>

They've also killed a lot of people
I'm not a fan of luxury cars, but I've always appreciated how the S-class has always shown us what things will be like across all brands in less than 10 years. >

I have a Kia EV-6, which has Level 2 Self-Driving, and that is already pretty fucking amazing.  I might need to go to a Mercedes dealership and see if I can get a test drive of this S-class to see how cool the new technology is. >

I believe Genesis will have level 3 this year as well and hyundai has been testing level 4 on public roads in Korea for about a year now.  We bought a car this year, so probably won't be buying another for 10 years or so. It's going to be so different when that happens. >

Yeah... the difference between what cars were ten years ago, versus five years ago, and now today has been an amazingly fast set of advancements.  By 2030 the technology is going to be amazing. >

What about in 2050? >

I want my fucking flying car by then. >

Which part do you want more? The fucking or the flying? >

By 2050 I may be too old to do one of those safely, so definitely the other. >

Elon is gonna be pissed. >

Mercedes banned from Twitter. >

You joke, but Twitter has actually banned and shadow banned people for being critical of Tesla of posting videos of them malfunctioning >

No freedoms for them! >

This is a big blow to Tesla, I mean obviously it's only limited to Nevada but still this headline will shake market confidence alongside all the headlines of the past year shaking confidence, don't think I ever saw the world turn on a man so fast, it was not so long ago pro-Elon headlines were all over Reddit, then right around the time the Chinese beef started was when the narrative began to really changed. >

It was always going to be the case.
Self driving will be ratified through the EU with a standardized system which will go global due their markets. It needs to be that way as companies don't test their self driving against each other, it'd be impossible to do. For safety and investment sake, it'll be standard.
Mercedes has been working on the train track problem (do you pull the lever to save the group of children and kill an adult) for decades now. I think the system will come out of them primarily.
Tesla will be no where near it and it's choice of tech (cameras) just can't work for full auto driving. >


Mercedes has been working on the train track problem

Ngl I wonder if the precedent here is gunna have a knock on effect about our morality regarding sacrifice. It’s one thing to think about a many vs one situation, another to make a decision in the moment and something else entirely to know when buying “the car I own will kill me if it needs to in order to save lives”.
It’s society adopting a definitive position on the trolly problem. >

It’s hard to imagine the suicidal resolution. What would that even look like? I guess maybe driving off the road to avoid a pedestrian?
Realistically, the application of that principle is just one extremely narrow subset of the problems of an autonomous vehicle. Most of the time a collision can be avoided simply by stopping or swerving. This kind of issue only comes up when a potential victim behaves in a way that is literally unpredictable- something entering the path of the vehicle too abruptly for the car to stop, while oncoming traffic or a barrier or precipice prevents swerving. Frankly I think it’s disingenuous to even worry about a car’s “ethics” in navigating such a scenario. >

Additionally if it drives off the road to save someone would that not mean people could get in front of your car on purpose to have the AI crash you? Or would the AI be fine with hitting jay walkers? It brings up a lot of weird questions. >

I'm not a Mercedes driver but this is very promising and I'm glad there is progress outside of Tesla.  Hopefully this feature isn't locked behind a subscription. >

I actually believe Benz if they say this. I never believed the autopilot in Tesla cars worked. When it first came out there was a dude killed 32 miles from me because the camera thought the side skirt on a semi was a cloud and it never changed lanes. >

Not an intentional slight against Tesla, but I agree. 
I’m more reassured that Benz would execute on this to a comfortable degree before launch. 
Tesla has a definite “move fast and break things”
mentality that translates to Alpha testing on paying customers systems that, with benefit of hindsight, appear quite incomplete and unsafe. >

Just testing on customers would be bad enough.  The bigger problem is they're testing on the rest of us who didn't sign up for it.
Also its not just hindsight, foresight said they were insane and unsafe.  When every other manufacturer that's claiming to be attempting self-driving is using more sensors than just cameras, and you continue to insist to only use cameras, its not just hindsight saying you're wrong. >

Is there any statistical evidence that Teslas auto pilot is worse than other auto manufacturers? >

No one else is claiming "Full Self Driving" and then causing multi-car pileups >

I'm not sure I buy the metrics coming from Tesla. It's my understanding that "autopilot" will essentially shut itself off one second before a crash. So technically it isn't to blame, but it puts the human in a difficult or impossible spot to recover from. Another thing to consider is that autopilot doesn't even function in adverse conditions such as heavy snow, heavy rain, or thick fog. This would skew the numbers further in autopilot's favor because it forces humans to take control in actual challenging conditions. >

We are two totals different ways to move forward. Brands like Mercedes do it really slow, focused on safety and in collaboration with lawmakers. 
Tesla just forces it’s head through the wall and goes with trial by error and is bold enough to just call their cruse controls “auto pilot”. 
Both can be successfull, the future is going to be interesting. >

And what people don't recognize is that Tesla never was ahead of the curve. Automakers like BMW and Mercedes had autonomous driving years ago. They just don't release stuff with complete disregard to safety. I remember watching a video from over 10 years ago with amazing autonomous driving in a small German town. I think it was from either BMW or Mercedes. >

The same is true for higher levels of autonomy. Companies like Waymo had fairly safe self driving years ago but they've been working on all the edge cases and safety concerns. It's funny to see people say "wHeRe Is It" when it's been in use privately for millions of miles and is now publicly available in Phoenix. 
What Tesla did was so irresponsible honestly. >

According to the SAE levels of driving automation, a Level 3-capable vehicle can take over certain driving tasks, but a driver is still required to be present and ready to take control of the car at all times when prompted to intervene. 
Because having a tenth of a second to avert a crash is plenty of time for a human to put down their burrito and take the wheel again. >

It’s more like the car will prompt you to take over when you’re exit is coming up or the traffic jam you’re stuck in begins to clear. It’s not a “you’re immediately about to crash” it’s “the car can’t handle every scenario, so once it recognizes that it’s beyond its capability (based on speed, road type, conditions, etc.) it will have the driver take over”. 
For example maybe this system car drive you through a slow traffic jam. But once the speed of the traffic exceeds 37 mph, it will prompt the driver to take over. Or a maybe there’s a system that can confidently drive on the interstate without intervention, but prompts you to take over before you reach the exit ramp. Something like that. >

OMG the Elon simps are so mad in this thread >

they're downvoting EVERYTHING! it's so sad, Muskbots on the prowl. >

I want everyone else to be driving on level 3+ so I can comfortably enjoy driving at level 0 with my stick shifts and analog controls. >

Honest question from someone who has only ever driven an automatic, what are the pros and cons of using a stick shift? >

Objectively speaking, there are very few pros. Way back during the era of 4-speed automatics, the gas consumption was bad, but these days automatics are as good if not better than manuals. I guess manuals are still cheaper and less prone to breaking (although clutch is a consumable part that you will have to replace at certain intervals no matter how you drive) and there can be some niche situations when you know that you want to stay in whichever gear you're in or shift in anticipation of something, but modern automatics are pretty responsive.
These days it's mostly about engagement during driving. If you don't like driving in general, you will not like driving with a manual. If you do like driving and want something more active/involved, it can be a thing for you. >


I guess manuals are still cheaper

Not true anymore. Manuals used to be slightly cheaper but they're in such low demand now that they are priced the same as automatics.

there can be some niche situations when you know that you want to stay in whichever gear you're in or shift in anticipation of something

It's hardly a niche situation to downshift. Have fun passing people effectively without going down into 5th. >


It's hardly a niche situation to downshift. Have fun passing people effectively without going down into 5th.

Last automatic I had was with a 2006 dodge and it would still downshift after flooring it faster than I could shift by hand. The days when it would take a second or two for the automatic to downshift are thankfully gone. >

I drove a 91 Corolla that wouldn't downshift for shit when I put the pedal to the floor. That car sucked ass. >

That's also a car that's technologically closer to a horse buggy than a modern vehicle. Car technology got much better much quicker after the shitshow that was automotive industry of the mid-90s. >

Went about as fast as a horse and buggy, too. Merging onto a highway was a gamble most days.
But also to counter your original point, I drive a manual Ford Fiesta. It's not fast but it's no slouch. When I needed to take it in for a recall, the dealer gave me an automatic version of the same car (albeit with the basic trim instead of the Titanium trim on mine). Dunno if it had some sort of limiter on it because it's a dealer loaner, but it wasn't much better than my old Corolla as far as acceleration and downshifting went. >

If this were true level 3 as all the articles imply then it would be massive. 
But it’s not. It’s super limited. Will only be a select few freeways in Nevada and limited to stop and go traffic under about 35 mph. It’s just a super fancy auto cruise control that the vast majority of people who own the car will never get to use except in very limited circumstances.  
It’s neat, but it’s nothing like what the headlines suggest it is. It is not even remotely a true level 3 autonomous car. >

Yeah but that whole time it will be learning and evolving. Interest will build in the technology and grow into a bigger market. No one else has anything better on the market. Its awesome for the potential. >

It’s a legal hurdle not a technical one. Tesla isn’t the only other mfr that is capable of level 3 automation on preset freeways under 35mph. They’re just shooting for something bigger than a gimmick. And there are vastly more teslas on the road to pull data to aid in “learning” for its network to function better at self driving. >

Tesla is only at level 2 automation >

It’s a legal liability decision. Not a capability problem. Autopilot is more than ready for what Mercedes is doing. I’m more than certain that bluecruise and super cruise are as well. It simply a matter of filing the right paperwork and taking on legal liability in a crash. 
What MB is doing is a gimmick. It isn’t even remotely a true level 3 autonomous system. >

What makes it "not a level 3 system"? You are very wrong on this. I don't think you have a firm grasp on the SAE level definitions. You thought Tesla was level 3 lol >

Missing some pretty big asterisks there:

Only approved in Nevada
Only on certain portions of roads deemed appropriate by Mercedes
Only when traffic density is high enough
Only up to 37mph >

Let me guess, tesla fanboy?
Andddd the first community OP is active in is r/teslamotors lol >

It’s almost like someone who owns a Tesla would likely be far more familiar with the progression of driver assistance features and would be curious to investigate their usage more than the average Reddit user. And seeing as the average Reddit user gets their information from a headline and not the article, it’s reasonable for a comment to make a clarification on the headlines statement. >

So you're actually the most unbiased because you're a tesla owner. Got it 👍
You showed me! >

Did he say anything untrue? >

To be clear you too are a tesla owner? >

Nope, I'm the proud owner of a Hondasensing equipped car, an ADAS system that's so incompetent no one uses it. I do have to give the AEB portion credit though, that does work and has saved my bacon. 
I do like following tech though and seeing the progress being made on automation. I find it disappointing that a sub called r/technology doesn't seem to. 
It's literally impossible to have an objective discussion of anything even remotely associated with Tesla these days. >

It's just interesting because most of your posts are about teslas >

Absolutely. I've been into cars since I was able to speak and in those 35 years or so, no one has pushed the envelope like they have. 
I quite like my Civic and will miss having a manual transmission to shift, but as someone who's watched the industry stagnate for so long, it's refreshing to see someone turn it upside down. 
They've basically pushed the limits on every front, from electrification, UX, manufacturing and ADAS, pretty much all at once. When they first showed up and were claiming to convert a modified Lotus to a functional EV, I was pretty derisive. When they showed off the S, I was sure it was bullshit; there's no way that could work. But by 2014ish, when I started actually seeing them on the road and seeing the Supercharger network roll out, I had to mea culpa. 
Honda have always been my favorite, but apart from making the Civic a good driver's car again in 2015, they've been asleep at the wheel. Surprisingly, it's Hyundai that's seen the writing on the wall and are actually doing something to catch up; that's something that I'd never have guessed.