Comma one cancelled (Self driving kit for USD999)

[BugsyB]

An add-on to cars with electric power steering allowed it to have advanced adaptive cruise control for less than USD1000.

CEO George Hotz and his group comma tried to deliver this aftermarket kit that allowed an experience very close to self driving. Crowd support through their chffr app had been gathering road data to be compiled to allow the cars to operate very similarly to Tesla's Autopilot. However, as announced on twitter, they cancelled this project to avoid dealing with the legal aspects after receiving a letter from the NHTSA. George Hotz, also known as Geohot, had been the first person to jailbreak an iPhone. 

 

https://twitter.com/comma_ai

https://commaai.blogspot.com.au/

http://comma.ai/

 

I was really looking forward to this, it seemed like such an amazing product

[dizmo]

And many lives were saved because of it.

 

[BugsyB]

How would it be any worse than a 90 year old driving around? It's an adaptive cruise control system, not a driver replacement. I've been using Subaru's eyesight system whenever I drive, it makes driving a lot less tiring as I don't need to be paying as much attention to the car right in front of me and transfer that more to my surroundings. Yes, of course there are some weaker areas that these systems need some work on but the fact that it is a computer means it is very predictable before the systems fail. An example of failing would be approaching a car at a speed difference of over 60km/h where the cameras aren't able to distinguish objects quickly enough. 

[Misanthrope]

22 minutes ago, BugsyB said:

How would it be any worse than a 90 year old driving around? 

It wouldn't be.

 

Another question: how is the fact that we mistakenly let the elderly drive nullifies the fact that you shouldn't save money on a cheapo device to drive a metric ton of steel into things at extremely high speeds?

 

So we need to regulate more: regulate any asshole that does a bit of software and says "this can drive a car!" and anybody over 50 should take anual driving test to keep their driver licence.

[dalekphalm]

3 hours ago, Misanthrope said:

It wouldn't be.

 

Another question: how is the fact that we mistakenly let the elderly drive nullifies the fact that you shouldn't save money on a cheapo device to drive a metric ton of steel into things at extremely high speeds?

 

So we need to regulate more: regulate any asshole that does a bit of software and says "this can drive a car!" and anybody over 50 should take anual driving test to keep their driver licence.

I don't think 50 should be the age at which you require an annual test - 50 is not as old as it used to be. My fiancee's mother is 50 and she's as sharp as they come. 50's not even close to retirement age.

 

I think once you get into your mid to late 60's - perhaps then. Maybe once you hit retirement age (65 in Canada).

[Ringthane]

8 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

I don't think 50 should be the age at which you require an annual test - 50 is not as old as it used to be. My fiancee's mother is 50 and she's as sharp as they come. 50's not even close to retirement age.

 

I think once you get into your mid to late 60's - perhaps then. Maybe once you hit retirement age (65 in Canada).

Agreed.  I'm 43 and I'm just finishing up a degree.  That's a long way from being one of those old people you see that can hardly see, hear, or move, and makes everyone around them cringe every time they get near a car.

[dalekphalm]

2 minutes ago, Ringthane said:

Agreed.  I'm 43 and I'm just finishing up a degree.  That's a long way from being one of those old people you see that can hardly see, hear, or move, and makes everyone around them cringe every time they get near a car.

Yeah most of the time when someone is talking about an old person in this manner - that person is like, goddamn 80 or something.

[Misanthrope]

2 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

I don't think 50 should be the age at which you require an annual test - 50 is not as old as it used to be. My fiancee's mother is 50 and she's as sharp as they come. 50's not even close to retirement age.

 

I think once you get into your mid to late 60's - perhaps then. Maybe once you hit retirement age (65 in Canada).

50 through 55, then 55 through 60 and then every 2 years . 

 

I'm sure we can find a sensible system of overseeing the elderly or people approaching widespread health issues that do impair vision, mental faculties and reflexes . 

[DrMikeNZ]

9 hours ago, BugsyB said:

How would it be any worse than a 90 year old driving around? 

Why is there so much ageism here. Not everyone grows the same, and not everyone falls apart at the same age. There are still people still sharp and competent at driving in their 90's.

NZ crash statistics shows age group 20-24 is about as likely to have a fatal or injury crash both per distance traveled and per license holders as the 80+ group (15-19 had the highest crash rate, although this is likely due to inadequate driver training programs before 15 as that is the minimum age to drive).

 

If you build and program a device intended to give a vehicle lane assist etc functionality, you are giving that device control over the vehicles steering. If the device was not installed properly, or had a software issue, then there could be some instances that the system glitches out and locks steering randomly causing a crash. There are regulations around vehicle safety. This company was not willing to adhere to regulations and chose to pull the product instead of demonstrating that it was safe.

 

If they tried to market the product in other countries they would have run into a huge amount of legislative hurdles in each country. Overall installation and certification costs (assuming any automotive electrician would accept the liability) would push this up to the point where you would be better off trading in your car and buying something new and reputable with built in driver assist.