A Tesla robotaxi inexplicably drove into a parked car
By: Jackson Chen (Engadget)
Musk cut too many corners trying to manufacture self driving cars cheaply while maintaining an obscene markup price. Now Tesla is locked into an inadequate optics only system that's uncompetitive. The real world performance is revealing the flaws in that cheapskate approach.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
One of Tesla's fully autonomous robotaxis grazed a parked car after completing a ride recently in Austin, Texas. In a video recorded by YouTuber DirtyTesla, a self-driving Model Y is seen turning and accelerating into a Toyota, making light contact with its tire. As seen in the video, the Model Y already dropped off its passenger, but had trouble navigating out of the dark alleyway afterwards. Tesla's robotaxi service launched in Austin just two weeks ago with a small fleet.
According to DirtyTesla, there were no serious injuries or damages and the robotaxi's safety monitor eventually swapped to the driver's seat and drove off. Although the sideswipe was minor, it's unclear what caused the Tesla to drive into the parked car instead of driving off normally after completing the ride.
Outside this incident involving another car, other invited guests have shared their unexpected experiences with Tesla's robotaxi service. So far, we've seen the robotaxi service abruptly stop for emergency lights that aren't on the road and briefly drive on the wrong side of a double yellow line. It's important to note that Tesla's self-driving software relies mostly on cameras and artificial intelligence. That's unlike some of its competition, like Waymo, which uses a combination of cameras, lidar and radar for its robotaxi service. However, Waymo isn't without its own incidents, one of which led to a voluntary recall of its fleet in Phoenix, Arizona, following a collision with a telephone pole last year. More recently, Waymo issued another recall for its robotaxis, which were reportedly prone to hit roadway barriers that are harder to see.
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Robotaxis are on the way out anyway. More attention is being given to autonomous mass transit using standard high capacity buses or using smaller vehicles (similar to the old trolley buses) for high frequency microtransit service. That makes sense because public transit operates on defined routes according to defined schedules which is a less challenging operating environment than dynamic personal transit.
There is an explanation - they are not reliable enough to be used on a mass basis.
How often do human drivers do inexplicable things? should humans not be allowed to be used on a mass basis?
These sort of anecdotal stories are silly. There will always be accidents. Robots will never be perfect. They will kill people with mistakes. The question is always can they drive cars at a rate that is at least as safe as humans.
It’s obvious what will happen. Even if robot cars are twice as safe as human ones on a per mile basis, people will seize on stories like this to “prove” robot cars are unsafe.