborhood that
               | "everyone" rolling-stops through. Sure, great, let's look
               | into changing that stop into maybe a yield, or a
               | roundabout, or whathaveyou that safely allows for the
               | flow that that street necessitates. But in the meantime?
               | Stop at the stop sign! Yeah, sure, we can make the
               | argument that the rolling stop is now "predictable" to
               | everyone in the neighborhood, but what happens when you
               | get an out-of-towner in front of you on your morning
               | commute and you slack off on watching for them to stop,
               | resulting in you rear-ending them?
               | 
               | Improving the flow of traffic is great, but ignoring
               | rules for the sake of flow adds additional layers of
               | unpredictability that ultimately result in roads that are
               | less safe for drivers/pedestrians, at least IMO.
        
             | mwint wrote:
             | Thing is, you don't know whether the honk is for "you are
             | slower than I like" or "your bumper is falling off".
             | 
             | Being honked at takes cycles to triage what's happening; in
             | itself that lowers safety.
        
               | throwaway0a5e wrote:
               | > Thing is, you don't know whether the honk is for "you
               | are slower than I like" or "your bumper is falling off".
               | 
               | It's almost always immediately obvious what the
               | transgression is if you're paying the slightest bit of
               | attention.
               | 
               | Even the people who are on their phones at a light and
               | have to regain situational awareness from square one do a
               | pretty good job figuring it out.
        
               | jjulius wrote:
               | My suggestion would be for people to stop honking out of
               | impatience. If there's an actual issue, honk. Someone not
               | moving as quickly or dangerously as you'd like isn't an
               | excuse to honk.
        
               | judge2020 wrote:
               | Go to some town with less than 100k population at least
               | 50 miles away from a metro area and you'll see this sort
               | of ideal world: everyone goes the speed limit or 1-5 MPH
               | below it, honking is only if you haven't moved for at
               | least 5 seconds after the light turns green, nobody's in
               | a hurry at all.
        
               | asdff wrote:
               | I really only honk at people for screwing up. If they cut
               | me off I will wail on the horn for a long time, just
               | holding it, letting them know. I love embarrasing asshole
               | drivers like this especially if they have some passenger.
               | Whenever cars honk at me for using the crosswalk I
               | actually enjoy it, because then I just stand in front of
               | their car for the rest of the light cycle absolutely
               | cussing them out and embarrasing them while they can do
               | nothing because the walk sign is on. I love pointing to
               | the walk sign and saying "What does that sign say? Drive?
               | does that stick figure walking with a countdown say Drive
               | to you?" as loud as possible. Other pedestrians have even
               | fist bumped me. It is so cathartic!
        
               | tgsovlerkhgsel wrote:
               | > can do nothing because the walk sign is on
               | 
               | This works until you do it to a driver who has had a
               | _really_ bad day and demonstrates that the walk sign isn
               | 't a force field.
               | 
               | Yes, he'll probably go to jail for vehicular
               | manslaughter, but that doesn't help you.
        
               | asdff wrote:
               | If they hit me at speed there's nothing I could do
               | whether I argued or not, I'd be laid out before I knew
               | what happened. If they stopped, then hit me, that
               | wouldn't be a bad collision to take, they'd only get up
               | to a few mph in the few feet in front of me even if they
               | hammered the throttle. I'd slide off the hood and get
               | their plates and then they'd be in jail and I would walk
               | into the courtroom with a neck brace and get my payout.
        
               | jjulius wrote:
               | >I'd slide off the hood and get their plates and then
               | they'd be in jail and I would walk into the courtroom
               | with a neck brace and get my payout.
               | 
               | And that constant neck pain, limited mobility and/or
               | arthritis that creep their way into your neck as you get
               | old as a result would be _so_ worth it.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | jjulius wrote:
               | > If they cut me off I will wail on the horn for a long
               | time, just holding it, letting them know. I love
               | embarrasing asshole drivers like this...
               | 
               | I can say confidently that I've never looked at any other
               | driver doing this and thought anything but, "Jesus
               | Christ, calm the fuck down." I've been that guy doing the
               | honking as well, and I'm fully aware that nobody arounds
               | me gives a shit and they just find me annoying. Hell,
               | half the time most of them don't even know what happened;
               | they just look over and see some overly-angry dude
               | screaming at someone.
               | 
               | >... especially if they have some passenger.
               | 
               | Did you _really_ embarrass them in front of the
               | passenger, or yourself? What if the transgression you 're
               | honking at was a genuine mistake with a reason that
               | actually makes sense? I've been the passenger in
               | situations like this before and have found myself
               | thinking, "Yeah, oops, but I don't totally fault my
               | driver or the other driver for this and the chud doing
               | the honking needs to chill out because clearly they don't
               | understand the driver's perspective."
        
               | asdff wrote:
               | I don't think cutting me off without a turn signal has
               | any logic other than "me me me to the red light first!"
               | If I can get them to have a reaction like "jesus Christ,
               | calm the fuck down" then I am a happy camper. Again there
               | are honest mistakes, and clearly asshole illegal behavior
               | that drivers do like speeding like crazy, cutting people
               | off, weaving through the freeway like a snake, running
               | reds, cutting into lanes and blocking traffic because you
               | must get to the turn lane at the last possible moment
               | before there is a barrier, and willfully ignoring signage
               | like no turns on reds. I'm also not embarrassed about
               | calling out drivers as a pedestrian. Why would I be? I do
               | it when have right of way and they don't and they had the
               | audacity to honk at me for walking when the walk sign is
               | lit. It's fun to call out assholes. I love shouting at
               | them, so satisfying.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | jjulius wrote:
               | Cool.
        
               | tomatotomato37 wrote:
               | From my experience honking is exclusively used for
               | frustration over driving style, with vehicular faults
               | more often reported by less aggressive means like
               | flashing brights or shouting the info from an opened
               | window.
        
             | camjohnson26 wrote:
             | To be fair, road rage shootings on highways have been
             | trending up. There's some LA drivers I wouldn't want to
             | upset either.
        
               | jjulius wrote:
               | Last time I was there I had someone get out of their
               | vehicle and get angry as fuck at me - screaming, calling
               | me a piece of shit, mother fucker, etc. - because they
               | turned into oncoming traffic (my lane) to get around a
               | garbage truck, found me there driving in my right of way,
               | and demanded I back up and make room for _them_. Everyone
               | else on the road in LA seem generally grumpy and
               | impatient.
               | 
               | Granted, I usually drive pretty fast and am aware of my
               | tendency to be impatient behind the wheel, but it seems,
               | anecdotally at least, like LA is worse than many other
               | areas in that regard. The first 20 minutes driving around
               | after I leave LAX are usually spent thinking, " _I 'm_
               | crazy, but these people put me to goddamn shame and I
               | need to adapt quickly," lol.
        
               | asdff wrote:
               | There are some truly idiotic drivers in California. On
               | the one hand you have people in their beamers who go as
               | fast as possible whenever they have an open lane, that
               | might mean 50mph on residential streets and over 100 on
               | the highway. Then you have the other end of the spectrum,
               | people who think the speed limit is a limit, not a
               | minimum, and drive like 40mph on the freeway with no one
               | in front of them in one of the middle lanes. People weave
               | aggressively left and right to get around them and it
               | causes accidents.
               | 
               | All of this is the direct result of little enforcement
               | for traffic rules. I've never seen someone pulled over
               | ever in California unless there's been an accident. I've
               | never seen a cop with a radar gun. I've actually seen the
               | LAPD speed past me and hang out in the left lane with no
               | lights on, because that's just how the standard of
               | driving is in LA apparently. You try that in the midwest
               | and you will be pulled over for going to fast, for going
               | to slow, for having a 10 foot tall stack of scrap metal
               | in your truck, for spending to much time in the left
               | lane, and for failing to signal. The highways feel truly
               | lawless in California.
        
           | mef wrote:
           | not true - it was enabled by default
           | https://twitter.com/greentheonly/status/1488544659056087041
        
           | gamblor956 wrote:
           | _Anyone familiar with driving in Los Angeles knows that when
           | it 's safe to do so (e.g., when there is no cross traffic on
           | a turn), a rolling stop is extremely common. So common that
           | it is plausible that people behind you might honk if you
           | insist on doing a full stop and then cautiously proceed.
           | Especially during rush-hour_
           | 
           | Anyone who drives in LA during rush hour knows that it is
           | _never safe_ to do a rolling stop, because during rush hour
           | there is _going to be cross traffic_ and you need to check
           | that there is cross-traffic at the intersection _before
           | turning_.
           | 
           | I've witnessed a lot of accidents where some moron thought
           | that saving 3 seconds was more important than safety, and
           | rolled right in front a car that had the right-of-way, or
           | into a pedestrian in the crosswalk that the driver hadn't
           | seen.
        
         | noobermin wrote:
         | This sort of thinking is why America has the highest deaths and
         | injuries on the road per capita of any developed country.
        
           | alanh wrote:
           | Is it, or do we simply have more miles driven per capita? We
           | are a big country. Not Monaco, where you could walk to
           | anywhere else in Monaco to join a friend for breakfast
        
       | ht85 wrote:
       | It'll be fully operational by next year, I swear.
        
       | CalRobert wrote:
       | Rolling stops are a great way to do things like kill 5 year old
       | Alison Hart, who was in a crosswalk when someone killed her with
       | a car.
       | 
       | https://twitter.com/jlrhart/status/1486407516338761734/photo...
        
         | throwaway0a5e wrote:
         | >Rolling stops are a great way to do things like kill 5 year
         | old Alison Hart, who was in a crosswalk when someone killed her
         | with a car.
         | 
         | >https://twitter.com/jlrhart/status/1486407516338761734/photo..
         | .
         | 
         | Sure, linking to a tweet obfuscates the facts a little bit but
         | surely someone was bound to Google the name eventually...
         | 
         | https://wtop.com/dc/2021/09/girl-struck-and-killed-in-northe...
         | 
         | "Police said the van came to a complete stop and proceeded
         | through a stop sign when Hart was unable to stop her bicycle
         | and entered the intersection into the path of the moving
         | vehicle."
         | 
         | The accident you cite has pretty much nothing to do with the
         | debate here since the stop wasn't actually rolled.
        
         | legostormtroopr wrote:
         | That incident is a tragedy - but seems like it is completely
         | unrelated to this matter. It was a speeding driver in a van,
         | who sped through a stop sign & crossing walk and killed a
         | child.
        
           | [deleted]
        
       | sidibe wrote:
       | It seems like the mission statement at Tesla is "let's see what
       | we can get away with." I've never seen a company with so much to
       | lose as fearless of regulators or customers.
        
       | rreichman wrote:
       | It's crazy that Musk is talking about full self driving within 11
       | months when the software can't reliably adhere to stop signs.
        
         | valine wrote:
         | It's not a matter of software reliability. The rolling stops
         | was an intensionally added feature to make the car behave more
         | naturally/human-like at stop signs. Tesla knows how to make the
         | car stop at stop signs, they simply chose not to under certain
         | circumstances. You can certainly argue that it was a bad
         | decision on Tesla's part, but using it as a signal for software
         | quality is ridiculous.
         | 
         | Personally I think the removal of the rolling stop behavior is
         | a minor tragedy.
        
       | mattacular wrote:
       | So they're recalling a feature that was explicitly and
       | intentionally built to do something that runs afoul of the law,
       | at the user's behest. Again this is by design, meeting their own
       | requirements. For their self driving technology that is already
       | labeled "beta".
       | 
       | Why anyone in their right mind would willingly use this stuff in
       | a risk-intensive life/death scenario like driving on public roads
       | remains beyond me.
       | 
       | (Yes I lose points every time I criticize Tesla online but I will
       | keep doing it until someone makes it make sense or the company
       | finally goes out of business for continuing this type of
       | irresponsible behavior.)
        
         | judge2020 wrote:
         | Rolling stops mimic human behavior. Going 5-10 MPH over the
         | speed limit also mimics human behavior, and both of these
         | settings are controllable by the human driver behind the wheel
         | in FSD Beta[0]. At what point does the Beta (or Ford's
         | BlueCruise or GM SuperCruise) force you to go exactly the speed
         | limit?
         | 
         | 0:
         | https://twitter.com/cooperlund/status/1488549356873695232?s=...
        
           | mattacular wrote:
           | Sounds almost as if "fully self-driving cars" coexisting with
           | human driven cars is not feasible to do safely because it's
           | not purely a technical problem. My contention is simply that
           | Tesla is acting irresponsible so long as they continue to
           | design and market otherwise.
        
       | ht85 wrote:
       | It'll be fully operational by next year.
        
       | njarboe wrote:
       | Click-bait title. Tesla was forced to remove the rolling-stop
       | option when the driver is using the beta version of FSD in the
       | "Assertive" mode. No-one has reported any injuries or problems
       | with this feature. Seems to me having this option is good to
       | have. This behavior is expected in many locations, saves time and
       | energy, and is often safer than coming to a full stop. Cops
       | should feel free to ticket these cars when they do this if they
       | think its not safe, but NHTSA shouldn't be involved in this very
       | important emerging technology at this low a level.
       | 
       | "Tesla said as of Jan. 27 it was not aware of any warranty
       | claims, crashes, injuries or fatalities related to the recall."
       | It is good for automatic cars to behave similar to humans for
       | safety and social acceptance.
        
       | flerchin wrote:
       | 5.6mph through a stop-sign is just ludicrous.
        
       | ipsin wrote:
       | It sounds like the "recall" is an over-the-air patch, and you
       | can't opt out.
       | 
       | I suppose "recall" may also be a legal term, but it doesn't seem
       | to fit well in this case.
        
         | meteor333 wrote:
         | I think technically it's still applicable. It's a "recall" of
         | the software and not the physical car.
        
         | stingrae wrote:
         | recalls apply to ota patches that have safety implications
         | because you can't always guarantee that the user is in a place
         | where the ota can be applied.
        
       | rvz wrote:
       | So it was software feature in FSD that when encountering a stop
       | sign, it did not stop as it was unable to read those signs?
       | That's much worse than the time the FSD system was confusing the
       | moon with a traffic light and was slowing down in the highway.
       | 
       | No wonder it is eligible for the nickname of _' Fools Self
       | Driving'_.
        
       | kemitche wrote:
       | Not quite a "recall" in the normal sense. They're disabling the
       | "rolling stop at stop sign" feature of FSD for those in the beta.
        
         | javert wrote:
         | It isn't a "recall" in common English. So, the title and story
         | are wrong. Very disappointing on the part of Reuters. This is
         | not quality journalism.
         | 
         | Since they wrote it the way they did, I would guess there is
         | some regulatory document that causes this to be classified a a
         | "recall" for legal purposes. But it's incorrect to substitute
         | legal language for common English language when there is a
         | conflict between the two, except in legal contexts. That rule
         | goes for technical language in general.
         | 
         | Is this practice more common in British English? I feel that it
         | seems to appear more often in writing by British people, but
         | that's anecdotal and could be incorrect.
        
           | kej wrote:
           | It _is_ literally a recall, though. A recall is a defined
           | process with the NHTSA (and similar processes with other
           | government safety agencies) to track vehicles that are
           | somehow unsafe, and need some kind of service to be made safe
           | again. There 's a website that lists them:
           | https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls
           | 
           | That can be anything from "these airbags might not open when
           | they're supposed to", like the Takeda problem, or "if water
           | splashed just right on the bottom of the open door, you would
           | have water next to electrical wires which could maybe start a
           | fire" (an issue my car had a few years ago).
           | 
           | Tesla met with the NHTSA and agreed to issue a recall. How is
           | it possibly bad journalism to call it what it is?
        
             | javert wrote:
             | What you are describing is a recall in a regulatory and
             | legal sense, but not in a common English sense. In common
             | English, a recall is when the product has to be returned to
             | the manufacturer or taken to a dealer for a fix. In other
             | words, "recall" implies physical movement of a product. I
             | guess you won't agree with me on what "recall" means in
             | common English, and that's fine. And we probably have a
             | deeper disagreement on where words get their meanings from.
             | But I would maintain that a software update is not a
             | "recall." If it is, Microsoft performs a "recall" every
             | time it issues a security patch for Windows.
        
               | Veserv wrote:
               | The update is not the "recall". The update is the
               | remediation. The "recall" is the notification that the
               | product may contain a safety defect in its current
               | configuration, that those products require diagnosis and,
               | potentially, remediation before they are safe again, and
               | that Tesla is legally required to make reasonable efforts
               | to diagnose and remediate safety defects in those
               | products for free [1]. To fix your analogy, a "recall" is
               | more like Microsoft releasing a security advisory or
               | notifying users of a security vulnerability.
               | 
               | As for semantic arguments, obviously the current
               | colloquial usage of the term "recall" means to call for
               | products in use to be removed from use and potentially
               | for remediation. However, the usage of the term in the
               | article is the precise, legal, technical usage of the
               | term meaning what I stated above. This usage and
               | definition by NHTSA predates the colloquial definition
               | and was thus not confusing at the time it was defined,
               | and is both precise and has been precisely used by NHTSA
               | for duration of its usage of the term so their usage of
               | the term has not materially changed in the interim.
               | Therefore, it is both technically, semantically, and
               | culturally correct to use the term "recall" in this
               | specific instance even though the colloquial usage of the
               | term has changed underneath them. This is in contrast
               | with Tesla's usage of the term Autopilot which does
               | correspond with your concerns as it was coined after the
               | colloquial usage had already shifted, and limited effort
               | was made to precisely define and inform potential
               | stakeholders of any differences in terminology with
               | respect to the colloquial usage.
               | 
               | [1] https://www-
               | odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/recallproblems.cfm
        
           | thomaszander wrote:
           | Reuters has been biased in their news telling for some time
           | now.
           | 
           | Not entirely unlike the rest of the mainstream media, I would
           | suppose.
        
           | arichard123 wrote:
           | As a brit, I would say no. But for your last line your
           | thoughts matched mine.
        
             | javert wrote:
             | Sorry to hear that. This practice degrades the signal to
             | noise ratio of the language and in my view is absolutely
             | indefensible. It's possible for languages to evolve in ways
             | that make them objectively better or worse; we should
             | strongly resist the latter. If we are sloppy and lazy, we
             | make the language sloppy.
        
         | dr-detroit wrote:
        
       | tomlin wrote:
       | Disobey seems a bit tame of a headline, considering the
       | implications.
        
       | noah_buddy wrote:
       | Bartleby the Tesla at a stop sign: I'd prefer not.
       | 
       | My most Luddite view is that AV are not worth it right now. Maybe
       | in 10 years, but I see too many idiots on the freeway sleeping or
       | playing video games in Teslas while in the driver seat. If you're
       | too busy to command a vehicle that can kill you and those around
       | you, Uber to work or take the train. I don't trust the roadways
       | to be a massive experiment in how close a corporation can cut it
       | on self-driving tech with some acceptable margin of death. Sure,
       | human drivers are probably worse in normal circumstances. But I'd
       | happily outlaw AV in _any_ peculiar circumstance till 99.9999% of
       | the kinks are worked out away from other drivers who haven 't
       | opted into the grand experiment of robots on the road.
        
       | PragmaticPulp wrote:
       | For some context: California allows "rolling stops" in which the
       | driver is not required to come completely to 0mph (fully stopped)
       | at a stop sign. Most US states require a complete stop at stop
       | signs.
       | 
       | Strangely, Tesla exported this rolling stop behavior everywhere,
       | despite it being illegal in many (maybe most) states.
       | 
       | It's strange that this was allowed to get so far. This violation
       | should have been obvious.
        
         | yumraj wrote:
         | If that's what you've been doing, you've just been lucky. It's
         | not legal in CA.
        
         | paradygm wrote:
         | Unless something changed in the 30 years since I learned to
         | drive--in California-- the "California Rolling Stop" is a
         | pejorative and is not at all legal. In California, and every
         | other US state, a stop sign means come to a full and complete
         | stop.
        
         | toomuchtodo wrote:
         | Look at the cost. A regulator told them to turn it off, and an
         | OTA later it'll be off. A rational decision.
        
           | HWR_14 wrote:
           | I'm not sure why it's rational or desirable to let companies
           | violate the law until they get a letter that says "the law
           | applies to you too". Let's fine Tesla for rolling a stop sign
           | times a large multiple based on their data of how often it
           | happened.
           | 
           | We can use the national average fine or use the GPS to match
           | it to the proper jurisdiction. I don't care which.
        
           | metabagel wrote:
           | In my opinion, it was irrational to ever turn it on.
        
         | williamscales wrote:
         | California requires a complete stop, too. I think some of our
         | drivers are just impatient.
        
           | mdasen wrote:
           | Just to add some sources confirming that California does
           | _not_ allow rolling stops:
           | 
           | https://www.thetrafficticketattorneys.com/blog/7-things-
           | you-...
           | 
           | https://www.sidmartinbio.org/what-is-the-fine-for-a-
           | californ...
           | 
           | https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/defense/vehicle-code/22450/
           | 
           | https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio.
           | ..
        
         | restes wrote:
         | >California allows "rolling stops"
         | 
         | No, they certainly do not. I live in California and I've gotten
         | a ticket for doing this.
        
         | dicroce wrote:
         | California rolls are legal? Why didn't I know this for the 45
         | years I lived in California? :)
        
         | KerrAvon wrote:
         | Rolling stops are illegal in California and you will get
         | ticketed if the cops catch you doing it, even if it was
         | perfectly safe.
         | 
         | This seems to be an example of Tesla "pushing the boundaries"
         | in a way that puts their customers at risk. I'm all for small-l
         | libertarianism, but they could spend effort where it actually
         | mattered instead of this childish petulance.
        
         | ShakataGaNai wrote:
         | https://www.ticketcrusherslaw.com/rolling-stop/
         | 
         | It is _NOT_ legal to do a rolling stop in California. Like
         | everywhere else in the nation, you must (legally speaking) come
         | to a complete stop at sign /light. Failure to do so will result
         | in a ticket (if you're caught).
        
         | joshu wrote:
         | this is the perfect hacker news comment. congratulations!
        
         | mig39 wrote:
         | California stops are weird.
         | 
         | If you're ok with a car just slowing down and yielding to
         | traffic if necessary, why not use a "Yield" sign instead of a
         | "Stop" sign?
         | 
         | We have "yield" signs for entry onto highways and roundabouts,
         | for example, where the goal is to keep traffic moving.
        
           | kjkjadksj wrote:
           | Because based on my experience most people don't yield at
           | yield signs in ca, and prefer to try and outgun whoever is
           | not letting them in than back off. Sounds like a good way to
           | me to increase the number of accidents at 4 way stops.
        
             | mig39 wrote:
             | Yeah, 4-way stops definitely need a stop sign.
             | 
             | Or better yet, turn 4-way stops into roundabouts.
        
           | metabagel wrote:
           | California isn't OK with it. Police routinely ticket vehicles
           | which perform a rolling stop. The police aren't everywhere,
           | so you could get away with it for a while, but eventually
           | you'll probably do it in front of a police car and be cited.
        
         | jjulius wrote:
         | >For some context: California allows "rolling stops"...
         | 
         | False. I present to you California Vehicle Code #22450:
         | 
         | >The driver of any vehicle approaching a stop sign at the
         | entrance to, or within, an intersection shall stop at a limit
         | line, if marked, otherwise before entering the crosswalk on the
         | near side of the intersection.
         | 
         | https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio...
        
         | lakis wrote:
         | California rolling stops are illegal.
        
       | soheil wrote:
       | Laws can be dumb, if there are no other cars and you roll through
       | a stop sign why is that unsafe? This is also called California
       | stop. People in California have places to be and it's a big place
       | so the effects compound.
        
         | jeremyjh wrote:
         | I don't think there are any federal laws about traffic signs.
         | California's laws require you to come to a complete stop at
         | stop signs. Programming a computer to intentionally break the
         | law "because I have places to go" seems like poor judgement to
         | me.
        
         | midnightclubbed wrote:
         | As soon as you make the rolling stop legal people will push the
         | limits of that law and drive straight through if they think the
         | way is clear.
         | 
         | The numbers of drivers driving through reds (at least here in
         | coastal San Diego) has noticeably increased over the past two
         | years, previously people would hit the gas if the lights turned
         | yellow, now they are hitting the gas if they see yellow (and
         | crossing through the intersection on red). Accident statistics
         | seem to back that up https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/29/us/red-
         | light-deaths-trnd/inde...
         | 
         | Making traffic rules less strict seems like a recipe for more
         | accidents and deaths.
        
         | VWWHFSfQ wrote:
         | is this a federal law
        
       | valine wrote:
       | That Tesla headline is misleading. Should be "Tesla Removes
       | Rolling Stops from Assertive Driving Profile". Tesla added
       | rolling stops to make the car behave more human like. NHTSA said
       | no, so Tesla removed the feature.
        
         | elil17 wrote:
         | The idea that you'd add a feature that's clearly illegal blows
         | my mind. "Product poses legal risk to user" is a specific risk
         | severity rating that mechanical engineers are trained to flag
         | in school. Any other engineering company would have caught this
         | in their DFMEA (Design Failure Modes and Effects Analysis).
         | These sort of sloppy failures show that Tesla is far from a
         | path to competing with major car companies on reliability.
        
           | scoofy wrote:
           | This is why i've been a fully self-driving skeptic in the
           | last few years (initially was not), it's that our driving
           | system is inherently broken.
           | 
           | Fully rule-following will create unsafe situations merely
           | because humans expect a certain amount of rule breaking. The
           | person "at-fault" will be he human, but politically that will
           | be tough when humans are mad at machine for "acting weird by
           | following the rules." I fear that our inherent contradictions
           | for rule-following in the road will make it impossible for
           | ML, both to understand how to behave, and to behave
           | predictably to humans.
           | 
           | This is why I'm much more bullish on self-driving-similar
           | vehicles, which look and behave differently, like how buses
           | and trolleys behave differently in the road and we have
           | different expectations from them.
        
         | acdha wrote:
         | It's pretty accurate even if you're a fan of the company. The
         | more accurate description is that they shipped a feature which
         | breaks traffic laws, which is a serious error in a company
         | asking us to trust their judgement in a safety-critical system.
         | Given how many other problems they've had and the consistent
         | overselling of their capabilities and safety, that's an
         | important conversation to have.
        
           | gmadsen wrote:
           | Sometimes it is more dangerous to follow traffic laws exactly
           | rather than normal human driver when you are surrounded by
           | normal human drivers. It's not as simple as you are making it
           | seem.
        
             | acdha wrote:
             | How many people are going to be hurt because someone stops
             | at a stop sign?
        
               | notch656a wrote:
               | Multiply the extra few seconds times how many ever
               | millions of people end up using automated driving, times
               | how many stop signs they end up at. The number of
               | lifetimes lost due to stopping at stop signs has got to
               | be the equivalent of the circa-100's area. The real
               | question is why anyone bothers stopping at all if all
               | directions are clear.
        
           | valine wrote:
           | It's not serious at all imho. People roll stop signs all the
           | time, it's part of driving culture. If you feel obligated to
           | obey the letter of every driving law you could have turned it
           | off in settings.
           | 
           | Tesla also has an option to override the speed limit, you
           | want to remove that too?
        
             | acdha wrote:
             | People are also killed or injured by drivers all of the
             | time, too. Remember when the selling point of AVs was that
             | they'd reducr the ~40k / 300k Americans so impacted
             | annually? Telling manufacturers that it's okay to ignore
             | laws if it gets you there faster will have the opposite
             | effect.
        
               | pmorici wrote:
               | Safety is measured in accidents per mile driven, lower
               | being better. While there maybe a loose correlation
               | strict obedience to the law is not in itself a measure of
               | safety.
        
             | Xylakant wrote:
             | > Tesla also has an option to override the speed limit, you
             | want to remove that too?
             | 
             | Yes. The Alternative is to encode "break the law" in
             | software and that makes for a very bad option. Stick to the
             | law, computer.
        
               | sushid wrote:
               | Do you never drive above the speed limit on the freeway?
               | I highly doubt this...
        
               | Xylakant wrote:
               | I'm not a computer, so that point is moot. (And yes, I
               | don't. Not deliberately, though it likely happens
               | accidentally from time to time.)
        
               | SilasX wrote:
               | "Whether you're willing to hold computer drivers to
               | higher standards than human drivers" is moot? Or you just
               | don't feel obligated to reconcile the inconsistency?
        
               | Xylakant wrote:
               | I am willing to hold a computer to a higher standard,
               | that's the promise that gets made left and right for self
               | driving cars. That they achieve a higher standard.
        
               | parkingrift wrote:
               | Unfortunately, self driving cars drive in the real world.
               | There are a great many roadways in the US where driving
               | the speed limit is legitimately dangerous in one
               | direction or another.
               | 
               | I live in New York and there is one such roadway I drive
               | often. Palisades Interstate Parkway. The speed limit is
               | 55 and there are no trucks allowed, but if you are
               | driving 55 on this road you are in danger. You will get
               | run off the road by everyone else traveling at a minimum
               | of 65-70 with many of them 80+.
               | 
               | There may come a day where humans are completely out of
               | the equation, but until that time I believe self driving
               | cars are safer if they drive more like human drivers.
               | That means keeping up with traffic and other human
               | quirks.
        
               | martneumann wrote:
               | Wait, so you're saying that people would crash into you
               | if you drove the speed limit?
               | 
               | I'm a very calm driver and regularly drive at or
               | sometimes below the speed limit if visibility or other
               | factors don't allow higher speeds. People do slow down
               | and I never felt in danger - granted, this is usually at
               | around 40 km/h instead of the limit of 50 km/h, but I
               | can't imagine people are so careless they'd "run you off
               | the road" if you weren't speeding.
        
               | parkingrift wrote:
               | >Wait, so you're saying that people would crash into you
               | if you drove the speed limit?
               | 
               | Maybe not literally crash into you, but that is certainly
               | possible. People will swerve around you, ride your
               | bumper, flash their high beams at you, honk, pull in
               | front of you and hit the brakes, and other dangerous road
               | rage type behavior. It is absolutely unsafe to drive the
               | speed limit.
               | 
               | In general the safest thing to do is just to keep up with
               | traffic.
        
               | Xylakant wrote:
               | That's exactly what the driver in front of you and behind
               | you use as justification for being above the limit: I had
               | to go with the flow of traffic. A self-perpetuating force
               | that forces everyone to be too fast.
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | > Wait, so you're saying that people would crash into you
               | if you drove the speed limit?
               | 
               | Yes. If you're driving significantly above or below the
               | speed of traffic, you're likely to cause an accident.
               | https://qz.com/969885/almost-every-speed-limit-is-too-
               | low/
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | Agreed, and these roadways are all over the country. It's
               | a pretty widely known fact that the safest speed is the
               | natural flow of traffic, but municipalities all over the
               | country are much more inclined to listen to the vocal
               | minority over traffic engineers. Not a lot of "trust the
               | science" going on there.
               | 
               | https://qz.com/969885/almost-every-speed-limit-is-too-
               | low/
        
               | Xylakant wrote:
               | The solution to that is not that everybody gets to ignore
               | speed limits and point to a QZ article as justification.
               | The solution is not that Tesla unilaterally decides that
               | 10% more is fine, everywhere, all of the time. The
               | solution is what the advocate in your article proposes -
               | make a conscious decision to raise the speed limit on
               | certain roads, backed with suitable data.
        
               | Xylakant wrote:
               | Next week's argument: "all first gen self driving cars
               | are going 70 where 55 is allowed, we need to keep this
               | setting."
        
               | rocqua wrote:
               | In the end, it is my choice whether I stick to the law.
               | I'm fine with instituted consequences. I'm not fine with
               | having the option to break a law removed.
               | 
               | Some laws are stupid. Some are unjust. Some are racist.
               | 
               | Discretion is valuable, probably even essential, for
               | society.
        
               | judge2020 wrote:
               | The human driver is the one that told the car to disobey
               | the stop sign[0]. Should every cruise control on every
               | car with speed limit detection forbid the cruise/adaptive
               | cruise to go above the speed limit?
               | 
               | 0: the chill setting doesn't roll stop signs https://twit
               | ter.com/cooperlund/status/1488549356873695232?s=...
        
               | Xylakant wrote:
               | > Should every cruise control on every car with speed
               | limit detection forbid the cruise/adaptive cruise to go
               | above the speed limit?
               | 
               | Certainly. Why should cruise control be set to above
               | speed limit? Adaptive cruise control should reduce speed
               | to remain within legal boundaries.
        
               | chipotle_coyote wrote:
               | I have a car with adaptive cruise control and speed limit
               | detection, and this would absolutely drive me nuts. Not
               | for any philosophical reasons, but _because speed limit
               | detection is fallible._ On the expressway my apartment is
               | a block away from, which has a speed limit of 50 mph, my
               | car fairly frequently tells me the speed limit is
               | actually 30. It 's fairly common for it to read speed
               | limit signs that have conditions on them -- only in
               | effect certain hours, or during school hours, or when
               | light is flashing, or if you're driving a truck -- and
               | incorrectly assume that's the speed limit.
               | 
               | Maybe you'd be perfectly happy with "if you don't want
               | the cruise control to make mistakes, just never use it,
               | because gosh darn it, that's better than allowing people
               | to set the adaptive cruise control five miles an hour
               | over the speed limit like they've been able to do with
               | _non-adaptive_ cruise control since it was a thing. " I
               | would not, and I would argue I am not the one taking an
               | unreasonable stance.
        
               | valine wrote:
               | Speed limits change, signs are obstructed, some speed
               | limits are only valid for certain times of day. There's
               | plenty of legal reasons to override the posted speed
               | limit.
        
               | Xylakant wrote:
               | Drive on manual then, if your computer is not clever
               | enough.
        
               | conanbatt wrote:
               | And if the traffic law gets you killed, what then?
        
               | Xylakant wrote:
               | It's not the law that gets you killed. It's the other
               | drivers that disregard the law. And soon, the self-
               | driving cars that disregard the law.
        
             | gyc wrote:
             | > People roll stop signs all the time
             | 
             | Those people are called bad drivers.
        
               | changoplatanero wrote:
               | no i don't think so. i think if you tried to strictly
               | obey the law at all stop signs you would have a lot of
               | trouble
        
               | smeyer wrote:
               | When does obeying stop signs cause a lot of trouble?
        
             | Teever wrote:
             | > It's not serious at all imho. People roll stop signs all
             | the time, it's part of driving culture
             | 
             | This is a terrible line of reasoning.
             | 
             | If Tesla ever releases their vaporware humanoid bot would
             | you expect them to program it to rape women in cultures
             | where women rape is part of the culture?
        
               | valine wrote:
               | I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that rolling stop
               | signs is not a slippery slope to robot rapists.
        
               | Teever wrote:
               | I think you're right.
               | 
               | Programming a several ton machine to disregard laws and
               | potentially kill many pedestrians without warning isn't
               | really comparable to programming a machine to rape --
               | it's unfathomable worse.
               | 
               | I've worked in factories and the idea that a car company
               | can release a machine onto the streets that wouldn't be
               | allowed anywhere near a factory floor is flabbergasting.
               | 
               | If a company tried to release a product that had this
               | safety profile in a factory setting the governments and
               | unions would be all over them.
               | 
               | The fact that some jackass yokel or senile old lady
               | routinely roll through stop signs daily doesn't justify
               | Tesla releasing a product that does the same.
        
               | valine wrote:
               | Equating rolling stops to rape has to be the worst
               | argument against FSD I've ever heard. I'm honestly at a
               | loss for words. Safely proceeding through an intersection
               | without coming to a complete stop hurts nothing, except
               | maybe the feelings of traffic law puritans.
        
             | beepbooptheory wrote:
             | A tingling feeling that this general argument will become
             | very popular and determining in the future...
        
           | rocqua wrote:
           | Illegal actions and unsafe actions are not the same thing.
           | Laws exist to make us safer, but they aren't perfect.
           | 
           | I get why the law is enforced here. But I think cars doing
           | full stops are more dangerous than cars doing rolling stops.
        
           | SilasX wrote:
           | Ahhhhh. I've struggled with this all my life, where the rules
           | say one thing, but you're "just supposed to know" those cases
           | where they aren't _really_ serious about that.
           | 
           | Now the contradiction is so painful, they'll have to address
           | it. Either a) update the rules to reflect actual practice, or
           | b) admit to "yes, your self-driving car has to obey traffic
           | laws we don't enforce on humans".
        
           | supperburg wrote:
        
           | chrisfosterelli wrote:
           | > they shipped a feature which breaks traffic laws, which is
           | a serious error in a company asking us to trust their
           | judgement in a safety-critical system
           | 
           | You're not wrong per se, but there is significantly more
           | nuance with self-driving technologies than you're suggesting.
           | 
           | A more famous example in the self-driving car world is the
           | Pittsburgh left [0], where in Pittsburgh a driver turning
           | left will often get conventional precedence over vehicles
           | going through the intersection despite there being no
           | explicit left turn light. This move is technically illegal,
           | but when the self-driving cars didn't do this it drove
           | traffic to a halt regularly and held up every intersection
           | where the self-driving car was turning left. Eventually this
           | had to be added to the software.
           | 
           | Examples like these are why self-driving technologies are so
           | hard to get 100% right, driving is a mix of intuition and
           | rules. A significant amount of driving is doing what other
           | drivers expect you to do. If the cars don't behave like human
           | drivers expect, it often causes more problems than doing what
           | the car is "supposed" to do.
           | 
           | That said, as a pedestrian who has frequently almost been hit
           | by people rolling stop signs, I'm with the NHTSA here...
           | 
           | [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_left
        
             | newsbinator wrote:
             | > Examples like these are why self-driving technologies are
             | so hard to get 100% right, modern driving is a mix of
             | intuition and rules.
             | 
             | Indeed! The hardest part of switching to driverless cars
             | overall is that driverless vehicles have to exist on the
             | road for some number of years surrounded by ones driven by
             | primates, with primate reflexes and a variety of ad-hoc
             | behaviors.
             | 
             | If every car on the road were to go driverless at midnight
             | tonight, would the number of accidents and death and
             | disability plummet compared to yesterday's stats?
        
             | elil17 wrote:
             | Rolling stops, while all to common, are not at all like a
             | Pittsburgh left. Police everywhere will pull you over for
             | rolling through a stop sign. Police in Pittsburgh probably
             | won't, unless they have something against you personally.
        
             | alistairSH wrote:
             | There are better solutions to this problem than coding cars
             | to behave like bad drivers. Round-a-bouts. Banning left
             | turns during peak hours. Adding a dedicated left turn
             | signal at the beginning of the cycle. The Pittsburg left is
             | a terrible convention... It puts pedestrians at risk
             | (assuming the cross-walk signal follows the traffic
             | signal). And nobody from outside Pittsburg knows it's a
             | thing - if I were visiting Pittsburg, I'd run into the car
             | turning in front of me (well, hopefully not, but it's a
             | risk).
        
             | jjoonathan wrote:
             | > driving is a mix of intuition and rules
             | 
             | Intuition and rules _and rule breaking_.
             | 
             | I remember back in Driver's Ed I was alarmed to discover
             | that through sloppy definitions Colorado legislators had
             | managed to make it illegal to take a right turn within
             | 150ft of a stop sign (or similar, I forget the details). Of
             | course, in reality nobody follows the sloppily defined
             | portion of the rule, nobody enforces the sloppily defined
             | rule, and it isn't a problem -- but the gap between rules
             | and realities is substantial, self-driving cars are going
             | to tease apart this gap, and spiders will come crawling
             | out.
        
         | sorokod wrote:
         | The paragraph remains accurate but more funny if "rolling
         | stop"* is replaced with "oxymoron",
         | 
         | so ""Tesla Removes oxymoron from Assertive Driving Profile".
         | Tesla added oxymoron to make the car behave more human like.
         | NHTSA said no, so Tesla removed the feature."
         | 
         | * TIL: rolling stop
        
         | alistairSH wrote:
         | When allowed to be, humans are terrible drivers. We shouldn't
         | be designing our cars to behave like those bad drivers.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | dang wrote:
         | We moved this subthread from
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30168814 to the thread
         | where it's on topic.
        
       | tomlin wrote:
       | "Disobey" seems a bit tame of a headline, considering the
       | implications.
        
       | kirillzubovsky wrote:
       | Personally I am curious how this is done in the AI. Do they
       | simply flip a switch that says "if you see stop sign make a full
       | stop," or do they now have to update and retrain the neural net
       | to acquire this behavior. Does anyone know?
        
         | brianwawok wrote:
         | It was a toggle so one assume the code has a branch in it. If
         | flag flipped and no people and no cars, min speed is 5, else 0.
         | 
         | I liked this feature, damnit.
        
         | wcoenen wrote:
         | There is a mix of a "neural net planner" and a "explicit
         | planning and control" in traditional code[1]. The explicit
         | planner has the last word, and uses input from both the "vector
         | space" and the neural net planner.
         | 
         | Karpathy has commented about the neural nets gradually
         | replacing the traditional code. See his presentation[2] around
         | 18:45.
         | 
         | [1] https://saneryee-studio.medium.com/deep-understanding-
         | tesla-...
         | 
         | [2] https://youtu.be/hx7BXih7zx8
        
         | czr wrote:
         | they flipped a switch (this one, under "clear to go" subheading
         | https://youtu.be/ToDMceo0aDs?t=20). tesla planning still mostly
         | is done by C/C++ code.
        
       | pl0x wrote:
        
       | pmcollins wrote:
       | > Tesla will perform an over-the-air software update that
       | disables the "rolling stop" functionality
       | 
       | the "recall" is an OTA software update
        
         | bsagdiyev wrote:
         | Are they recalling the software version for an update to fix a
         | safety issue? If so, then it is a recall. You can't play
         | semantics with words like that for these issues.
         | 
         | Please see this:
         | https://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/rulemaking/pdf/Recalls-FAQ...
         | 
         | >A recall is issued when a manufacturer or NHTSA determines
         | that a vehicle, equipment, car seat, or tire creates an
         | unreasonable safety risk or fails to meet minimum safety
         | standards. Manufacturers are required to fix the problem by
         | repairing it, replacing it, offering a refund, or in rare cases
         | repurchasing the vehicle.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | [deleted]
        
       | tibbydudeza wrote:
       | Meanwhile Karaoke mikes are now available from your nearest Tesla
       | dealer.
       | 
       | https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/31/22910462/tesla-karaoke-mi...
        
       | ballenf wrote:
       | Self-driving cars need to bend the rules enough to be attractive
       | to a critical mass of purchasers. Then regulations will require
       | strict adherence to laws. Then owners of these cars will be
       | numerous enough to push for regulatory reform.
       | 
       | If all self-driving or driving assisted cars were limited to
       | exactly the speed limit and following the letter of laws that no
       | human follows, they will never achieve mass adoption.
       | 
       | FWIW, cruise control has always let you set any reasonable speed.
       | Doesn't quite seem right to hold a car to a different standard
       | just because it's advanced enough to sometimes know the actual
       | speed limit.
        
       | drewg123 wrote:
       | _The feature, which appeared to violate state laws that require
       | vehicles to come to a complete stop and required drivers to opt-
       | in for what it dubbed "Assertive"_
       | 
       | I have the FSD beta on my Model X, and opted in to assertive not
       | knowing that it enabled rolling stops. I enabled "assertive" in
       | hopes of making the car less timid about unprotected turns.
        
         | drewg123 wrote:
         | BTW, the FSD beta is terrible. Its what I imagine a senior
         | citizen taking their first drive after getting a learners
         | permit would be like. The worst part is horribly timid behavior
         | pulling into traffic or making unprotected left turns. It also
         | is quite annoying on rural 2 lane roads, with frequent enough
         | phantom braking to make passengers queasy and hence make me
         | turn off FSD. It has no knowledge of potholes, so I frequently
         | have to take over before it costs me a wheel and a tire by
         | hitting a monster pothole.
         | 
         | Its frustrating that I paid $3000 for this 4+ years ago, and
         | waited 4 years for the feature, and was made to drive overly
         | gently (no hard cornering or braking) in order to get a good
         | "safety score" for quite a while before I could even try it.
         | The $3000 would have been much better off had I invested it in
         | Tesla stock.
         | 
         | If this is where they are after 4 years, I don't hold out much
         | hope.
        
           | reasonabl_human wrote:
           | What version of FSD beta are you on? After 10.6 most of my
           | complaints were addressed and I am very happy using it to get
           | to work every day, although I live in a suburban / semi-urban
           | area and have never used it on rural roads. I have an
           | original model 3. Pretty much any left-handed turn is
           | protected with a stoplight around me, although it negotiates
           | unprotected ones well for the ones I've faced under 35mph
           | 
           | We have solid infrastructure so can't speak to the potholes
           | complaint. A few months back FSD beta started acknowledging
           | speed bumps and taking them slowly so I'd imagine potholes
           | are in the works.
        
             | drewg123 wrote:
             | V10.9
             | 
             | I tweeted at Elon about the potholes.. let's hope something
             | improves.
        
           | eclipxe wrote:
           | When one of your main complaints about your self driving car
           | is that it is too timid and doesn't avoid potholes, I think
           | things are progressing just fine. Just step back a little and
           | think about where the technology was 5, 10 years ago. Heck
           | even 20 years ago. Imagine telling someone on a forum "yeah
           | my self driving car is fine but a little timid for me and
           | ugh, potholes!"
        
             | jjulius wrote:
             | I'm confused by this response. "Horribly timid behavior
             | pulling into traffic" sounds like they're saying that when
             | a car pulls into traffic it pulls in _too slow_ , which
             | puts other cars at risk of hitting the Tesla that's not
             | properly getting up to speed. And when I read, "has no
             | knowledge of potholes," I picture a Tesla slamming down
             | into a giant pothole and damaging the car; needing to pull
             | over to get it towed, fixed, etc.
             | 
             | Are things really "progressing just fine" if the car is
             | repeatedly putting itself into dangerous situations?
             | 
             | Edit: I suppose that one could make the argument that we
             | didn't even have this kind of tech on the roads ten years
             | ago, and sure, that's progress in one sense. But I wouldn't
             | call it "just fine" by a long shot, nor would I dismiss
             | these concerns as whininess.
        
             | drewg123 wrote:
             | Well, I have lots of others, but I didn't want to look too
             | much like I'm ranting.
             | 
             | They include:
             | 
             | - Driving too close to parked cars for comfort on un-laned
             | side streets when there is no oncoming traffic. I
             | personally like to leave enough room to avoid somebody
             | opening their door into me, if I have the room.
             | 
             | - Leaving way too much space in front of the car at
             | stoplights. This is a problem when it leads to blocking the
             | entrance to left turn lanes, etc.
             | 
             | - Totally blowing through stop signs in parking lots.
             | 
             | - Freaking out and making me take over on a mildly tricky
             | interstate interchange where 2 lanes narrow to one.
             | 
             | And I'm sure there are a million others that I'm forgetting
             | about.
        
             | tsimionescu wrote:
             | The point is that you can't rely on FSD to fully self-
             | drive. Somewhat decent doesn't cut it. In particular, if it
             | can't avoid potholes, it's not safe to let it drive on the
             | road.
        
           | Sohcahtoa82 wrote:
           | > The $3000 would have been much better off had I invested it
           | in Tesla stock.
           | 
           | It'd be ~$40,000 >.<
           | 
           | Could be worse. If the people who put a $50,000 down payment
           | on a Roadster 2.0 the day they announced them had bought
           | $TSLA instead, they would have enough money now to pay cash
           | for TWO Roadsters _and_ have enough money left over to add a
           | Model S Plaid.
        
           | thepasswordis wrote:
           | Ha! My experience has been the exact opposite. I think it
           | drives like an angry teenager. Slow the F down, Tessie!
        
       | sschueller wrote:
       | Does the Tesla know not to turn on red in Europe or is FSD not
       | yet available? Also for example in Switzerland a driver is
       | required to stop at a cross walk if a person is standing to cross
       | or about to cross. This is not the case in Italy.
        
       | echopurity wrote:
        
       | aqaq2 wrote:
        
       | titzer wrote:
       | Honest question: has Tesla autopilot (FSD) passed a standard
       | driving test with a human examiner?
        
       | PragmaticPulp wrote:
       | It's surprising that Tesla shipped the "rolling stop" behavior as
       | the default despite it being illegal in most places.
       | 
       | This one seems so obviously avoidable that I'm baffled as to why
       | they let it happen.
        
         | kemitche wrote:
         | Illegal isn't binary - just look at speed limits. Everyone
         | speeds at least a little, and FSD/AP had to be allowed to speed
         | to be safe
        
           | Xylakant wrote:
           | Why does the autopilot need to speed to be safe? When does
           | "speeding to be safe" become "unsafe speeding"? 10 miles
           | faster than the the one that you're trying to overtake? What
           | if they're speeding by 10 already? Why is the speed limit not
           | 10 higher than it is, if that's the actual safe speed? How
           | can Tesla unilaterally decide that exceeding the speed is
           | perfectly good and safe?
        
             | diffeomorphism wrote:
             | > Why does the autopilot need to speed to be safe?
             | 
             | For the same reason driving below average speed is
             | dangerous. If you drive 10km/h slower than everyone else
             | you are a problem, even if everyone else is driving at or
             | slightly above the speed limit (very common in Germany).
        
               | Xylakant wrote:
               | You are arguing that everyone should be moving faster.
               | But we want everyone moving at the speed limit - building
               | cars that intentionally break the speed limit will make
               | the effective speed creep up. It needs to creep down.
        
             | adoxyz wrote:
             | Nobody is saying autopilot "needs" to speed to be safe at
             | all times. But it needs the ability to be able to go faster
             | than the posted speed limit. I.e if the speed limit is
             | 45mph, going 47mph shouldn't be a problem that the car
             | freaks out over. For a while, on city streets if you were
             | using Autopilot you'd be able to go up to 5mph over the
             | posted limit without issue. I think in the FSD Beta, you
             | can go more.
        
               | Xylakant wrote:
               | Can you describe the ruleset that would apply when it's
               | ok to speed? So that's applicable to the software of
               | thousands of cars?
        
               | adoxyz wrote:
               | The car already has a ruleset for when to not obey speed
               | limits. If you're on the highway and your lane is going
               | 65mph but the other lanes are moving very slowly, the car
               | will slow down accordingly. Similarly, this could be
               | implemented for the inverse to an extent.
               | 
               | And again, I don't think the car should speed by default,
               | but a car going 2-3mph over the posted limit should be
               | acceptable rather than an error state because the world
               | is not black and white.
        
               | [deleted]
        
             | soheil wrote:
             | Because you want the flow of the traffic to move with the
             | same speed.
        
               | Xylakant wrote:
               | But we want the flow of traffic to be at the speed limit,
               | that's why there is a speed limit. So more cars need to
               | go slower, not more cars need to go faster.
        
             | Spivak wrote:
             | You're like _this close_ to the the heart of the issue.
             | 
             | If you can determine in real-time whether the maneuver your
             | about to perform or the speed you're going is safe then why
             | even have speed limits? The speed limit for highways is
             | still 65 whether it's a a bone dry, pitch dark, pouring
             | rain, or completely iced over. "Any speed under 65" can't
             | possibly be a safe speed for all these conditions while
             | allowing for the highest safe speeds possible in ideal, or
             | even average, conditions. And this doesn't even being to
             | take into account the huge vehicle variance and tire ware.
             | The safe operating speeds for a top-heavy Honda Fit with
             | narrow tires vs a low-to-the-ground wide-tired Corvette are
             | going to be wildly different.
             | 
             | And then you have to deal with other drivers. If traffic is
             | going 75 you're gonna have a hell of a time merging capped
             | at 65. And in an ideal world nobody would pass on the right
             | making it possible to get off the highway without
             | increasing speed but real life hits hard.
        
               | Xylakant wrote:
               | If you can create an all-knowing AI that can predict your
               | the road conditions around a corner or beyond the crest
               | of a hill, maybe. Remember, we are not discussing
               | individual decisions made by people based on a current
               | situation, but the defaults encoded into the software of
               | thousands of cars. And if that default is lax, it will
               | end up in lax behavior.
        
             | Retric wrote:
             | Because people passing you is very slightly more dangerous
             | than people following you. It's not a big deal most of the
             | time, but when everyone passes you across thousands of
             | hours it adds up to a significant risk.
        
               | Xylakant wrote:
               | Why would anyone want to pass you when you're moving at
               | the speed limit? You are at the speed limit and everyone
               | passing you would be beyond the speed limit.
        
               | soggybutter wrote:
               | I honestly can't tell if you're trolling or not. They
               | would want to pass you because human drivers aren't
               | rigidly law abiding machines. Is there a large portion of
               | people that go exactly the speed limit, or even lower?
               | Sure. Is there also a large portion of people that speed
               | virtually every moment they're behind the wheel? Yes,
               | absolutely. And I wouldn't be surprised if that were the
               | larger population in most areas. No one who actually
               | drives with any regularity would ever be surprised that
               | people are speeding to pass them.
        
           | gjsman-1000 wrote:
           | Except that actually is legal. Speeding to pass someone is
           | legal in most states, as is speeding in certain situations.
           | 
           | Whereas, a rolling stop, that's not legal (as far as I know)
           | _anywhere_.
           | 
           | EDIT: I am incorrect with the above statement. I apparently
           | live in one of 4 states where you can exceed the speed limit
           | by up to 10mph while passing.
        
             | cmurf wrote:
             | It is not legal to speed to pass in most states. I've only
             | found Wyoming, Idaho, Minnesota and Washington have such a
             | law on the books, up to 10mph over the posted speed limit.
             | 
             | For sure in Colorado it's not legal to exceed the speed
             | limit to pass. But it is illegal to drive below the speed
             | limit while in the passing lane on a highway with a speed
             | limit 65 mph or higher. There's exceptions for safety and
             | congestion, but otherwise the left lane is considered a
             | passing lane. If you're not passing, you're not supposed to
             | be in that lane.
        
             | hutzlibu wrote:
             | It is? That is a surprise. In germany and most countries I
             | drove, it was definitely illegal. Of course, it is common
             | and it makes sense, but the law is that the speed limit is
             | absolute.
        
             | zamadatix wrote:
             | Only a couple of states have laws allow speeding to pass
             | and the vast majority of states have an absolute speed
             | limit rule disallowing speeding in any situation. A handful
             | of states won't give you points due to a speeding ticket <6
             | mph though.
             | 
             | Of course these are the laws, not the practice, which is
             | what I think GP was trying to say.
             | 
             | http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/laws.html
        
               | mrtranscendence wrote:
               | For what it's worth, in Ohio I've never been stopped by a
               | cop for going 5 miles above the speed limit on or off the
               | interstate, despite doing so in the presence of cops many
               | times. I got my only ticket for going 15 miles over,
               | though.
        
               | zamadatix wrote:
               | I've gotten a ticket on US 24 (going Fort Wayne to
               | Toledo) for doing 69 in a 65. I've went through there
               | probably nearing a hundred times by then (both family and
               | work out that way) but only been pulled over for it that
               | once. Ever since One of two tickets I've ever gotten, the
               | other was also in Ohio but that one was much more obvious
               | - I missed the speed change on a normal road when I was
               | younger and was doing 45 in a 35. Cop knocked that one
               | down quite a bit though, can't remember what actually got
               | put on the ticket.
               | 
               | Of all of the places I've been Chicago was probably the
               | worst at speeding, especially in the dead of night when
               | the roads are "too" open. Recently they got a bit
               | stricter with the speed cameras though
               | https://www.illinoispolicy.org/chicagos-speed-cameras-
               | ticket...
        
             | seanmcdirmid wrote:
             | I could have sworn rolling stops were legal in
             | Arizona...maybe that was a couple of decades ago?
        
           | ctdonath wrote:
           | Illegal _is_ binary. Enforcement is what 's squishy, because
           | liability normally doesn't address deep pockets.
        
             | nomel wrote:
             | I think one could claim that illegal and enforcement or so
             | closely tied together that they can't be separated in a
             | meaningful way.
        
               | ctdonath wrote:
               | That's...preposterous. There are a great many illegal
               | acts that are so rarely enforced that the act is
               | normalized, with enforcement surprising the culprits -
               | speeding and rolling stops being the primary examples.
               | Such are normalized because individual enforcement is
               | practically impossible; it's when the behavior gets
               | codified by a business as/in a product that gov't has a
               | chance to crack down on it.
        
           | throwaway894345 wrote:
           | With respect to speed limits (and not stop signs, so this is
           | explicitly a bit of a digression), it's also worth noting
           | that sometimes you have to choose between "safe" and "legal"
           | since most municipalities set speed limits which are not safe
           | (the safest speed being the speed at which traffic naturally
           | flows). So should a self-driving car (or human, for that
           | matter) drive _safely_ or _legally_?
        
           | eldaisfish wrote:
           | >Illegal isn't binary
           | 
           | I would strongly discourage you from trying that line of
           | argument with the cops when you're pulled over for speeding.
           | I'm certain that a court of law with decent standards does
           | not interpret speeding "at least a little" as anything except
           | a binary.
        
             | caconym_ wrote:
             | The "argument" is tried against cops when you pass them
             | while driving faster than the speed limit. In the vast
             | majority of cases, if you're going less than 10 over, they
             | will ignore you.
             | 
             | A thing is not legal just because law enforcement lets you
             | get away with it, but I don't think this is a good example.
             | It's silly to have this conversation without at least
             | acknowledging the way driver behavior expands into "grey
             | areas" and gaps in enforcement, and I don't think it's
             | trivially obvious that "self driving" cars should rigidly
             | follow the letter of the law even if that means they'll be
             | the only cars on the road doing so.
        
           | onion2k wrote:
           | _Illegal isn 't binary - just look at speed limits. Everyone
           | speeds at least a little, and FSD/AP had to be allowed to
           | speed to be safe._
           | 
           | Illegal is binary for most driving laws (especially 'do what
           | this sign says' rules), but some things fall into an
           | ambiguous category of illegal-but-rarely-enforced. The
           | problem is that computers don't do well with ambiguous rules.
           | I strongly suspect that when most cars are using FSD the rule
           | of being allow to drive a little over the speed limit will be
           | removed, and cars will have to stick to the limits. Hopefully
           | the limits will be raised.
        
         | fnord77 wrote:
         | I've heard this called the "california roll" because it is so
         | pervasive here. I guess someone at Tesla confused "done by
         | everyone" with "legal"
        
         | soheil wrote:
         | You make it sound like as of something just by being legal
         | adheres to the platonic form of truth. There are so many dumb
         | laws. For example in a certain state I can't remember it's
         | illegal to have an ice cream in your back pocket on Sundays.
         | There are many, many idiotic laws that one would do well to at
         | least question, instead of shaming others or being "baffled"
         | why others don't put up with them.
        
         | ajross wrote:
         | It's not the default, you have to turn it on in a menu. It's
         | arguably not even "shipped", as it's part of the must-qualify-
         | in FSD beta program. And most beta users probably didn't know
         | it existed.
         | 
         | It also engages only when approaching an empty intersection.
         | Any obstacles/pedestrians or moving vehicles cause a full stop.
         | To be perfectly honest: I turned it on when I saw it, but
         | haven't seen it actually do it yet. And at this point I guess I
         | never will.
         | 
         | I mean, speeding is equally illegal and inarguably more
         | dangerous. Yet no one is upset that the car lets you speed.
        
           | alistairSH wrote:
           | Isn't FSD just a $10k option today? IE, it might be "beta"
           | quality, but it's available to anybody with deep enough
           | pockets.
        
             | ajross wrote:
             | "FSD beta" refers to the specific autonomy-in-all-
             | circumstances product in testing. You have to request it,
             | then prove you can win a game vs. the car's Safety Score
             | feature for a few weeks or months, then wait to be
             | upgraded. It's available to the public, but only in limited
             | release.
             | 
             | "Full Self Driving" is the name of the vehicle option that
             | you can purchase or license, which includes a bunch of
             | different features (light/sign recognition, autonomous
             | navigation on highways, lane changes, stuff like that).
        
               | FireBeyond wrote:
               | > You have to request it, then prove you can win a game
               | vs. the car's Safety Score feature for a few weeks or
               | months, then wait to be upgraded. It's available to the
               | public, but only in limited release.
               | 
               | Or have enough social media clout (in the appropriately
               | Tesla-positive direction).
        
               | ajross wrote:
               | Are you referencing anything in particular? It's true
               | that the first few hundred non-Tesla-employee installs
               | were to a bunch of known fans and inflencer types. But
               | since September it's been a completely public thing with
               | objective rules. They have 60k of these cars on the roads
               | now per the linked article, it's absolutely not just a
               | marketing thing.
        
             | eclipxe wrote:
             | No.
        
         | mrtranscendence wrote:
         | I agree with you, for what it's worth. I'm not sure why this is
         | at all controversial. Even if you argue that it's sometimes
         | morally permissible to do a rolling stop, it's still baffling
         | that Tesla would explicitly program its AI to perform illegal
         | acts. Why open themselves up to criticism and scrutiny? Should
         | they run red lights at empty intersections, too? Ignore speed
         | limits in quiet residential areas? Maybe tailgate other drivers
         | going _under_ the speed limit?
        
         | caconym_ wrote:
         | > The feature, which appeared to violate state laws that
         | require vehicles to come to a complete stop and _required
         | drivers to opt-in for what it dubbed "Assertive" mode,_ drew
         | attention on social media and prompted NHTSA to raise questions
         | with Tesla.
         | 
         | Emphasis mine; this apparently wasn't the default behavior.
         | Though, it may not have been clear to users opting-in exactly
         | what "assertive mode" changes about the system's behavior.
        
           | kgwgk wrote:
           | It seems that it's also part of the default behaviour:
           | https://twitter.com/digitalhen/status/1480230704520773632
           | 
           | It happens in all three modes Chill, Average and Assertive to
           | different degree.
        
         | mannykannot wrote:
         | Tesla would vastly prefer a situation where the NHTSA allows it
         | to do anything it wants, so it does just that, hoping to
         | normalize this deviance from how the law intends highway safety
         | to be regulated. By this action, NHTSA is trying out a more
         | assertive mode itself.
        
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