YouTuber defeats Tesla Autopilot in cartoonish fashion
Mark Rober shows the failure of Tesla’s Autopilot technology over LiDAR
As part of his latest video, YouTuber Mark Rober, a former NASA Engineer, dived deep into LiDAR technology and put Tesla’s vision-only Autopilot technology to the test. In the video, a Tesla vehicle was compared to a LiDAR-equipped vehicle to compare the capabilities of Autopilot and LIDAR, and Tesla’s vehicle failed several tests.
With Tesla’s vehicles’ Autopilot and self-driving technologies relying entirely on cameras, there are fears that the company’s “Full Self-Driving” goals are unachievable. After all, cameras can be impacted by visual issues caused by adverse weather conditions such as fog and heavy rain. LiDAR-based systems aren’t impacted by these conditions in the same way.
The final test in Rober’s video showcases how a Tesla reacts to an optical illusion. Will it crash into a wall with the road ahead painted on, Road Runner style? The answer is yes! Tesla’s Autopilot will not see the wall and will only see the painted vista, resulting in a collision. Below, you can see this collision for yourself. When repeating the same test on a Volvo EX90 with LiDAR, the vehicle stops before a crash could occur.
The Tesla Autopilot system failed several key tests
Mark Rober compared Tesla Autopilot with LiDAR in six tests. Test 1 had a dummy on the road. The second test had a child (test dummy) running onto the road. Test 3 repeatest Test 1 in foggy conditions. In test 4, test 1 was repeated in rainy conditions. Next up, the test was repeated with bright headlamps (simulating the headlamps of oncoming traffic). Finally, Rober conducted his “roadrunner” test.
Below are the results of Rober’s testing. LiDAR passed all tests with flying colours. Tesla’s Autopilot systems failed half of the tests below. However, Rober’s tests used Tesla’s Autopilot system, not Tesla’s newer “Full Self-Driving” software beta. If Rober didn’t use Tesla’s newest software, that means his findings are wrong, right?
Were Mark Rober’s testing methods flawed?
Mark Rober’s testing angers many Tesla fans. After all, he used Tesla’s Autopilot system, not its latest “Full Self-Driving” beta. Furthermore, his video was titled “Can you fool a self-driving car,” not “Can you fool Tesla Autopilot.”
While Rober’s testing didn’t use Tesla’s Full Self-Driving beta, the video’s core premise is highlighting the limitations of camera hardware and the perks of LiDAR hardware. Tesla fans argue that Tesla’s software will overcome the shortcomings of its vision-only hardware. This remains to be seen. Last month, a Tesla Cybertruck crashed with Tesla’s “Full Self Driving” beta enabled.
Another argument against Rober is that he has a financial incentive to “cheat” and make Tesla fail his tests. The argument is that he will get more views if Tesla fails, alleging that he didn’t use autopilot at all. If that is the case, Tesla can sue Mark Rober for defamation. If Tesla believes their vehicle can pass these tests with Autopilot and has evidence that Mark Rober cheated, they will likely file a lawsuit. So far, Tesla has not made any public statements about Mark Rober’s video.
You can join the discussion on Mark Rober showcasing the pitfalls of Tesla’s Self-Driving technology on the OC3D Forums.
