By TechThop Team
Posted on: 22 Aug, 2022
As part of Tesla's 'full self-driving' beta software, which has advanced driver assistance features but doesn't allow the cars to drive themselves, tests were conducted to verify that pedestrians, and children, could be detected and avoided by the cars.
The social media platform removed the videos because it doesn't allow content showing minors participating in dangerous activities or encouraging minors to do dangerous activities, according to a YouTube spokesperson. In addition to YouTube, Alphabet also owns Waymo, which makes autonomous vehicles.
A TV ad by the Dawn Project, an organization aiming to ban unsafe software from safety critical systems, showed Tesla's FSD software repeatedly hitting child-sized mannequins on a test track prompted Tesla investors to post videos.
The Dawn Project, which is headed by Green Hill Software CEO Dan O'Dowd, advertised that FSD was 'the worst software ever sold by a Fortune 500 company' in The New York Times in January.
An August 14 video posted by Tesla investor and CEO Tad Park showed him driving a Model 3 at eight miles per hour toward one of his children on a San Francisco road. Tens of thousands of hits were recorded before YouTube removed the video.
He told CNBC that his kids were never in danger and that he was prepared to take over at any time. As seen in the video, the car slowed down and didn't kill or maim his kid.
The Tesla Model S comes with Autopilot, which includes features like traffic-aware cruise control, steering assistance within clearly marked lanes, and pedestrian detection at crosswalks.
As Tesla's most advanced ADAS, FSD features Summon parking as well as Navigate on Autopilot, which can guide cars from highway on-ramps to off-ramps and now functions on city streets.
As a result, the vehicle requires the attention and control of a human driver at all times. Several accidents involving Tesla vehicles that may have been using one of the ADAS systems have prompted investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
A federal investigation into 830,000 Tesla vehicles equipped with Autopilot was updated last week to learn how Tesla's cabin camera detects when a driver isn't paying attention and sends alerts.
Several state lawmakers have also been voicing their concerns about Autopilot and FSD. Late in July, the California Department of Motor Vehicles filed complaints alleging Tesla was falsely advertising its ADAS capabilities.
The CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, tweeted Sunday that FSD's North American price would increase from a one-time payment of $12,000 to $15,000 beginning September 5. FSD only allows one payment of $12,000.
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