S&P500 value Tesla shares: Tesla’s autopilot fails miserably at a horse-drawn carriage

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• Tesla’s autopilot is completely confused by the horse-drawn carriage

• Viral internet video shows situation

• Despite the general amusement, this poses serious dangers

A horse-drawn carriage throws Tesla’s autopilot into deep confusion

There seem to be some problems with Tesla’s assistance systems, which sometimes even lead to downright funny situations. A short video has now appeared on the online platform 9GAG, which has caused some amusement on the Internet. In the clip, the driver of a Tesla vehicle films the visualization of the central display while driving behind a horse-drawn carriage. Basically not a particularly exciting situation, but the comedy of the scene arises from the fact that the vehicle’s software has the greatest difficulties in making sense of the horse and cart in front. According to the Handelszeitung, the video on TikTok has already been viewed more than 5.8 million times.

As the magazine EFAHRER explains, the display of a Tesla car gives the driver information about the recognized lanes and road users, which is the basis for the actions of the autopilot software. This autopilot is responsible, among other things, for warning the driver of slow-moving or stationary vehicles. However, this apparently does not work as desired in certain situations: in this case, the system was absolutely unable to correctly identify the vehicle in front.

The software recognizes everything – just not a horse-drawn carriage

The assistance system’s attempt to recognize the carriage for what it is resulted in an amusing series of failures. It begins with the Tesla computer telling the driver that the ancient combination is a truck. But then it happens: A car overtakes the carriage and the system suddenly decides to turn the team into a car, before turning it back into a truck just a little later.

But that’s where the spectacle really begins. The Tesla autopilot now begins to rotate the virtual image of the carriage truck on its own: First it shows the vehicle as standing across the road, the next moment the autopilot is of the opinion that the Tesla is even coming across as a wrong-way driver opposite. The autonomous action of the autopilot was deactivated in this case, but if it had been switched on, the Tesla would have braked independently in the face of the imaginary threat. It goes without saying that this represents an enormous safety risk. Finally, the autopilot knocks the bottom out of the barrel: it switches back and forth between truck and car as usual, but this time, ominously, the display also shows up pedestrian running behind the unidentifiable vehicle. Where it suddenly came from remains the secret of the Tesla software.

The security of the system leaves a lot to be desired

Although the video is a hit from a comedic point of view, it also clearly shows the weaknesses that Tesla vehicle software still suffers from. As mentioned above, situations like the one described here can lead to so-called phantom braking, i.e. braking processes triggered by the assistance systems for which there is no real reason and which can represent a dangerous intervention in road traffic.

And the shortcomings of the Tesla systems are generally nothing new: According to EFAHRER, in a judgment by the District Court of Munich I, which also involved Tesla’s autopilot, it came to light that the assistance system used to detect obstacles, such as narrow lanes , has big problems. As the Handelszeitung reports, the system sometimes even sees ghosts: in one case, people were suddenly displayed in an empty cemetery. So it’s obvious that Tesla still has a lot to do when it comes to improving its assistance systems.

Thomas Weschle / Editor finanzen.net

Image sources: Pe3k / Shutterstock.com, Nadezda Murmakova / Shutterstock.com