self driving vehicle on UK motorways in 2023

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Screenshot_20250624-201243.png (533.98 KiB) Viewed 2815 times

Here's one Oxa (then Oxbotica) prepared earlier

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.High quality reporting

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https://www.jalopnik.com/1900859/tesla- ... fire-lane/

Despite Tesla's recently launched Robotaxi service clogging up roads in Austin and drawing the attention of federal regulators, the electric automaker threw caution to the wind yet again and took another step into the unknowns of autonomous driving. Tesla posted a video on Saturday showcasing a Model Y delivering itself from the factory to a customer's apartment complex with a 15-mile drive across Austin, Texas. However, the drive itself wasn't entirely legal.

Tesla posted the 30-minute drive in its entirety online, but the monumental finale fell flat as the electric SUV came to a stop along a curb painted bright red with lettering that read "No Parking, Fire Lane." Elon Musk claimed that the Model Y completed the first-ever driverless delivery without any remote assistance. The claim could be accurate, but Tesla was also monitoring the vehicle throughout the entire drive. A Cybertruck with a bed-mounted camera rig followed the SUV to record exterior shots, and a Tesla representative waited with the customer at the destination.

[The Spin Doctor]

At least a dozen videos have been shared online by Thursday last week. Here's the list I saw.

Robotaxi drives into oncoming lane

Rider presses "pull over", Robotaxi stops in the middle of an intersection, rider gets out while Robotaxi blocks intersection for a few moments

Rider presses pull over and the car just stopped in the middle of the road. Safety monitor has to call rider support to get car moving again

Robotaxi doesn't detect UPS driver's reverse lights (or the car reversing towards it) and continues to attempt to park, then safety monitor manually stops it

Robotaxi cuts off a car, then randomly brakes (potentially because of an upcoming tree shadow?)

Robotaxi going 26 in a 15

Robotaxi unexpectedly brakes, possibly due to nearby police

Robotaxi unexpectedly slams on brakes, causing rider to drop phone

Robotaxi comes to a complete stop after approaching an object, then runs it over (rider says it's a shopping bag, though the car visibly bump up and down) (UPDATE: Some people have pointed out that the car's movement is from a speed bump immediately after the bag/object. The speed bump is more visible at full resolution.)

Robotaxi runs over curb in parking lot

Safety driver moved to driver seat to intervene

Support calls rider during a Robotaxi ride, asks them to terminate the ride early because it's about to rain, rider is dumped in a random park


If anyone thinks Teslas have cracked self-driving, this list should be a real warning.

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Well, if the intent is to match human drivers ... That'll be Ubers?

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If anyone thinks Teslas have cracked self-driving, this list should be a real warning.

Add this to the list:

https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/27/the-b ... s-tunnels/

The Boring Company is finally testing Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ in its Las Vegas tunnels

Elon Musk’s The Boring Company is finally testing Full Self-Driving (Supervised), the advanced driver assistance system created by Tesla, in the tunnels that connect Las Vegas’ Convention Center to a few nearby hotels, according to Fortune.

Steve Hill, the CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, told the outlet that The Boring Company has been doing tests of the software for a few months now in Tesla vehicles with only safety drivers onboard. But any widespread use of the tech is still “a ways off,” Hill said.

The Tesla tunnels have been open for around four years, and while The Boring Company has plans to expand them across Las Vegas, they currently serve a small area underneath and around the Convention Center.

Despite Tesla’s recent launch of a small-scale, invite-only robotaxi service in Austin, Texas (and a similarly small ride-hail service in San Francisco), and Musk’s boasting about how good the technology is, Hill said that safety drivers still have to “periodically” intervene and take control of the vehicles.

In theory, the simple tunnels should be an easy task for Tesla’s autonomy software to solve, with perhaps the greatest challenge being navigating passenger pick-up and drop-off at the various underground stations. Hill said the colorful lighting of The Boring Company’s tunnels, along with the semi-smooth rock walls, have been challenges that the driver assistance system has had to cope with as the cars “find spots that are difficult for them.”

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https://futurism.com/future-society/mir ... -melt-down

Researchers have engineered the ultimate nemesis of self-driving cars: mirror-adorned traffic cones.

In a series of tests highlighted by The Register, a team from France and Germany showed that their optical sleight of hand could easily dupe lidar-equipped autonomous cars into not recognizing obstacles on the road.

Time after time, the experiments showed, the correct mirror placement left the cars oblivious and attempting to plow through sacrificial traffic cones. And if that was the disappearing act, they were also able to pull off a conjuring trick, deviously psyching out the car’s software into seeing obstacles that weren’t there.

“An adversary can inject phantom obstacles or erase real ones using only inexpensive mirrors,” the researchers warned in their new study, which is awaiting peer review. “These are practical threats capable of triggering critical safety failures, such as abrupt emergency braking and failure to yield.”

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China's automated port, handling up to 60 containers an hour.

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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... estigation

The US main transportation safety regulator said on Friday it was seeking information from Tesla about a new driver assistance mode dubbed “Mad Max” that operates at higher speeds than other versions.

Some drivers on social media report that Tesla vehicles using the more aggressive version of its full self-driving (FSD) system could operate above posted speed limits.


“We are going 75 in a 50, I feel like we are racing down the street right now,” one YouTuber said.

A user on X posted a video of a Tesla in Mad Max mode rolling a stop sign.

...

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but last week reposted a social media post that described Mad Max mode as accelerating and weaving “through traffic at an incredible pace, all while still being super smooth. It drives your car like a sports car. If you are running late, this is the mode for you.”

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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 56034.html

Elon Musk speaks out after beloved San Francisco bodega cat is killed by autonomous Waymo vehicle

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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 56034.html

Elon Musk speaks out after beloved San Francisco bodega cat is killed by autonomous Waymo vehicle

We’ve just come back from san francisco and Waymos were everywhere. They were pretty impressive tbh, although they did get bullied quite easily as the traffic was very push in and hope. No-one would let them in and they seemed reluctant to force their way in. I wanted to go in one when we were in LA but our hotel was outside their operating area. There wasn’t as many in LA as there was in SF.

[ZRX61]

The Waymos in LA are going to start driving on the freeways... So far they are mostly known for showing up at riots & being destroyed by the lefties. They order them for a pick up at the riot location & get torched. There were 5 of them in a row a few months ago, all burned to the ground.
There's also been an issue at the storage lot where they park when not in use, apparently they all beep the horn when backing up into parking spaces & the folk who live in the apartment building overlooking the lot were threatening to torch the entire inventory. They've apparently now been re-programmed not to beep the horn in the storage lot.

[Mussels]

The Waymos in LA are going to start driving on the freeways... So far they are mostly known for showing up at riots & being destroyed by the lefties. They order them for a pick up at the riot location & get torched. There were 5 of them in a row a few months ago, all burned to the ground.
There's also been an issue at the storage lot where they park when not in use, apparently they all beep the horn when backing up into parking spaces & the folk who live in the apartment building overlooking the lot were threatening to torch the entire inventory. They've apparently now been re-programmed not to beep the horn in the storage lot.

In a driverless car what difference does it make if the car is going backwards or forwards? The horn is a pointless annoyance anyway.

[wheelnut]

The Waymos in LA are going to start driving on the freeways... So far they are mostly known for showing up at riots & being destroyed by the lefties. They order them for a pick up at the riot location & get torched. There were 5 of them in a row a few months ago, all burned to the ground.
There's also been an issue at the storage lot where they park when not in use, apparently they all beep the horn when backing up into parking spaces & the folk who live in the apartment building overlooking the lot were threatening to torch the entire inventory. They've apparently now been re-programmed not to beep the horn in the storage lot.

So you’re saying that’s two valid reasons for abandoning the whole project?

I’ve just come back from San Francisco and LA and (as an autonomous car cynic) I was pretty impressed. Especially watching them stick up for themselves as other drivers tried to bully them.

[ZRX61]

In a driverless car what difference does it make if the car is going backwards or forwards? The horn is a pointless annoyance anyway.

Might also be illegal as you get a ticket for unnecessary use of it...

So you’re saying that’s two valid reasons for abandoning the whole project?

I’ve just come back from San Francisco and LA and (as an autonomous car cynic) I was pretty impressed. Especially watching them stick up for themselves as other drivers tried to bully them.

They may have issues with lane splitting bikes on the freeways if they end up using the car pool (#1) lane. We already have an issue with Tesla's on autopilot violently swerving towards the central concrete barriers when passed by bikes. The first time it happened to me (hauling ass on the ZX11) the Tesla swerved towards the barrier, *saw* the wall of concrete & swerved back to the right so violently that it took three lanes to get straightened out. Luckily that happened behind me, but if I'd been going a bit slower it would have crashed right into me... & there were no vehicles in the #2 & #3 lane.

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They may have issues with lane splitting bikes on the freeways if they end up using the car pool (#1) lane. We already have an issue with Tesla's on autopilot violently swerving towards the central concrete barriers when passed by bikes. The first time it happened to me (hauling ass on the ZX11) the Tesla swerved towards the barrier, *saw* the wall of concrete & swerved back to the right so violently that it took three lanes to get straightened out. Luckily that happened behind me, but if I'd been going a bit slower it would have crashed right into me... & there were no vehicles in the #2 & #3 lane.

... It might not have swerved so violently?

FWIW, Waymo and Tesla have totally different systems.

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Anyone know about the 'trolley problem'

No idea of actual details, but this seems to be one solution:

.

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[The Spin Doctor]

Intelligent Police Unit R001 will soon sort them out!

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Waymo taxis in London from September.

Perhaps

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czej9n578k9o

Waymo, the US driverless car firm, said it hopes to be operating a robotaxi service in London as soon as September this year.

The UK government has said it plans to change regulations in the second half of 2026 to enable driverless taxis to operate in the city but has not given a specific date.

Waymo said a pilot service will launch in April and Local Transport Minister Lilian Greenwood said: "We're supporting Waymo and other operators through our passenger pilots, and pro-innovation regulations to make self-driving cars a reality on British roads."

Apparently they started on-road testing in September 2025.

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