An incredible time lapse video captured a Tesla driving autonomously traveling from Los Angeles to Silicon Valley with almost no human intervention.
The 358-mile route of the Tesla Model 3 Performance had a secondary human driver or one who took control during emergencies and loaded the car on the road.
The Tesla enthusiast and YouTuber Whole Mars Catalog (WMC), who made the six-hour trip, were compressed into a 15-minute clip.
He said the fact that there was no intervention showed “that this is more than luck.”
“The software is improving,” he added.
WMC explained that he had to stop only once to load the car into Kettleman City, about halfway through his trip.
Whole Mars Catalog, a Tesla fan, used the manufacturer’s still beta Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology to bring a model 3 from Los Angeles to Silicon Valley
The WMC video begins at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne and headed to San Jose making just one stop at a charging station.
“The fact that he came all the way to Los Angeles and then backed up without zero intervention suggests that this is more than just luck,” the video’s title says.
“The software is improving. That drive was even better than the previous one, although there were still a lot of bugs and areas for improvement that didn’t require a disengagement.”
WMC drove the same Tesla prototype from San Francisco to Los Angeles in December with almost no human intervention.
The video shows the Tesla Model 3 driver’s vision updated with the experimental Full Self-Driving technology that makes the 380-mile journey.
The image shows Tesla’s six-hour journey that began at Hawthorne outside of Los Angeles and ended in San Jose.
The Tesla Model 3 Performance made the 358-mile journey from Los Angeles to Silicon Valley unassisted. He had a human safety driver on board, but the only one took care of loading the car once
The electric sedan encountered numerous traffic environments, from roads to urban streets, and was adapted from navigation to autopilot as needed.
However, it was not a totally driverless excursion: in the video you can see how the human owner takes control to avoid debris on the road and load the car along the way.
There was also “erratic” driving on San Francisco’s Market Street, Engadget reported.
While driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles, Whole Mars Catalog only took the wheel a few times, even to avoid wreckage and recharge the car.
A select number of Tesla owners have been invited to test the technology and share the results of using the new system.
Launched in October, FSD is billed as an “advanced driver assistance system” that uses external cameras, radar, ultrasonic sensors and a powerful on-board computer to steer, change lanes, park, navigate highways. and slow down and stop at the traffic light.
Last fall, youtuber Dan Markham and SpaceX enthusiast Eli Burton filmed his ride down Las Vegas Boulevard in an FSD-equipped Tesla Model S.
Tesla fell shy of meeting CEO Elon Musk’s goal of delivering 500,000 vehicles by 2020, the company announced Saturday.
He lost the target in less than 500 cars, but with the final numbers still counted, he could end up crossing the threshold.
The vote was made long before the global coronavirus pandemic shut down factories around the world and dumped established resource channels into chaos.
Tesla introduced its beta FSD technology in October and has allowed some users to try it out (archive photo)
“I’m very proud of the Tesla team for achieving this important milestone!” At the beginning of Tesla, I thought we had (optimistically) a 10% chance of surviving, ”Musk said on Saturday. ‘Tesla is responsible for 2/3 of all the personal and professional pain of my life combined. But it was worth it.
In November, Consumer Reports removed the Model S sedan and Tesla’s Model Y crossover SUV from the list of “recommendations” due to several reliability issues.
The classification organization dropped the cars due to problems with the air suspension and the main touch screens of the Model S computer, and the crossover lost support due to problems with the hardware and body paint, he said. inform CNBC.
Consumer Reports continues to recommend the Tesla Model 3, used by Whole Mars Catalog.
Consumer Reports no longer “recommends” Tesla’s Model S sedan (seen here) and the Model Y crossover SUV because there are several reliability issues. The organization of classifications dropped the cars due to problems with the air suspension of the Model S and the main computer and touch screens
Many owners of the Model S Sedan and Model Y Crossover SUVs have reported problems with their vehicles over the years, claims that lowered Tesla’s overall ratings.
In 2015, the Model S was rated the highest-rated vehicle, but Jake Fisher, senior director of car testing at Consumer Reports, told CNBC that the group has seen several problems arise for the vehicle’s drivers.
“It has faltered throughout its life cycle,” he said, noting the fact that it was first introduced in 2012.
In November, Tesla notified some owners by email that their warranties would be extended to cover various issues, such as memory card failure.
The measure may have been an attempt to dismiss claims or even a mandatory withdrawal.
Shortly after the email was sent, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched a safety probe on Model S and Model X vehicles built between 2012 and early 2018: about 159,000 vehicles .
“The data show failure rates in excess of 30% in certain months of construction and accelerate failure trends after three to four years of service,” the agency said.
Last month, Tesla’s Freemont, California plant abruptly stopped producing the Model S and Model X SUVs.
No details were given as to why the production lines for these cars were closed between December 24 and January 11, but a revamped S model was seen crossing the Palo Alto last week.
“This hitherto unseen design appears to have a wider body than the Model S, updated headlights and wheels, a new rear diffuser and a more pronounced fender,” Gizmodo reported.
It is not known if the car was really a redesign or if it addresses the issues raised by Consumer Reports.