After several news and reports of controversies surrounding Tesla’s autopilot system. Tesla came up with a new monitoring system using a small camera above the rearview mirror for the drivers using the autopilot mode. The system is launching with the new Tesla Model 3 and Model Y to ensure that the drivers pay attention. Hence, they are still engaged with the driving system while using the advanced autopilot mode on Tesla.
Before the launch of this system, Tesla had another way of determining whether the driver was paying attention or not. Although, which seems to be an effortless mechanism becomes possible by the torque sensors on the steering wheel. It uses to note the resistance which can apply on the wheel when the autopilot mode is engaging. If the system notices that the wheel has been accessible without any resistance for too long. The car’s advanced system will warn the driver to be present.
Camera Monitoring System
The camera used for monitoring was present earlier but had no particular use as a driver monitoring system as told by the cars’ manuals. But the new vehicles are informing the drivers that they will use the camera to monitor the driver activities so that they will be kept in check. As reported by a second-time buyer Kevin Smith from Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
There were also several tweets from the vehicle users that the sensors in the steering were still active. However, other automobile giants such as Ford and General Motors also use the driver tracking system working with cameras. Therefore, use the eye-tracking system to ensure that drivers are paying attention while using the automatic driving features on the vehicle.
With this update, another thing that grabs attention along with the new update is the timing of the update. Tesla came up with the updates when it was being questioned about the safety of its vehicles and the effectiveness of the automatic driving system. The organization is confronting many government tests for hidden reasons. Moreover, Tesla included accidents in the U.S. some of which may have involved using Autopilot.
Tesla Auto-pilot Drawbacks
Tesla doesn’t characterize the expression “driver inattentiveness “. It utilizes in the delivery notes or what occurs if it concludes somebody isn’t giving adequate consideration. Many independent users of Tesla cars had tested the under development system. The conclusion was that the camera system was not very good at detecting movements in low light. But it works well when the driver’s attention divides because of reasons like engaging with the phone.
Though Teslas user manual warns drivers that the auto-driving mode needs “Active supervision”. Numerous cases have shown drivers sleeping in the back seat carelessly. Either not paying attention while the car is driving itself, as evident in the viral videos on social media. Who should we blame for careless behaviour? In our opinion, the marketing team of Tesla is the culprit as much as the drivers for not practising the safety measures.
Bottomline
Elon Musk’s auto business sells its driver help frameworks under Autopilot and Full-Self Driving, or FSD, a discretionary $10,000 overhaul. Tesla additionally offers a few drivers who paid for FSD the alternative to attempt incomplete driver help highlights in its FSD Beta program, adequately transforming them into beta analyzers.
The National Transportation Safety Board has approached Tesla to stop beta-testing on open streets utilizing clients instead of experts and to add strong driver checking to its vehicles. Although Tesla is all set to move the new system on roads, it is still unclear whether it follows the safety standards set by the NTSB.