UH OH- Tesla's self driving tests about to start in Austin TX

TwoTankAmin

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Tesla is about to do limited testing of if self driving cars in Austin TX. The system Elon has chiosen to use reliaes only on cameras and not radar or lidar.

This morning on the early news i saw a piece about this. Apparently, the teslas are not able to recognize a stopped school bus, a fire truck or an ambulance. The vid below should scare heck out of us. And the Tesla wont pull over for a firetruck or ambulance.

 
I do not understand the attraction of self-driving cars for normal driving. I do see some value as public conveyance. To me, and I stress to me, part of owning a vehicle is the fun of driving it. For the past maybe 40 years the push in personal vehicles has been toward basic function without personality, or what are basically trucks whose function is not actually employed.

I like to remember the days of Vettes, Camaraos, Mustangs, Chargers and all those great American muscle cars. We absolutely loved tooling about with the top down in the 69 Camaro with 350 engine and four speed on the floor. It was the best way to enjoy a Sunday drive. No self-driving car will ever duplicate the experience of driving a winding road, or for that matter going to market in that car on a sunny day.

I am also not thrilled with the modern driver assist junk on new cars. Call me old fashion, but I like to enjoy driving not riding. Besides, what is the backseat driver to do? Bark at an untended steering wheel?
 
I like driving, but I don't much care what I drive. If we had the public transit infrastructure of many parts of Europe and Asia, I would use it, with the car for the places it doesn't take you to. I can sit and look out the window of a train. I would not like to be in a self driving car.
The push to market them seems wrong headed to me, and the resources wasted there would be better employed on public transport, at least in urban areas. In the 80s and 90s, we absolutely loved running down into the subway, traveling quickly and getting out in different places to do different things, knowing we had an efficient way back. Having to get a car was a major hassle, but was fun too, when you got out of town.
We could develop the infrastructure to allow the delivery of things too heavy for trains or the bus, and for urban people, half the need for a car would be gone. Just move the fish stores back into town from the wasteland suburbs.
A driverless car is like a moving sidewalk. Cool, but not needed and of limited usefulness.
My elderly Uncle used to talk about how people would go to large stores and buy groceries. Then he would load a cart and drive to their houses behind a pony, delivering their orders quickly. The idea of delivering heavy things easily was dropped because of the horseless carriage, but delivery has made quite a comeback. The driverless car? It ain't no horseless carriage and it won't solve much.
 
Here is what scares me most about self-driving cars. What if an enemy hacks into the system, takes control and has all the care speed up to 100+ mph and kill all who are on the road? Or what if they are more merciful and just turn of the system so the cars all just stop?

Humanity is basically stupid. Almost anything we invent for real uses that can also be used to kill people has been and will always be.

I have no children, so when Teslas start killing kids they wont be mine. Elon Musk is not a decent person.
 
It's not just Teslas. In SF self driving Waymo cabs, with more "inputs" than Teslas, don't work very well. Sometimes they stop in the traffic lane for no apparent reason. A bike rider was injured by 1 pulling into a no stopping lane & allowing the passenger door to open into her bike lane, On top of that, another Waymo also pulled over & she had no way to dodge the open door. This despite the Waymo "safe exit" policy. Of course she's suing.

There's no way I'll be riding in any self-driving car or bus.
 
The goal of the devices seems transparent. Eliminate human error. Eliminate wages paid to commercial drivers.

For human error, we have a lot of machine error now. It could be that will improve. For truckers, a major industry where I am, it will be a disaster. Trucking companies will love it.

Self driving vehicles will be hacked, and ransomware will be popular in some crooked circles. It's a great puzzle to play with for the engineers working on it, but I think the ultimate goal is to reduce costs for companies, and in this case, costs are people.
 
when these or others work with maximum efficiency and safety it will be a great championship for the world!
I see some really crazy behavior of drivers, just yesterday on the highway they were weaving between one lane and another.
The advantages for me would be enormous. Just yesterday I finished holding a dog training course at ten in the evening and left for home, I arrived at two in the morning very tired, driving non-stop. This morning getting up at seven was dramatic, I was very sleepy
I imagine the same journey with me sleeping and the car being driven by automatic sensors
Thursday I'm leaving for Norway and it will be two and a half days of travel, I would like to sleep all of them and not drive or at least look at the view
 
In the news today. Fromhttps://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/23/tes...ht-on-camera-in-austin-get-nhtsa-concern.html

Tesla
was contacted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Monday after videos posted on social media showed the company’s robotaxis driving in a chaotic manner on public roads in Austin, Texas.

Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker debuted autonomous trips in Austin on Sunday, opening the service to a limited number of riders by invitation only.

In the videos shared widely online, one Tesla robotaxi was spotted traveling the wrong way down a road, and another was shown braking hard in the middle of traffic, responding to “stationary police vehicles outside its driving path,” among several other examples.



Tesla's self driving system is a danger to the public, IMO. The system it uses is inadequate for safety. Musk and Doge tries to shut down and/or weaken the government agencies which regulate self-driving. Musk may be a genius in many respects, but the one thing he is not for sure is a decent human being. Your life doesn't matter to him at all.

Of course, the above is my personal opinion bases on what I know about him. Feel free to disagree.
 
Tesla v.s. Waymo self driving taxis.


The scary part is not considered in this vid. The Tesla does one of its known gltiches- the sudden unexplained rapid breaking. What would have happened had the gal in the Tesla been holding a hot cup of coffee when the breaks got put on suddenly and hard?

As far as i am concerned this vid shows many of the reasons why Tesla self driving cars are not read for use on public roads and should not be allowed on them. Talk about not ready for Prime time.....
 

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