Tesla's Elon Musk Talks With Google About Self-Driving Cars 199
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has been thinking about bringing autonomous driving technology to Tesla's electric cars. Quoting Bloomberg:
"Musk, 41, said technologies that can take over for drivers are a logical step in the evolution of cars. He has talked with Google about the self-driving technology it’s been developing, though he prefers to think of applications that are more like an airplane’s autopilot system. 'I like the word autopilot more than I like the word self- driving,' Musk said in an interview. 'Self-driving sounds like it’s going to do something you don’t want it to do. Autopilot is a good thing to have in planes, and we should have it in cars.' ... Google’s approach builds on a push for the driverless-car technology long pursued by the U.S. military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which held vehicle competitions for carmakers and research labs. Anthony Levandowski, product manager for Google’s self-driving car project, has said the company expects to release the technology within five years. 'The problem with Google’s current approach is that the sensor system is too expensive,' Musk said. 'It’s better to have an optical system, basically cameras with software that is able to figure out what’s going on just by looking at things.' ... 'I think Tesla will most likely develop its own autopilot system for the car, as I think it should be camera-based, not Lidar-based,' Musk said yesterday in an e-mail. 'However, it is also possible that we do something jointly with Google.'"
Musk later warned not to take this as an actual announcement.
Re:Who wants a driverless tesla roadster? (Score:5, Insightful)
No. The point of a car is to get you from one place to another. Driving is one of the most boring tasks imaginable, except on a few roads like BC's Sea to Sky Highway when the traffic is light. The vast majority of driving situations are tedious.
Re:Major problem here (Score:5, Insightful)
Some humans want control of their car, but many would rather do other things. The idea of automobiles being an extension of the driver did not really develop until car companies started advertising vehicles that way in the 1950s. Before that automobiles tended to be seen as either luxury items or utility vehicles.
Re:Who wants a driverless tesla roadster? (Score:5, Insightful)
No. The point of a car is to get you from one place to another.
If "transport from point A to point B" was the sole use case for automobiles, the only model in existence would be the Ford Fiesta.
You may not believe or understand this, but some of us actually enjoy driving.
Re:Major problem here (Score:4, Insightful)
Cars, OTOH, have never been called "driving machines".
Remind me again what BMW's tagline is?
Re:Major problem here (Score:4, Insightful)
Humans love to bask in the feeling of being in control, especially when it comes to cars.
Specifically, there's an important cognitive bias at work here, in that people feel safer about things they control than about things they don't control. That's why people who feel perfectly safe driving feel unsafe riding a commercial aircraft, even though planes are much much safer than driving. That's also why geeks feel comfortable with computers, while non-geeks are frequently scared of them - geeks know how to control those machines, non-geeks don't.
Re:Who wants a driverless tesla roadster? (Score:5, Insightful)
really nice roads along the Mississippi in southeastern Minnesota
You country wusses. If you want some excitement in driving, try Manhattan. Driving on an empty road is no more challenging than flying with nothing around you, but Manhattan is like the Battle of Britain.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Who wants a driverless tesla roadster? (Score:4, Insightful)
You may not believe or understand this, but some of us actually enjoy driving.
But how many enjoys driving all the time? All traffic, all road conditions, never tired, never busy, never wanted for a button to push to make the car drive itself while you do something else? I have friends who are quite car conscious but they also like cruise control, automatic gearbox and all that, it's more about going around in comfort and style than pretending to be a rally driver. I think there's a solid market of people that aren't looking for the "basic transport from A to B" but the "private limo driver from A to B" experience, particularly since the computer has even more discretion than a human. And it's not like they're going to take away the "off" switch any time soon, so if you want to go ahead...