The groundbreaking video of a Tesla driving itself in 2016 was staged, according to the director of Autopilot

the video of a Tesla Driving himself published in 2016 was a hoax, Ashok Elluswamy revealed. The same director of the autonomous driving software indicates that the demo was actually of a predetermined route, so the vehicle did not have the ability to differentiate traffic or obstacles as it currently does.

“the much publicized Tesla’s video of its Autopilot driver assistance system, ‘Driving Alone’, from 2016 didn’t actually drive itselfaccording to Ashok Elluswamy, director of Tesla’s Autopilot software”, reports The Verge. The disclosures are part of the transcript of a July 2022 deposition taken as evidence in a lawsuit against Tesla over a fatal 2018 accident involving a former Apple engineer.

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According to Tesla’s director of Autopilot software, the video was intended to represent what the system could do in the future. “Elluswamy said the video titled ‘Full Autonomous Hardware in All Teslas’ was intended to ‘portray what the system could build’ rather than what customers might actually expect the system to do”, adds the medium.

Therefore, the route had already been chosen previously. “According to Elluswamy, demo was ‘specific to a default route’compared to the production version of the technology that only relied on information from cameras and sensors“, Add. Elon Musk even tweeted a link to the video on the company page, assuring that “Tesla drives itself (without any human intervention) Through the urban streets to the highway to the streets, then find a place to park”.

Tesla drives itself (no human input at all) through urban streets to highway to streets, then finds a parking spot https://t.co/V2T7KGMPBo

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 20, 2016

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“[El vehículo] was using additional premapped information to driveElluswamy said, after telling lawyers that the route the car followed had been previously mapped in 3D. At the time the video was being made, Elluswamy was one of the engineers on the team that helped create the video.

Also, the vehicle did not have many of the features shown in the video. “Elluswamy also said that the version of Autopilot that was available when the video was produced ‘had no traffic light capability’, despite it being shown in the video. What’s unclear is how exactly the video was made. Elluswamy says he doesn’t remember if the person in the driver’s seat controlled the acceleration or braking or if the car did. It’s also unclear if the car was running software capable of recognizing traffic signs.”, concludes the portal.

Full Self-Driving Hardware on All Teslas from Tesla on Vimeo.

Source: Elcomercio

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