Whoopsy:
Tim:
Leawood911:

Forget about it. That is a simple problem.  Drive a Tesla. It keeps track of ten times the interactions you describe. And it never rests and is always on the lookout. Even with autopilot deactivated it would jump in and react if there was a vehicle in your path. It uses the concept of drivable space. For actual information into how they solve problems like the one above check out their last investor video where they describe the hardware, software and how the AI learns based on all the miles the fleet has driven.  It is remarkable and as a software developer I get it. To think a human can track as many possible outcomes and decision points is just silly. It will only keep getting better. 
I totally get that the automakers who can’t do this - yet - as well as Tesla claim it is difficult. It is. But to think everyone needs to be in an autonomous car is silly. There are still pedestrians and bikes as well as weather and tons of natural hazards.  The car will still be millions of calculations ahead in all these scenarios than a person. 
Drove 10 hours back on i70 yesterday. At night the wind from the north made staying on the road quite difficult for everyone around me. Without autopilot it would have been a long night keeping the car going in its lane. Instead I just turned the system on and it allowed me to pay extra attention to those other hazards. The car fought the wind and turns effortlessly. Most impressive at 85 mph.  The car is especially useful in the fog when a human would not even see a car. The Tesla even sees when a car ahead in traffic is stopped long before a human would be able to see it with the other car in the way. 
Expect close to a ten fold increase in safety according to the insurance institute. That is due to active safety which is always on standby. It also makes you a better driver, if you don’t use your turn signal all the time you will soon get tired of the system reminding you - love that. 

Out of curiosity - how does a Tesla with the latest software react in the scenario mentioned above? This is a pretty common scenario, right... .


 

 

Teslas on autopilot just drive straight over the pot holes, they don't react to them as they can't see them. Many have damaged rims as a result.

Autopilot are programmed to stay within the white lines. 

I don’t think he was talking about the pot holes. The car will avoid all obstacles unless they pose no danger. A pothole poses no danger to life. Most humans hit them especially in traffic when there is no choice.  Some things are better solved by street maintenance.  Are we waiting forever for full autonomy?  A better issue is something like do you hit a dog or pedestrians when forced to choose. These are much better problems if you want to illustrate the problem of autonomy. 
As the Tesla is sitting or driving it is tracking all moving and stationary objects. It is constantly making ballistic calculations for each object depending on its speed and direction of travel. If it senses something entering or about to enter your open space it will take evasive action based on all available choices.  These are millions if not billions of decisions per second. After many hours of driving no human can match the number of things it is watching out for.  Priceless and included in the cars price.