Tesla’s autopilot was able to travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles without driver assistance. Nearly
Tesla Autopilot (Full Self-Driving, FSD) is still in beta testing, but this does not prevent owners of such cars from using it for autonomous trips. Almost autonomous. Tesla enthusiast Whole Mars Catalog posted a video on his YouTube channel showing a Model 3 with FSD handling the trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles with little or no human intervention.
The only exception occurred immediately after arriving in Los Angeles when the driver took control to avoid the problematic section of the road. This appears to be the first known recorded use of full autopilot for such an unattended trip.
This is a notable achievement for a technology that is still in the test and, despite its name, does not allow taking your hands off the steering wheel – all responsibility for the position on the road rests solely with the driver. At the same time, it testifies to how far technology has already gone on the way to making the dream of robotic taxis and robotic cars, in general, comes true.
Whole Mars Catalog took control of a car in one of the sections because it does not completely trust the autopilot – while the automation is not yet at the level to really talk about automatic driving. It’s worth adding that the highways between cities and California’s warm climate are perfect for Tesla’s camera technology. On snow, automation can face more serious difficulties – lidars and other sensors may be required to avoid collisions.
