# So, now that we're here...



## Dan Detweiler (Apr 8, 2016)

So, it now appears that Tesla is at or very near the point of having level 5 autonomous driving capability (within the next year or so) in both hardware and software applications. I think pretty much everyone agrees that the governmental regulations allowing for this type of operation of a vehicle will be the thing that drags this out.

So, can/would Tesla release the capability to owners with the strict stipulation that a legal driver must be in the driver's seat and be ready to take over control at any time? Call this level 4+ autonomy or whatever. Essentially complete autonomy without the driverless part. What does Enhanced Autopilot look like at that point?

Too many liability problems for people who would try to take advantage of it? What do you think?


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## Michael Russo (Oct 15, 2016)

Dan Detweiler said:


> So, it now appears that Tesla is at or very near the point of having level 5 autonomous driving capability (within the next year or so) in both hardware and software applications. I think pretty much everyone agrees that the governmental regulations allowing for this type of operation of a vehicle will be the thing that drags this out.
> 
> So, can/would Tesla release the capability to owners with the strict stipulation that a legal driver must be in the driver's seat and be ready to take over control at any time? Call this level 4+ autonomy or whatever. Essentially complete autonomy without the driverless part. What does Enhanced Autopilot look like at that point?
> 
> Too many liability problems for people who would try to take advantage of it? What do you think?


Hi Dan. I don't imagine T≡SLA taking that kind of a chance before being given a true green light via appropriate country regulations. They will not want to take the risk of incurring liability for something they cannot control... 
On the other hand, you can be sure they will do a lot of lobbying with all necessary facts, figures & demos to drive this legislative change wherever feasible!!
Have a nice Georgia Sunday!!
Greetings from Belgium,
Mike


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Dan Detweiler said:


> So, can/would Tesla release the capability to owners with the strict stipulation that a legal driver must be in the driver's seat and be ready to take over control at any time?


Assuming that this would be legally acceptable in a given country/state, then yes, I think this is exactly what they would do. This is how Google (and others) is currently allowed to test their fully-autonomous vehicles in some states.


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

Providing that it's not 'misleading' to consumers I expect that's what they'll do. Even call it a beta test of a level4 system and have millions of miles of stats to provide to regulators showing how safe it is.


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## james connolly (Apr 11, 2016)

Question about autonomous driving with no person in the car. Imagine the following scenario.
The car is driving on it's own and comes across some kind of incident. The police have closed a road
and there is a police office directing traffic using gestures. What does the car do ?

1. Just pull over and stop.
2. Contact the owner via their smart phone for an input.
3. AI will have developed to a point very soon where the car will be able to identify a police office and 
understand the gestures.


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## TrevP (Oct 20, 2015)

The timing of Autopilot 2.0 is perfect as far as the legal discussion aspect is concerned.

@Kennethbokor and I have been talking about doing something on the show for a while now and it's coming together. Stay tuned for updates, I think everyone will like what we're going to do


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

@james connolly - not even just wrecks, but leaving every baseball/football game I've gone to in Seattle has police directing which way you can turn for many blocks around the stadiums - sometimes making a two way street into one way to get traffic out of the area faster (ha - faster in Seattle is totally relative!) or making a turn that otherwise would not be allowed, or going thru an intersection with a red light and a cop directing traffic to keep moving.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

james connolly said:


> The car is driving on it's own and comes across some kind of incident. The police have closed a road
> and there is a police office directing traffic using gestures. What does the car do ?
> ...
> 3. AI will have developed to a point very soon where the car will be able to identify a police office and
> understand the gestures.


The answer is #3, with the caveat that it doesn't require advanced AI, just basic machine learning. Google has already programmed their cars to recognize cyclist hand signals. They will understand the signals (or at least recognize that the road is blocked), and re-route.


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