this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
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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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[–] Halosheep@lemm.ee 29 points 3 days ago (4 children)

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 27 points 3 days ago (3 children)

(Edit: Ope, I think I misunderstood you, my bad. Disregard my reply.)

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 3 days ago (1 children)

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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[–] Polderviking@feddit.nl 18 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Mark is a smart guy, I'm sure he walks great big circles around anything political, at least publicly.

His audience is everybody, aligning publicly with any kind of political flow is generally a bad idea if you want that to stay that way, because the only thing you'll likely achieve is shrinking your potential audience.

I would also be careful with the assumption that all conservatives agree with what's currently happening.

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days 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 because 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.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 12 points 3 days 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.

[–] teuto@lemmy.teuto.icu 46 points 3 days ago (6 children)

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 3 days ago

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

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[–] MidsizedSedan@lemmy.world 49 points 3 days ago (11 children)

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 55 points 3 days ago (4 children)

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 3 days ago (9 children)

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 20 points 3 days ago (8 children)

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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[–] Sorgan71@lemmy.world 34 points 3 days 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 281 points 4 days ago (4 children)

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

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[–] Etterra@discuss.online 34 points 3 days ago (1 children)
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[–] conicalscientist@lemmy.world 76 points 3 days ago (4 children)

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.

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[–] blady_blah@lemmy.world 46 points 3 days ago (4 children)

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.

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[–] Iheartcheese@lemmy.world 179 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It got fucking wile e coyoted

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[–] rational_lib@lemmy.world 64 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (8 children)

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.

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[–] nichtburningturtle@feddit.org 48 points 3 days ago (1 children)
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[–] happydoors@lemm.ee 53 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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 33 points 3 days ago (2 children)

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

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[–] jet@hackertalks.com 142 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (12 children)
[–] KayLeadfoot@fedia.io 109 points 4 days ago (30 children)

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

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[–] Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world 113 points 4 days ago (11 children)

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 155 points 4 days ago (11 children)

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 101 points 4 days ago (6 children)

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

[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 84 points 4 days ago (16 children)

Yup, cameras and humans share various exploits. Self-driving is going to work better than humans once every car has it and communicates with each other, allowing for minimal gaps even at high speeds, once roads are all very standardized and in a database, and-

Wait, that's trains

Fucking build more electrified high-speed rail and forget tech bros' shitty promises

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[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 104 points 4 days ago (2 children)

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

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[–] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 78 points 4 days ago

TIL Mark Rober is a domestic terrorist

[–] King3d@lemmy.world 46 points 4 days ago (15 children)

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.

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[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 78 points 4 days ago (1 children)
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