“Tesla just had 2 million vehicles recalled due to Autopilot problems.”
Tesla just had 2 million vehicles recalled due to misuse of Autopilot.
OTA fix.
Correct. The autopilot works pretty well but it’s not meant to be driven unmonitored. You aren’t supposed to take a nap, play video games, or use it to drive your drunk ars home. I have a friend who loves his Tesla. He told me he attached a paperweight to the steering wheel and that is (or was) enough tension to fool the system into thinking his hands were on the wheel. Says he does this all the time when he has to commute.
As for the “recall”, I think this word is used because the bureaucracy doesn’t have another word for it. None of the cars are going back to any shop. Tesla is just sending out an update to the software via wifi to increase the sensitivity hoping more people will actually have their hands on the wheel.
But at some point, with autopilot technology (from any maker) and drive-by-wire technology the car could conceivably not need a steering wheel at all. That is the promise of the tech. Autopilot will get better, and cars will be able to communicate with other cars on the road which will alleviate congestion and erratic driving. GM may not have the best software for it. Some of these cars can be disabled very easily by dropping a couple of traffic cones around it. But soon enough the federal government will want to regulate all of it - control your speed, look at your face with internal cameras, install technology to ensure you’re not drunk, and shut off your car remotely among other forms of control.