Posted on 12/02/2018 12:27:47 AM PST by LibWhacker
Police in the Northern California town of Redwood City arrested a man who was traveling on Highway 101 early Friday morning while sleeping behind the wheel of his Tesla Model S.
Officers first spotted the electric luxury sedan driving south at about 70 mph around 3:40 a.m., California Highway Patrol Officer Art Montiel told Business Insider on Friday night.
Montiel said the officers took action when it became clear that the driver, 45-year-old Alexander Samek, was sleeping.
"The driver wasn't responding to lights and sirens," Montiel said.
The officers believed the Tesla may have been operating on Autopilot, a semi-autonomous-driving feature that allows Teslas to drive and change lanes in traffic with minimal human input.
In order to get the sleeping driver's Tesla to stop, Montiel said officers blocked traffic behind the vehicle while another officer traveling in front of the car gradually slowed down, forcing the Tesla, which can respond to varying traffic speeds and accelerate or slow down accordingly, to a complete stop.
"Once the vehicle came to a stop, the officers got out of their patrol cars, approached the Tesla, and knocked on the windows to wake up the driver," Montiel said.
Officers placed Samek in a patrol car, while another one drove the intoxicated man's Tesla off the freeway and parked it at a nearby gas station.
Samek was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. Montiel applauded the CHP's "quick thinking" to get the Tesla and its driver out of harm's way.
Several Teslas have crashed while operating on Autopilot in recent months. A man was killed when his Model X SUV slammed into a highway barrier in Mountain View, California, in March.
Teslas equipped with Autopilot cannot drive themselves. The system deploys an escalating series of warnings if it detects that the driver does not have their hands on the steering wheel. If the driver does not respond, the system deactivates itself.
Tesla declined to comment on the incident.
That question is why it will take longer than 10 years.
There it is. How do the police stop these cars? Wait until a speck of dust messes with the computer system.
What about gps that doesn’t match up with the road?
So when you engage the system, the vehicle will generally follow the GPS route it "knows" because other Teslas have traveled this road. It uses optics and image processing to find the lines on either side of the lane to refine it's path. The radar is used to maintain separation from any vehicles in front.
If there is no GPS path for the road, or maybe it is only marginal (say only a few Teslas have driven through here before) then it will have to rely mostly on the optics. If the optic system gets confused - cannot find the lane markers with confidence - it will (or used to, when I test drove one) give a visual and audio warning that the driver needs to take over. Wet road, glare, dirt, faded or missing lines all can cause this. If it completely loses the lane, or even loses sufficient confidence in the lane position, and the driver isn't providing any steering inputs, it *should* (if I were programming it) reduce speed, coming to a smooth stop with hazards on.
What the police took advantage of here was the radar following function. If you're on cruise control at say 65 mph and roll up behind someone going only 60 mph it will slow to 60 mph and maintain a safe separation. If that person changes lanes it will accelerate back up to 65 mph. All the police had to do was get in front of it and slow down steadily. The Tesla will not automatically change lanes to go around a slow driver. So a single vehicle - any vehicle - can bring one to a stop.
They pull squad in front of vehicle then slow down to a stop
Wil bar business increase with ADCs? They’re saying on-the-road sex will increase.
Harry Harrison predicted these cars in Homeworld (To the Stars, Vol. 1) in 1980. Readers are amused when Jan Kulozik is driving on auto-pilot and drinking too much. The car won’t let him take back control because of it’s auto-breathalyzer, then takes him on the scenic route home. Angry Jan is finally allowed control in his garage and crunches his bumper on the back wall to show the car who’s boss.
Govt regulation of course. Duh!
Govt regulation of course. Duh!
Probably going to be about 20 years before you’re able to go to the bar, have a few drinks and have the car drive you home - legally.
Can’t wait to be able to live a more relaxed life, but by then I’ll be too old to enjoy it.
Sorry for being a stick in the mud, but I remain convinced there will never be a 100% self driving car. Too many variables and combinations of those variables.
With as many fines as possible.
It's all about the Benjamins.
Insurance and legal liability issues will be the drag on getting self-drivers on the road. The technology for self-drivers is probably already here.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.