this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
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Mark Rober just set up one of the most interesting self-driving tests of 2025, and he did it by imitating Looney Tunes. The former NASA engineer and current YouTube mad scientist recreated the classic gag where Wile E. Coyote paints a tunnel onto a wall to fool the Road Runner.

Only this time, the test subject wasn’t a cartoon bird… it was a self-driving Tesla Model Y.

The result? A full-speed, 40 MPH impact straight into the wall. Watch the video and tell us what you think!

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 17 hours ago (17 children)

All these years, I always thought all self driving cars used LiDAR or something to see in 3D/through fog. How was this allowed on the roads for so long?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

They do.

But "all self driving cars" are practically only from waymo.
Level 4 Autonomy is the point at which it's not required that a human can intercede at any moment, and as such has to be actively paying attention and be sober.
Tesla is not there yet.

On the other hand, this is an active attack against the technology.
Mirrors or any super-absorber (possibly vantablack or similar) would fuck up LIDAR. Which is a good reason for diversifying the Sensors.

On the other hand I can understand Tesla going "Humans use visible light only, in principle that has to be sufficient for a self driving car as well", because, in principle I agree. In practice... well, while this seems much more click-bait than an actual issue for a self-driving taxi, diversifying your Input chain makes a lot of sense in my book. On the other hand, if it would cost me 20k more down the road, and Cameras would reach the same safety, I'd be a bit pissed.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

tesla uses cameras only, i think waymo uses lidar.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

Most non Tesla brands that have some sort of self-driving functionality use lidar and/or radar. I've got a BMW iX and as far as I know it uses cameras, radar, lidar, and ultrasonic sensors.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 16 hours ago (7 children)

I remember reading that tesla only uses cameras for it's self driving. My 2018 Honda uses radar for the adaptive cruise so the technology exists, musk is just an idiot.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 16 hours ago
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[–] [email protected] 44 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Honestly all the fails with the kid dummy were a way bigger deal than the wall test. The kid ones will happen a hundred times more than the wall scenario.

Some sort of radar or lidar should 100% be required on autonomous cars.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I think insurances will require that is it comes to self driving at least here in Europe.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 13 hours ago

EU leading the world in consumer protection laws yet again

[–] [email protected] 15 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

I fully agree, but sadly, investors likely care more about their cars hitting walls than hitting kids. Killing a kid or pedestrian in the US is often a very cheap fine. When my uncle was run over on a sidewalk next to his son, the police ruled it an accident and the city refused to do anything. Same thing happened when my friend was ran over in a bike lane.... So killing humans is probably cheaper than hitting a wall.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 17 hours ago

Interesting that in the most consumerist nation on earth, objects have more value than people.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 17 hours ago

Yep, I could see someone placing a billboard like that with a cliff behind it.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 day ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 75 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Anyone with half a brain could tell you plain cameras is a non-starter. This is nearly a Juicero level blunder. Tesla is not a serious car company nor tech company. If markets were rational it would have been the end for Tesla.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 hours ago

Notably, roomba vacuum cleaners use cameras instead of lidar that other robot vacuums use. I bought a high end roomba a couple months ago and it was crap at navigating my home, while my old xiaomi with a lidar works perfectly fine. Needless to say i returned the roomba.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 21 hours ago

If markets were rational, CEO compensation would never have grown so high, and there'd be no billionaires either.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Suddenly, there are more Yellow Brick Road murals everywhere.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (2 children)

A building owner would not want cars crashing into their property though. Why would they get a mural to intentionally deceive a robot car?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Because its fucking funny.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

And the driver will have to pay to rebuild it anyway

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I love that one of the largest YouTubers is the one that did this. Surely, somebody near our federal government will throw a hissy fit if he hears about this but Mark’s audience is ginormous

[–] [email protected] 33 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Honestly I think Mark should be more scared of Disney coming after him for mapping out their space mountain ride.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

He probably just made Disney admissions and security even more annoying for everyone else.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 13 hours ago

Judging by the fact that he has an imagineer-video out (effectively) at the same time as the space-mountain mapping, I'd expect that Disney was fully aware of what he was doing, and the whole sneaky-thing was just to make it more appealing to viewers.

[–] [email protected] 63 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (8 children)

The rain test was far more concerning because it's much more realistic of a scenario. Both a normal person and the lidar would've seen the kid and stopped, but the cameras and image processing just isn't good enough to make out a person in the rain. That's bad. The test portrays it as a person in the middle of a straight road, but I don't see why the same thing wouldn't happen at a crosswalk or other place where pedestrians are often in the path of a vehicle. If an autonomous system cannot make out pedestrians in the rain reliably, that alone should be enough to prevent these vehicles from being legal.

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