The Tesla fully autonomous driving It is one of the many promises that Elon Musk has made over the last few years. It also seems to be one of the businessman’s main concerns, especially now that he has presented the Tesla robotaxi, so he is doing everything possible to make his electric cars drive themselves, even if that involves risks.
Among other things, Tesla has a specialized group of test drivers who are responsible for pushing the brand’s autonomous driving system to the limit. They are known internally as ‘Project Rodeo’ and their role is to test this technology in real traffic so that the software can be developed as best as possible.
“The idea is that you are a cowboy on a bull and you try to last as long as you can”
Tesla’s objective with these tests is to collect all types of data to be able to develop the autonomous driving software and close the gap that exists between the semi-autonomous driving system that Teslas currently have and the fully autonomous driving system that the vehicles should equip. Tesla of the future, including Tesla Cybercab.
The middle Business Insider has spoken with members of the ‘Rodeo Project’ to find out how they work. These driverssome of them active and others who have been part of this group in the past, have asked to remain anonymous for fear of professional reprisals, but they have provided enough details to understand how this Tesla test equipment works.
One of the most striking issues about their work is that some drivers are part of a specialized group within the ‘Rodeo Project’ itself. They are the members of the “critical intervention” team and they are specially trained to wait as long as possible without touching the car controls before intervening in a critical situation.
According to Business Insider, the reason for holding out for so long without intervene in a dangerous situationas an imminent hit against another car may be, is that the more time the car spends driving autonomously, the more data development engineers have to work with.
It makes sense and is a way to speed up the development of autonomous driving software as much as possible, but it is extremely dangerous, both for test drivers and for other road users. Let us remember that these tests are carried out on public roads and in real traffic conditions.
“If you have a parent who holds the bike all the time, you never learn to ride a bike,” one of the engineers told Business Insider. “You’re basically driving on adrenaline for the entire eight-hour shift. You feel like you’re on the verge of something going very wrong,” explains a former test driver for this group.
“The idea is that you are a cowboy on a bull and you try to last as long as you can,” explained another former test driver for this team who worked in San Francisco, United States.
This medium has spoken with a total of nine test drivers who are currently part of ‘Project Rodeo’ or have been part of it in the past and with three other engineers who develop the autonomous driving system. They have all worked or work in California, Texas y Florida.
All of them have clarified that they have not been involved in no accidentbut five of them claim that they have been on the verge of having it, either in the form of a collision with another vehicle or hitting pedestrians.
And it’s no wonder because they had to do some of the tests in the bar area of a city late at night, when the streets were full of people, many of them drunk. The goal was to see how Tesla’s software reacted in that situation.
Of course, one of the Tesla engineers indicates that, before carrying out the open road testing and to implement software updates, the brand usually does closed-circuit simulations with the test drivers’ own vehicles.
Regarding the specific training of these drivers, Business Insider says that before joining their job they receive practical training for two or three weeksincluding driving tests with an instructor sitting in the front passenger seat who evaluates your driving skills.
The most experienced drivers are those who are part of the ‘Critical intervention’ group of ‘Project Rodeo’. Only they are trained to let the car drive without their intervention for as long as possible, they can even decide not to intervene after the car makes a mistake, as long as they consider it possible. In theory, they can only take manual control of the vehicle to avoid an accident.
These drivers confess that they have faced really worrying situations, but that they have not intervened because they believed that if they did they could put their jobs at risk. They say they have had pressure to take the system as far as possible.
One of them says that in one of the tests he was doing, while he was driving through Stanford University, his manager, another test driver with more experience than him, reproached him for braking too soon.
On another occasion, the same driver came within a meter of hitting a cyclist at a roundabout. “I remember this guy jumping off his bike. He was terrified. The car came at him and all I could do was hit the brakes,” the driver told Business Insider, clarifying that his handler told him that was perfect: ” “It seemed like the goal was to almost simulate an accident and then avoid it at the last second.”
In part, what Tesla engineers intend pushing software to the limit In this type of situation it is to check if the software itself is capable of correcting itself.
“At the critical moment when you’re about to make the key decision, we want the data to know what led the car to that decision. If you intervene too soon, we don’t get to the exact moment where we can say: Okay, now.” We understand what has happened,” clarifies one of the Tesla engineers.
The enormous problem with these tests is that, despite being useful for developing autonomous driving, they are very dangerous and one of the brand’s engineers doubts that the computer simulations were realistic enough to guarantee that there is no risk. when tests are carried out on public roads.
Source: www.motorpasion.com
