Summary/Reader Response Draft 4

 Electric Vehicles

 

The electrifying technology behind Electric Vehicles (EVs), specifically Tesla models, have significantly driven the transition towards solutions for automated transportation (Armstrong, 2023). The Autopilot system, developed by Tesla, is considered by many to be the forefront of vehicle automation, as it leads the charge for the future of cars and transportation by merging cutting-edge hardware with advanced software. Essentially, Autopilot is an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) that enhances safety and convenience when driving.

 

At its core, Autopilot employs 8 external cameras, ultrasonic sensors, radar, and a powerful onboard computer to perceive and interpret the surrounding environment (Tesla, n.d). The key features of Autopilot include Traffic-Aware Cruise Control (TACC) that adjusts the cruising speed of the vehicle to match surrounding traffic, Autosteer to assist in steering on vehicular roads, and Navigate on Autopilot, which enables automated lane changes and highway interchanges. In addition to these driving-assist features, Autopilot also includes several advanced safety technologies, such as Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward and Side Collision Warning and Obstacle Aware Acceleration (Tesla, n.d). Although a driver must remain behind the wheel, Autopilot allows the vehicle to drive autonomously with minimal driver intervention, reducing the overall workload of a driver through partial vehicle automation (Tesla, n.d). Despite being a revolution in the car industry, Tesla's Autopilot is plagued by persisting limitations in certain essential areas, such as not being able to be fully autonomous, having navigation capabilities impacted by poor visibility and inaccurate and outdated map data.

 

Tesla Autopilot’s most consequential limitation is its unavoidable need for a driver to consciously operate the vehicle. As opposed to manual driving, Autopilot gives drivers the illusion that the vehicle is entirely self-driving, which inadvertently encourages distracted driving – leading to accidents and fatalities. Furthermore, Autopilot sometimes fails to recognise other vehicles and stationary objects, resulting in accidents as the vehicle is unable to stop when required. According to Boudette’s (2021) article which detailed a fatal Tesla Autopilot accident, a driver’s lapse in attention resulted in a fatal crash with the car in front. As such, it is paramount to have safeguards in place to ensure that drivers stay attentive, should they be required to reclaim manual control as situations arise (Casner et al., 2016). 

 

Poor visibility caused by weather conditions and dirty cameras will also affect Autopilot’s operational capabilities. As Autopilot employs 8 external cameras to perceive the surrounding environment, sub-par weather conditions like heavy rain or snow, that may result in cameras and sensors being covered or dirtied, would heavily limit the navigation capabilities or even render the navigation ability useless. According to Iqtidar Ali’s (2019) article on Tesla’s Smart Summon function during light snowfall, Autopilot was only able to navigate to its owner under snowy weather conditions at a speed of 1 mph because its Smart Summon detected the weather conditions to be unideal. In more severe conditions that fully cover the external cameras, the Smart Summon feature cannot be used and the vehicle would remain stationary.

 

Another limitation of Autopilot is that it is heavily dependent on updated data in its Global Positioning System (GPS) to navigate accurately and safely. Inaccurate and outdated map data will result in incidents where Autopilot drives through new stop lights and stop signs not reflected in its GPS. According to Jotti Mann (2023)​, a Tesla Model 3 in Full Self-Driving mode “did not slow down before it hit water on the road and crashed into a pond”. The road had a temporary "flooded" sign on the side of the road alerting drivers to the water ahead, which Autopilot failed to capture and account for, as it was not reflected in its GPS.

 

Though Autopilot has limitations which could cause fatalities if not addressed properly, one must consider that there is prospective use in reducing the workload of a driver because less focus is needed to control the vehicle with Autopilot’s automation features like TACC, Autosteer, and Navigate on Autopilot. An experiment done by Transportation Research Group in the University of Southampton showed that Autopilot could reduce the workload of a driver to overall low levels of between 10% to 43% (variable environment being relatively empty highways to busy city rings) (Heikoop, Winter, Arem, & Stanton, 2019).

             

In conclusion, Autopilot should be treated as an advanced driving aid rather than an autonomous driving system. The functionalities of Autopilot serve to enhance safe driving and assist drivers but should not instill an unwarranted sense of confidence. In short, even with Autopilot, drivers still need to remain alert to their surroundings and be prepared to take over the wheel at any time. That said, continuous advancements in technology, such as better map data and sensor reliability, will also mitigate its limitations and weaknesses. Ultimately, the objective is to leverage the benefits of automation while ensuring safety on the road.

 

 

References

Ali, I. (2019). Watch Tesla Model 3 performing Smart Summon during light snowfall. From https://www.xautoworld.com/tesla/model3-smart-summon-snowing/.

Armstrong, K. (2023). Tesla Pioneers the Future: How Autonomous Cars Will Transform Transportation.
https://www.notateslaapp.com/tesla-reference/1353/tesla-pioneers-the-future-how-electric-and-autonomous-cars-will-transform-car-ownership-and-transportation.

Boudette, N. E. (2021). ‘It Happened So Fast’: Inside a Fatal Tesla Autopilot Accident.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/business/tesla-autopilot-accident.html.

Heikoop, D. D., Winter, J. C., Arem, B. v., & Stanton, N. A. (2019). Acclimatizing to automation: Driver workload and stress during partially automated car following in real traffic.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S136984781830500X.

Mann, J. (2023). A Tesla owner said his Model 3 in Full Self-Driving mode didn't slow down before it hit water on the road and crashed into a pond.
https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/news/a-tesla-owner-said-his-model-3-in-full-self-driving-mode-didnt-slow-down-before-it-hit-water-on-the-road-and-crashed-into-a-pond/articleshow/103106256.cms.

Stephen M. Casner, Edwin L. Hutchins, & Don Norman (2016). The Challenges of Partially Automated Driving. Communications of the ACM.
https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2016/5/201592-the-challenges-of-partially-automated-driving/fulltext.

Tesla. (n.d). Autopilot. https://www.tesla.com/support/autopilot.