Tesla hits the brakes on rollout of Full Self-Driving code to new users Tesla has hit the brakes on the rollout of its Full Self-Driving Beta software to new customers, while it delivers an update to faulty code in existing at least 362,758 cars already using the software in North America. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently found Tesla's FSD software was unsafe and …
My new (to me) car has speed limit sign recognition which works, most of the time! Over the weekend it managed to advise an 80mph limit and a 100mph limit and miss signs that were slightly obscured, or at an angle to the vehicle, and that's with UK limit signs which are quite clear by comparison with the US.
I also had the sat nav which shows the "normal" speed limit for the road but which doesn't know about temporary, changed or variable limits.
With common sense they are useful tools for a human driver, I don't know if Tesla's software is better at interpreting things but I can well imagine it would miss changes in limits and drive too fast.
I believe my Tesla does visual recognition of speed signs. It got fooled once by a sign near a school -
SPEED
LIMIT
35
1 - 3 PM
- or something, with the times just tacked on below the standard (U.S.) sign design. It thought I was way over the limit for miles and miles after that.
"I also had the sat nav which shows the "normal" speed limit for the road but which doesn't know about temporary, changed or variable limits."
This, plus the other myriad of things a sat nav can't really know, like roads "not cleared for snow" where many if not all are leading you at winter time ...
Only the driver has the full information picture, rest is approximation ...
My Corolla is okay with speed limits most of the time. Temporary limits and even variable limits don't normally bother it. If the camera disagrees with the satnav database it goes with the camera. Unfortunately the satnav is out of date for one road near me where the limit was raised from 50 to NSL. It's too short to have enough NSL repeaters to override the 50mph limit programmed into the satnav. Then there's the approach to M40 J11 coming down from Middleton Cheney where it decides to display the motorway sign on the dash. It'll be because it read it on the sign for the roundabout but I've never seen it do it anywhere else and what is the point of replacing the current speed limit with a motorway sign?
But the most egregious issue is driving along the A75 in south west Scotland. That road has separate speed limit signs for HGV and my car reads all of them and keeps telling me that the limit is 40mph.
Oh and it's auto-dip detection is poor. So basically it's great as long as you're not trusting it to understand what's going on.
Auto-dip? Oh FFS! It's bad enough we have to suffer people driving with headlights on because it's a bit cloudy, or nearing dusk, where sidelights are all you need. I've seen car auto headlights come on because the sun is low in the evening and the road goes between embankments. Coming out the other end, the sun is still shining, I still need my singlasses on, but all those "clever" cars don't quite see enough light to turn of the fscking headlights.
Worst case was dealing with a driver who was in a hire car without auto headlights and didn't know where the light switch was so driving up a motorway in the dark without lights. Stupid driver was old enough that auto-on headlights were not around when he passed his test but still thought it ok that if he didn't know how to switch the lights on it was still ok to drive. Allowing drivers to think they can switch to full beam always and let the car worry about when to dip them is just asking for trouble when we have people like that on the roads.
My wife's car displays what it believes is the current speed limit, and even though it's been correct the vast majority of the time I've driven the car, I still find it obnoxious far more than it's ever been at all useful. Of course it doesn't help that it flashes for a few seconds if I'm going faster than the notional limit.
Do not want.
Wasn't Musk complaining to all of the twits who follow him that the FSD recall shouldn't be called a recall as it would be an over the air thingamajigger? If what Musk claims is true then why should any of the Tesla owners have to wait in a queue? Could he perhaps be exaggerating? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Detecting a speed limit on UK roads shouldn't be that difficult, I now know after doing a speed awareness course the easy way to tell.
If the road has lamp posts and no speed limit signs its a 30 mph, if its anything over 30mph it should had repeater signs regularly to show the speed limit,
This doesn't apply to motorways which you assume are 70mph speed limit unless the signs tell you otherwise.
Thankfully following those rules have avoided me getting any more speeding tickets since i did the course 5 years ago..
And additionally, unlit roads outside of built-up areas which are national speed limit by default[*] unless otherwise signed and don't always have repeater signs, especially the more rural ones.
It seems speed awareness courses don't actually cover everything that the Highway Code covers in relation to speed limits based on two testimonies above, which is the actual "go to" place to learn about the rules of the road, something every driver is supposed to learn before they even pass their test, not at a speed awareness course after they broke the rules.
* Other caveats may apply. It's all in The Highway Code for those who care to read it.
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