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Comment by ajnin | Hacker News Reader

Tesla/Elon Musk have this weird irrational obsession with using only cameras for their autopilot. Yes, humans can drive using only two eyes (and also actually ears, touch feedback and acceleration sensors), but they also have a lot of accidents. It's not obvious that you can do better with software only, and in any case you're crippling yourself by not using additional inputs for no good reason.

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> irrational obsession with using only cameras for their autopilot

it's so they can upsell FSD with the highest margin using the cheapest hardware (they're not even good cameras, 1280×960 resolution because they want to push pixels directly into their neural net, and dynamic range is poor, I will never understand how they didn't spring for infrared night vision, cadillacs had it 20 years ago)

I think you could also say that people seem to have an irrational obsession with Tesla’s decision to only use cameras. Camera only systems aren’t uncommon among other automakers (Subaru Eyesight, for example.)

There is nothing irrational about being concerned by the fact that complaints of phantom braking incidents increased significantly after Tesla dropped radar from its data sources.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/02/teslas-radar-less-cars-...

Your comparison does not apply. I do not believe Subaru is selling Eyesight as a hands-off driving system. AFAIK its purely marketed as a safety system for emergency braking, lane keep assist and the like. On Tesla's side they market it as a the holy grail "autopilot".

The reason I’m making the comparison is that there are reports of phantom braking when Teslas aren’t in Autopilot.

The same vision-based system is used for AEB in Teslas. Subarus use a vision-based system for AEB but don’t seem to experience phantom braking.

I think you could reasonably conclude that autopilot aside, a vehicle can safely use a vision-based system for AEB without phantom braking being a huge issue.

And it’s lane assist isn’t “keep the car centered”… it’s the steering equivalent to emergency braking, a sudden jerk away from the line it thinks you’re about to cross.

The newer versions have lane centering which isn’t quite equivalent to Autosteer in a Tesla, but it’s much closer to it than the older versions that only have lane keep assist, which only nudges you away from a lane line you are about to cross.

Our human "cameras" also scan constantly, have crazy dynamic range, employ dynamic shades (hands) and move around several feet, inside a protective weather proof shield, as well employ "sensor fusion" with "microphones" and "vibration detectors".

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