Aftermarket September 2022

SEPTEMBER 2022 AFTERMARKET 27 www.aftermarketonline.net Does Tesla U-turn on radar signal a more sensible approach to self- driving? News broke in June that Tesla is apparently doing a major U-turn and re-embracing radar. The EV specialist famously stopped fitting radar to new cars in May last year, following years of protestations by CEO Elon Musk that self-driving could be best achieved with cameras alone. Last year, The New York Times reported: “Musk has repeatedly instructed the company's Autopilot team, which works on self-driving car tech, to ditch radar and use only cameras instead. The reason for this approach, Musk said in October, is to focus the data that's being presented to the car's computer systems. Tesla's camera-based "vision" self-driving tech "became so good," Musk said, that adding radar data was actually giving the system more information than it needed.” It has been widely reported that senior Tesla engineers have long disagreed with Musk on radar, pressing home many of the points made by Clem Robertson, CEO of UK-based R4dar Technologies. “Each technology has its shortcomings,” Clem said. “GPS is no good in tunnels; The cost of 5G can be prohibitive and coverage is patchy; Cameras aren’t much good over 100 metres or in the rain; Lidar is susceptible to spoofing or misinterpretation; Digital maps struggle with temporary road layouts – but together they create a more resilient system. “Radar only communicates with itself, so it is cyber-resilient. It works in all weathers. It is reliable up to 250-300m and very good at measuring range and velocity, while the latest generation of radars are getting much better at differentiating between two things side-by- side.” This latest development suggests that Tesla is now on- board with such thinking. www.aftermarketonline.net Follow us on Facebook: @aftermarketmagazine RAC Foundation Director Steve Gooding, a member of the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) expert advisory board, brings much-needed pragmatism to the UK self-driving debate. We contacted him after he was quoted in the government statement setting out changes to the Highway Code; The one that triggered Jeremy Clarkson’s memorable “Driverless cars are pointless – and they have built-in instructions to kill you” headline in The Sun. Fortunately, Steve is far more level-headed. Fully aware that strong winds of change are blowing through the motor industry, he meets the prospect of connected and automated mobility (CAM) with down to earth opinion based on solid experience. We started by asking him about the danger of people confusing assisted and automated driving: “I think there’s an issue here. If you tell me the vehicle is driving itself, it better had be,” he said. “I wouldn't point the finger at any particular manufacturer, but I can think of one whose vehicles are able to sense whether you’ve been holding the steering wheel. “I draw a sharp distinction – and we're all going have to start getting our heads around it – between advanced driver assistance and genuine automation. It’s often described as a continuum but I think there’s a massive step-change.” On the (mis)interpretation of the Highway Code changes, Gooding’s view is that, at this early stage, it is forgivable for people to get the wrong end of the stick, including the idea that you could prop a 42” widescreen TV on the dashboard, but that the Department for Transport is right to be highlighting the changes that automation will bring. “The first incarnation of driverless technology that appears to be headed our way is the automated lane keeping system (ALKS),” he said. “Of course, ALKS is some way short of genuine self-driving – but one might imagine a system that would take me to a certain junction, within the legal speed limit, anticipating the traffic ahead, steering and braking if necessary. My point is, let's start that conversation now.” Finally, talk turned to the RAC Foundation’s role in all this. “Probably the most important thing we're doing is by virtue of the fact that I'm a member of the CCAV expert advisory board,” said Steve. “It’s a very broad-ranging group of people who are genuinely world-leading experts in their fields. “The standard of driving we want from an automated system is that of a highly proficient chauffeur, like Parker from Thunderbirds, who’d have been mortified if his driving caused Lady Penelope to spill her champagne down her frock.” Self-drive like “Parker from Thunderbirds”