Tesla self-driving
software competitor
lies about Tesla's self-driving software
and endangers pedestrians doing so
Edward O'Dowd owns a software company that is trying to make self-driving software for cars. His company is way behind what Tesla has been able to make. So what does O'Dowd do? He takes out ads saying that Tesla's software is capable of killing children, that it is unsafe, and that federal regulators should force Tesla to turn it off (which would stop the advancement of the software). O'Dowd took out both newspaper and TV ads. The problem is: He is lying about every accusation he has made. His videos that supposedly demonstrate that Tesla's software is unsafe have Teslas that are either rigged to fail, or are not even in self-driving mode (he tried to hide these facts, but a keen eye can see that he did this).
From an O'Dowd video
of a Tesla hitting a dummy of a child
that is pulled across the road
O'Dowd's latest video supposedly shows how the Tesla's self-driving system's Driver Monitoring feature doesn't work. Tesla's present version of its self-driving system is not the final version... it's still in "beta" testing, and so it requires that the driver pay attention to the road so that the driver can take over control of the car if need be. To make sure the driver is paying attention, there is a camera pointed at the driver so the computer can know if the driver is not paying attention, and if the driver isn't, the car warns the driver that the self-driving system will be deactivated if he doesn't respond immediately.
O'Dowd's video that this photo is pulled from attempted to show that this "driver awareness" system doesn't work (even though it works just fine). So he somehow rigged the Tesla to drive in self-driving mode while the driver (wasn't O'Dowd) looked behind at the back seat for about five minutes straight! (With knowledge of software programming, it is possible to do this.) Please understand that the driver took his eyes off the road for five minutes while the car was driving itself!!! Being that Tesla's self-driving system isn't 100% finished yet, this technically put people's lives at risk! You can see him doing this in the inset in the photo below...
That inset shot was
taken by the video camera suction-cupped to the windshield, circled
in orange
And he was like this for five minutes! Yes, there appears to be someone sitting in the passenger seat, but they would not be able to grab the wheel or hit the brakes in time, which is the responsibility of the driver/monitor.
So the driver of this Tesla violated the Terms of Service for the self-driving software, and legally could be arrested for reckless driving, but he is obviously too stupid to realize this (we do get to see his face in the video, so he could be identified).
Also, in the green circle you can see a "cheat device" attached to the steering wheel. This gives the car's computer the impression that someone's hand is on the steering wheel. The car checks to make sure of this every two minutes, and if it doesn't detect a hand on the wheel, it alerts the driver to slightly jiggle the wheel to let the car know he's still alive. If the car doesn't get this confirmation, it slows down, stops, puts itself in park, turns on its 4-way flashers, and alerts "Tesla Central" so they can call the Police. So O'Dowd placed this cheat device on the wheel to circumvent this feature. Another violation of Tesla's Terms of Service.
So this is beyond being irresponsible and rigging Teslas to hit child dummies to try and show how a Tesla's self-driving software can hit a child... this is literally criminal endangerment. I hope that Tesla sues O'Dowd, and that Police apprehend the driver of this Tesla and charge him accordingly, because that is what both of them deserve.
And considering that Tesla's self-driving software has already saved lives, if O'Dowd is successful in getting regulators to force Tesla to turn off the software, O'Dowd would likely be responsible for people being killed. But like many business owners, he only cares about his company making profits... and Tesla stands in the way of that, so Tesla must be destroyed.
More about Tesla's Self-Driving software
More about the benefits of EVs in general