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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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[-] MidsizedSedan@lemmy.world 47 points 2 weeks ago

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?

[-] Feersummendjinn@feddit.uk 54 points 2 weeks ago

They originally the model S had front facing radar and ultrasonic sensors all round, the car combined the information to corroborate it's visual interpretation.
According to reports years ago the radar saved Tesla's from multiple pileups when it detected crashes multiple cars ahead (that the driver couldn't see).
Elmo in his infinite ego demanded both the radar and ultrasonics be removed, since he could drive with out that input so the car should be able to.. also it is cheaper.

[-] Ronno@feddit.nl 18 points 2 weeks ago

Exactly, my previous car (BMW) once saved me in the fog by emergency braking for something I wasn't able to see yet. My current car (Tesla) shuts down almost all safety features when the camera's can't see anything, so I doubt it will help me in such situations. The only time my Tesla works well is in perfect conditions, but I don't live in California.

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[-] Breadhax0r@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago

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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[-] Ledericas@lemm.ee 17 points 2 weeks ago

tesla uses cameras only, i think waymo uses lidar.

[-] dan@upvote.au 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

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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[-] teuto@lemmy.teuto.icu 46 points 2 weeks ago

According to Ol' Elon the robo-taxi service has been a couple months away since 2017 or so. I can't imagine it's much closer now than then.

[-] DogEarBookmark@reddthat.com 20 points 2 weeks ago

It's right at the end of the tunnel they're diggin in CA

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[-] blady_blah@lemmy.world 45 points 2 weeks ago

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.

[-] Sauerkraut@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

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.

[-] shawn1122@lemm.ee 11 points 2 weeks ago

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

[-] whome@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 2 weeks ago

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

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[-] Etterra@discuss.online 33 points 2 weeks ago
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[-] Sorgan71@lemmy.world 33 points 2 weeks ago

They should just program it to drive through the painted tunnel but when another driver comes behind you they crash into it.

[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 29 points 2 weeks ago

OMFG someone test to see if Teslas stop to eat free bird seed.

[-] GratefullyGodless@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago
[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

So many Acme products we need to test, I saw one guy already successfully tested an Olmec statue.

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[-] Halosheep@lemm.ee 28 points 2 weeks ago

Very surprised Mark isn't... Super supportive of musk and Tesla.

He owns a Tesla and is rather wealthy at this point. Not to mention that he's Mormon. I'd expect him to be very conservative and all in on the grift.

[-] KayLeadfoot@fedia.io 26 points 2 weeks ago

What a world we're living in!

Observing a technical deficiency in a robotics platform requires political considerations. Even when a car drives into a fucking wall at 40MPH on camera, people are asking about the camera man's political party affiliation and not what's wrong with the car.

Wild!

[-] Halosheep@lemm.ee 15 points 2 weeks ago

Unfortunately when the vehicle in question is created by a company owned by a man operating a government agency, it's a valid question. He could have just never made the video, but making one that directly opposes the narrative of people you'd expect the "camera man's" political affiliation to be seems unusual.

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[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 12 points 2 weeks ago

I’d expect him to be very conservative

We still don't know for sure. That video will likely become one of, if not his top-grossing videos. The topic and timeliness are absolute fire.

I give him some credit, though. It's a dicey time to throw Musk under the self-driving bus while showing that alternatives don't have the same problem.

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

Rober is definitely a businessman out to make money and is very self-promoting and will accept just about anybody as a sponsor, but I can't think of anything he's done that's been out-and-out deceitful or political. And he really does have some engineering chops.

I think he's a good voice for this b3cause he's been so intentionally apolotical, and even my right-wing family likes his stuff.

Though my YouTube crazy engineer of choice is Stuff Made Here. He spends months between videos, but the stuff he makes is awesome, and he shows off a lot more of the actual creative process. And his fabrication tool collection is insane for a home shop.

[-] conicalscientist@lemmy.world 26 points 2 weeks ago

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.

[-] futatorius@lemm.ee 13 points 2 weeks ago

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

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[-] nichtburningturtle@feddit.org 25 points 2 weeks ago
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[-] Iheartcheese@lemmy.world 22 points 2 weeks ago

It got fucking wile e coyoted

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[-] happydoors@lemm.ee 22 points 2 weeks ago

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

[-] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago

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

[-] PraiseTheSoup@lemm.ee 10 points 2 weeks ago

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

[-] TheYang@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks 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.

[-] jet@hackertalks.com 20 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)
[-] KayLeadfoot@fedia.io 17 points 2 weeks ago

"But humans can do it with their eyes!" - says the man not selling a human brain to go with the optical sensors

[-] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

“But humans can do it with their eyes!”

That's the best part, they kinda can't.
There are videos from before they pulled the sensors of some pretty cool stuff where teslas slammed the breaks before anything visibly happened, based on lidar sensors sensing trouble a couple cars up the road, completely blocked to vision.

super cool safety tech, and then they pulled it....

one example here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIcC2ZMePKI

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[-] cm0002@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

The day I heard that was the day I realized he's a fucking idiot and I wanted nothing to do with his cars/tech.

Judging by how things have turned out...damn was that a good decision lmao

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[-] rational_lib@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

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.

[-] PlaidBaron@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

Who owns the White House right now?

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[-] vga@sopuli.xyz 15 points 2 weeks ago
[-] King3d@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago

This is like the crash on a San Francisco bridge that happened because of a Tesla that went into a tunnel and it wasn’t sure what to do since it went from bright daylight to darkness. In this case the Tesla just suddenly merged lanes and then immediately stopped and caused a multi car pile up.

[-] fallingcats@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 2 weeks ago

You'd think they have cameras with higher dynamic range and faster auto exposure in their cars by now. Nope, still penny pinching.

[-] Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 2 weeks ago

If only elon hadn't insisted on not using lidar or anything other than just visible light cameras

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[-] futatorius@lemm.ee 13 points 2 weeks ago

Suddenly, there are more Yellow Brick Road murals everywhere.

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[-] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

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

[-] Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

I saw the video pop up in my Youtube recommended, but didn't bother watching because I just assumed that any cars tested would be using LIDAR and thus would ignore the fake road just fine. I had no idea Tesla a) was still using basic cameras for this and b) actually had sophisticated enough "self driving" capabilities that this could be tested on them safely.

[-] Lukas@feddit.org 9 points 2 weeks ago

They are not still using cameras but removed LIDAR and radar from their cars during the chip shortage 2020/21. The story they were telling was "humans don't have LIDAR but can drive cars as well, so the cars also only need 'eyes' like humans".

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

Humans cannot, in fact, drive cars well. Humans kill tens of thousands of other humans with cars every year in the US alone.

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[-] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 weeks ago

And let me just add, Musk ordered the LIDAR removed against the engineers better judgement.

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this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
534 points (98.4% liked)

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