Automobile Thread

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

I don't get it....or is it joke about Elon's preponderance for tardiness?

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

15 minutes. :o

[Bananarchy]

My uncle has one. They are ridiculous.

I wasn't driving, but the acceleration was intoxicating. I can't even imagine what it would be like to open that thing up on a highway.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Well that was super misleading. Elon tweeted that this was going to be related to Part 2 of the Model 3 reveal....but it really wasn't. Not that what they revealed ISN'T groundbreaking and a huge change for the industry, but I just really wanted to see what the inside of my car will look like.

 

The big announcement was that ALL Tesla vehicles currently rolling out of the factory and for the future will be FULLY equipt with the hardware for FULL autonomous driving.

 

"Eight surround cameras provide 360 degrees of visibility around the car at up to 250 meters of range. Twelve updated ultrasonic sensors complement this vision, allowing for detection of both hard and soft objects at nearly twice the distance of the prior system. A forward-facing radar with enhanced processing provides additional data about the world on a redundant wavelength that is able to see through heavy rain, fog, dust and even the car ahead.

 

To make sense of all of this data, a new onboard computer with over 40 times the computing power of the previous generation runs the new Tesla-developed neural net for vision, sonar and radar processing software. Together, this system provides a view of the world that a driver alone cannot access, seeing in every direction simultaneously, and on wavelengths that go far beyond the human senses.

 

Enhanced Autopilot adds these new capabilities to the Tesla Autopilot driving experience. Your Tesla will match speed to traffic conditions, keep within a lane, automatically change lanes without requiring driver input, transition from one freeway to another, exit the freeway when your destination is near, self-park when near a parking spot and be summoned to and from your garage."

 

 

And the BEST PART:

 

"Build upon Enhanced Autopilot and order Full Self-Driving Capability on your Tesla. This doubles the number of active cameras from four to eight, enabling full self-driving in almost all circumstances, at what we believe will be a probability of safety at least twice as good as the average human driver. The system is designed to be able to conduct short and long distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver’s seat. For Superchargers that have automatic charge connection enabled, you will not even need to plug in your vehicle.

 

All you will need to do is get in and tell your car where to go. If you don’t say anything, the car will look at your calendar and take you there as the assumed destination or just home if nothing is on the calendar. Your Tesla will figure out the optimal route, navigate urban streets (even without lane markings), manage complex intersections with traffic lights, stop signs and roundabouts, and handle densely packed freeways with cars moving at high speed. When you arrive at your destination, simply step out at the entrance and your car will enter park seek mode, automatically search for a spot and park itself. A tap on your phone summons it back to you."

 

https://www.tesla.com/autopilot

Edited October 20, 2016 by ChiliIrishHammock24

[RockRaines]

Got to ride in a colleague's Challenger SRT Hellcat. 707 HP of insanity.

Waiting for the Jeep GC Hellcat.....

[iamshack]

Well that was super misleading. Elon tweeted that this was going to be related to Part 2 of the Model 3 reveal....but it really wasn't. Not that what they revealed ISN'T groundbreaking and a huge change for the industry, but I just really wanted to see what the inside of my car will look like.

 

The big announcement was that ALL Tesla vehicles currently rolling out of the factory and for the future will be FULLY equipt with the hardware for FULL autonomous driving.

 

"Eight surround cameras provide 360 degrees of visibility around the car at up to 250 meters of range. Twelve updated ultrasonic sensors complement this vision, allowing for detection of both hard and soft objects at nearly twice the distance of the prior system. A forward-facing radar with enhanced processing provides additional data about the world on a redundant wavelength that is able to see through heavy rain, fog, dust and even the car ahead.

 

To make sense of all of this data, a new onboard computer with over 40 times the computing power of the previous generation runs the new Tesla-developed neural net for vision, sonar and radar processing software. Together, this system provides a view of the world that a driver alone cannot access, seeing in every direction simultaneously, and on wavelengths that go far beyond the human senses.

 

Enhanced Autopilot adds these new capabilities to the Tesla Autopilot driving experience. Your Tesla will match speed to traffic conditions, keep within a lane, automatically change lanes without requiring driver input, transition from one freeway to another, exit the freeway when your destination is near, self-park when near a parking spot and be summoned to and from your garage."

 

 

And the BEST PART:

 

"Build upon Enhanced Autopilot and order Full Self-Driving Capability on your Tesla. This doubles the number of active cameras from four to eight, enabling full self-driving in almost all circumstances, at what we believe will be a probability of safety at least twice as good as the average human driver. The system is designed to be able to conduct short and long distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver’s seat. For Superchargers that have automatic charge connection enabled, you will not even need to plug in your vehicle.

 

All you will need to do is get in and tell your car where to go. If you don’t say anything, the car will look at your calendar and take you there as the assumed destination or just home if nothing is on the calendar. Your Tesla will figure out the optimal route, navigate urban streets (even without lane markings), manage complex intersections with traffic lights, stop signs and roundabouts, and handle densely packed freeways with cars moving at high speed. When you arrive at your destination, simply step out at the entrance and your car will enter park seek mode, automatically search for a spot and park itself. A tap on your phone summons it back to you."

 

https://www.tesla.com/autopilot

This is all coming much faster than I think anyone anticipated...it will be interesting to see how this does on the market. The safety is the obvious selling point, along with the convenience, but some people, like myself, truly enjoy driving. I suspect there would be times when I would appreciate not having to actually drive, but for the most part, I find driving to be quite an enjoyable experience and a break from the other stressful parts of my day.

[RockRaines]

This is all coming much faster than I think anyone anticipated...it will be interesting to see how this does on the market. The safety is the obvious selling point, along with the convenience, but some people, like myself, truly enjoy driving. I suspect there would be times when I would appreciate not having to actually drive, but for the most part, I find driving to be quite an enjoyable experience and a break from the other stressful parts of my day.

Long trips on the highway, especially when you are exhausted would be nice. But I also think Law Enforcement at some point is going to have to figure out if its entirely legal.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

This is all coming much faster than I think anyone anticipated...it will be interesting to see how this does on the market. The safety is the obvious selling point, along with the convenience, but some people, like myself, truly enjoy driving. I suspect there would be times when I would appreciate not having to actually drive, but for the most part, I find driving to be quite an enjoyable experience and a break from the other stressful parts of my day.

 

I only really see myself using autopilot for highway driving, and then I would let the thing park itself when I arrive at a restaurant or something. I think I am probably far too aggressive of a driver to want to sit back and let autopilot cautiously maneuver through day-to-day traffic. lol

Edited October 20, 2016 by ChiliIrishHammock24

[StrangeSox]

This is all coming much faster than I think anyone anticipated...it will be interesting to see how this does on the market. The safety is the obvious selling point, along with the convenience, but some people, like myself, truly enjoy driving. I suspect there would be times when I would appreciate not having to actually drive, but for the most part, I find driving to be quite an enjoyable experience and a break from the other stressful parts of my day.

 

This is something they made a point about in some NPR show I caught on the road the other week. In the traditional automotive world, features like this are tested and tested again before they're rolled out. In the tech world, new software and features are often released into the public and then tweaked and updated as time goes on, bugs are discovered, etc. That mindset seems to be bleeding over into the more tech-minded automotive companies with Tesla being the obvious poster boy for it.

 

All you will need to do is get in and tell your car where to go. If you don’t say anything, the car will look at your calendar and take you there as the assumed destination or just home if nothing is on the calendar. Your Tesla will figure out the optimal route, navigate urban streets (even without lane markings), manage complex intersections with traffic lights, stop signs and roundabouts, and handle densely packed freeways with cars moving at high speed. When you arrive at your destination, simply step out at the entrance and your car will enter park seek mode, automatically search for a spot and park itself. A tap on your phone summons it back to you."

 

Case in point. Something like this is realistically at least a couple of decades away most likely, but Tesla is going to aggressively push this new tech out.

Edited October 20, 2016 by StrangeSox

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

This is something they made a point about in some NPR show I caught on the road the other week. In the traditional automotive world, features like this are tested and tested again before they're rolled out. In the tech world, new software and features are often released into the public and then tweaked and updated as time goes on, bugs are discovered, etc. That mindset seems to be bleeding over into the more tech-minded automotive companies with Tesla being the obvious poster boy for it.

 

 

 

Case in point. Something like this is realistically at least a couple of decades away most likely, but Tesla is going to aggressively push this new tech out.

 

The only thing holding them back appears to be regulations and laws. I mean, even with their current autopilot 1.0, it's not like there are crashes left and right and malfunctions. So far it has proven to be much safer and reliable than a human driver. And the best part is that EVERY mile longed gets added to their server to learn each road and therefor every vehicle that passes through it is getting a safer experience than the person before it. By the time the Model 3 comes out, or regulations allow for full Level 5 autonomy, Tesla will have 5-10x the amount of road data it currently has.

[StrangeSox]

Technology just really isn't that reliable at this point, unfortunately. I don't deal with moving vehicle self-control or whatever you want to call "autopilot," but I do deal with video analytics and other integrated sensor systems so I've got at least somewhat of a related background. Generally speaking, recognizing fast-changing surroundings through a variety of sensors in a safe and extremely reliable and quick manner is a very, very difficult engineering challenge. They've already had one fatal accident due to a misidentification of a truck. It's exactly those sorts of challenges that are difficult to find and identify on paper/whiteboard before you start doing real-world tests, and that's really what I'm saying about traditional auto versus the new tech-based auto manufacturers--the tech guys are coming for a world where it's perfectly normal and expected for the end-users to be essentially beta testing the product, and that could lead to some dangerous scenarios.

Edited October 20, 2016 by StrangeSox

[iamshack]

Technology just really isn't that reliable at this point, unfortunately. I don't deal with moving vehicle self-control or whatever you want to call "autopilot," but I do deal with video analytics and other integrated sensor systems so I've got at least somewhat of a related background. Generally speaking, recognizing fast-changing surroundings through a variety of sensors in a safe and extremely reliable and quick manner is a very, very difficult engineering challenge. They've already had one fatal accident due to a misidentification of a truck. It's exactly those sorts of challenges that are difficult to find and identify on paper/whiteboard before you start doing real-world tests, and that's really what I'm saying about traditional auto versus the new tech-based auto manufacturers--the tech guys are coming for a world where it's perfectly normal and expected for the end-users to be essentially beta testing the product, and that could lead to some dangerous scenarios.

I think you are correct, but I'll say as someone coming from a legal background, I am shocked that they've even pushed through what they have already.

 

My suv has some features that I would have thought were years away from a regulatory standpoint. The thing has cameras all over it that work to intervene in your driving should they determine an accident is probable. Now granted, it isn't anywhere close to what Tesla is stating in this press release, but really fairly advanced autonomy features. Auto braking, auto steering correction, traffic congestion assistance, etc. You literally enable the car to drive for you when in a traffic jam. It will speed up and slow down all on its own just based on what the vehicle in front of you is doing.

 

I am almost afraid to try some of this stuff.

 

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

So the idea of the car being to self charge got me thinking about communal charging stations at apartment complexes (people who don't have garages to charge their cars in safely). Since all Tesla's are always connected to the network, they can schedule charge times automatically overnight based on battery level and driver's morning work habits. The cars would drive themselves to the communal chargers, plug themselves in until charged, and then return to their parking space in the morning before the driver typically leaves for work in the morning, and all would schedule their times for priority automatically.

 

You would probably pay some sort of fees to your apartment for this, or a monthly subscription that the apartment complex gets a piece of to allow these chargers to be built at their complex.

[RockRaines]

I think you are correct, but I'll say as someone coming from a legal background, I am shocked that they've even pushed through what they have already.

 

My suv has some features that I would have thought were years away from a regulatory standpoint. The thing has cameras all over it that work to intervene in your driving should they determine an accident is probable. Now granted, it isn't anywhere close to what Tesla is stating in this press release, but really fairly advanced autonomy features. Auto braking, auto steering correction, traffic congestion assistance, etc. You literally enable the car to drive for you when in a traffic jam. It will speed up and slow down all on its own just based on what the vehicle in front of you is doing.

 

I am almost afraid to try some of this stuff.

My car drives for me as far as touching a pedal goes, but if some day it fails or the software freezes and I hit someone badly, whose to say its not the manufacturers fault? The more automated this gets, I feel like the legal issues are worse.

[Jenksismyhero]

I haven't really read up on the auto-pilot stuff, but isn't all the testing/real world placement of these cars done in perfect weather conditions? Have they been tested in rain/snow?

[iamshack]

My car drives for me as far as touching a pedal goes, but if some day it fails or the software freezes and I hit someone badly, whose to say its not the manufacturers fault? The more automated this gets, I feel like the legal issues are worse.

Yeah, I mean I suspect there will be plenty of those lawsuits. I've already thought about it in the instance where my car tries to correct my steering at times when it shouldn't. It seems as though sometimes when you go through an intersection that has a bit of a dip in it, the camera sees the lane lines slightly weird and it might try and move the vehicle to the right a bit.

 

It will all be interesting to watch play out.

[iamshack]

I haven't really read up on the auto-pilot stuff, but isn't all the testing/real world placement of these cars done in perfect weather conditions? Have they been tested in rain/snow?

I suspect the manufacturers are putting these things through some pretty rigorous testing in all sorts of different driving conditions.

 

Let's face it, they are already testing fully autonomous or even driverless vehicles pretty rigorously. The stuff that has hit the market has probably been in the making for more than 5 years.

[southsider2k5]

So I am about 98% for sure that my 2004 Impala that I drove off of the lot new back in Jan 2004 is toast. I think the transmission is shot. It won't even shift in to a gear now, and it revs the engine like it is trying to go, but it won't grab a gear.

 

Anyways, I am doing a quick look for a replacement. There is a dealership in town that specializes in cars coming off of leases with slightly high miles. I have a lead on a 2015 Jetta SE. The guy let me take it home for the weekend Saturday morning for a test drive. It has 36k miles on it, but he is asking only 12,900 for it. That blows away the prices I have seen anywhere else like on carmax or any of the local dealerships by a couple of thousand dollars for a similar mileage/option situation.

 

After driving it around a bit, I really like it. I had a Mailbu for a rental a couple of months ago after my Impala was sideswiped by an old man, and it was OK. The Jetta blows it away IMO.

 

I am curious if anyone else out there has experience with the line. I know they are cheap because of the Diesel scandal, but this is an automatic gasoline engine with the 2.0L engine in it.

 

Thoughts?

[iamshack]

So I am about 98% for sure that my 2004 Impala that I drove off of the lot new back in Jan 2004 is toast. I think the transmission is shot. It won't even shift in to a gear now, and it revs the engine like it is trying to go, but it won't grab a gear.

 

Anyways, I am doing a quick look for a replacement. There is a dealership in town that specializes in cars coming off of leases with slightly high miles. I have a lead on a 2015 Jetta SE. The guy let me take it home for the weekend Saturday morning for a test drive. It has 36k miles on it, but he is asking only 12,900 for it. That blows away the prices I have seen anywhere else like on carmax or any of the local dealerships by a couple of thousand dollars for a similar mileage/option situation.

 

After driving it around a bit, I really like it. I had a Mailbu for a rental a couple of months ago after my Impala was sideswiped by an old man, and it was OK. The Jetta blows it away IMO.

 

I am curious if anyone else out there has experience with the line. I know they are cheap because of the Diesel scandal, but this is an automatic gasoline engine with the 2.0L engine in it.

 

Thoughts?

They're nice cars. The 2.0L engine is a workhorse, and they are well-built cars.

 

I've seen a few out my way for around $15k with about half those miles...So you're probably getting a pretty fair deal.

[Chisoxfn]

So I am about 98% for sure that my 2004 Impala that I drove off of the lot new back in Jan 2004 is toast. I think the transmission is shot. It won't even shift in to a gear now, and it revs the engine like it is trying to go, but it won't grab a gear.

 

Anyways, I am doing a quick look for a replacement. There is a dealership in town that specializes in cars coming off of leases with slightly high miles. I have a lead on a 2015 Jetta SE. The guy let me take it home for the weekend Saturday morning for a test drive. It has 36k miles on it, but he is asking only 12,900 for it. That blows away the prices I have seen anywhere else like on carmax or any of the local dealerships by a couple of thousand dollars for a similar mileage/option situation.

 

After driving it around a bit, I really like it. I had a Mailbu for a rental a couple of months ago after my Impala was sideswiped by an old man, and it was OK. The Jetta blows it away IMO.

 

I am curious if anyone else out there has experience with the line. I know they are cheap because of the Diesel scandal, but this is an automatic gasoline engine with the 2.0L engine in it.

 

Thoughts?

So Mike, my general view of Jetta's is they are absolutely pieces of s***. Maintenance and issues galore. I have known few people who owned Jetta's over the years (not necessarily this line, so things could change) and every one indicated they would never own another Jetta. They loved the cars when they bought them too. Please note my comments are more towards stuff built within 2000-2010 so I don't know anyone who has ventured in the past few years, so they could have made improvements.

[CrimsonWeltall]

So Mike, my general view of Jetta's is they are absolutely pieces of s***. Maintenance and issues galore. I have known few people who owned Jetta's over the years (not necessarily this line, so things could change) and every one indicated they would never own another Jetta.

 

My parents have a mid-2000s Passat that's a grocery-getter and it's had numerous problems that all happen to be hard-to-fix issue related to some hard-to-find proprietary VW part.

 

On the hand, my brother-in-law has a mid-1990s Jetta with like 300,000 miles on it.

[Bananarchy]

A Jetta is expensive to fix for what you get. I know this sounds boring, but get an Accord or a Civic before you get a Jetta. At least those things will run without problems.

 

The new Civic is super slick.

Edited November 12, 2016 by Deadpool

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Finally saw a Model X in the wild today! 2 of them in Chicago, although one was in the parking lot at the Tesla store we stopped at, so that's kind of cheating. I must say, I like the Model X interior much more than the Model S.

[RockRaines]

Went to the dealership to buy an X5, walked out with another Jeep.

[iamshack]

Went to the dealership to buy an X5, walked out with another Jeep.

That's probably a wise decision. You do not want to buy the current X5.