Dec 8, 2021
Tesla “whistleblowers” complain about safety issues and the company faked a major demo in 2016
Reference articles
Tesla whistleblowers say CEO Elon Musk mislead buyers and undermined safety with Autopilot driving system that’s been blamed for fatal crashes
Tesla Faked Original Full Self-Driving Video, Former Employees Allege
· https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-full-self-driving-video-allegedly-faked/
As for the faked demo. Of course, it’s fake. AND they used LiDAR to HD map the route. AND they edited out a collision with a roadside barrier. Is anyone surprised by this? (Barring the ethically challenged Tesla lemmings.)
Regarding the whistleblowing. Of course, getting rid of the (poor fidelity) radar was a mistake. Most importantly we have confirmation the radar was ditched because of chip shortages. (Which happened way after the radar decision was made BTW.) According to the insider Elon didn’t want to deal with third parties. And did not like how the mounting of the radar hardware looked. (I think that’s nonsense. They don’t make the cameras. I think the issue is the hardware can’t process another sensor properly.) Another concerning issue brought to light is Elon forgoing backups to assist in case of a malfunction. (Isn’t this an best practice? Wouldn’t these systems be ASIL D and require redundancy?)
Regarding this “whistleblowers” themselves. Yes, it’s good these folks are coming forward. However, these people are not only not saints they are only slightly smaller devils. Where were they last year? Beyond that they are still in the industry and using the same basic reckless development and testing approach as Tesla. That being the over reliance on the real-world and needless use of human Guinea pigs because they don’t use the right simulation technology. Yes, Tesla’s sensor system is a nightmare, as is the reckless DM alarm time of 20 seconds or more and the “Autopilot” and “Full Self Driving” names are dangerously misleading. This means Tesla is more reckless. However, the rest will harm people needlessly. Why haven’t they yet? Because they have that better sensor system and DM. and they have tight ODDs where Tesla is developing in the US as a whole.
More detail here. Including how to do this right.
The Deadly Industry, NHTSA and NTSB “Autopilot” Name Change Diversion
NTSB Chair falsely states “We have done all we can do” with regard to Tesla’s “Autopilot” debacle
NHTSA should impose an immediate “Autopilot” moratorium and report initial investigation findings in 30 days
The Autonomous Vehicle Industry can be Saved by doing the Opposite of what is being done now to create this technology
SAE Autonomous Vehicle Engineering Magazine — Simulation’s Next Generation (featuring Dactle)
· https://www.sae.org/news/2020/08/new-gen-av-simulation
How the failed Iranian hostage rescue in 1980 can save the Autonomous Vehicle industry
Tesla “autopilot” development effort needs to be stopped and people held accountable
My name is Michael DeKort — I am a former system engineer, engineering and program manager for Lockheed Martin. I worked in aircraft simulation, the software engineering manager for all of NORAD, the Aegis Weapon System, and on C4ISR for DHS.
Industry Participation — Air and Ground
- Founder SAE On-Road Autonomous Driving Simulation Task Force
- Member SAE ORAD Verification and Validation Task Force
- Member UNECE WP.29 SG2 Virtual Testing
- Stakeholder USDOT VOICES (Virtual Open Innovation Collaborative Environment for Safety)
- Member SAE G-34 / EUROCAE WG-114 Artificial Intelligence in Aviation
- Member Teleoperation Consortium
- Member CIVATAglobal — Civic Air Transport Association
- Stakeholder for UL4600 — Creating AV Safety Guidelines
- Member of the IEEE Artificial Intelligence & Autonomous Systems Policy Committee
- Presented the IEEE Barus Ethics Award for Post 9/11 DoD/DHS Whistleblowing Efforts
