A blogger tricked Tesla's autopilot and rammed a wall with a drawing of an empty road (1 photo + 8 videos)
Autopilot technologies in transport provide a lot of food for inquisitive minds, and popular US blogger and engineer Mark Robert went so far in his experiments that he crashed a Tesla Model Y electric car into a wall that depicted a free road to show the imperfection of the proprietary sensor complex. 
It has long been known that Tesla is actively getting rid of unnecessary, in its opinion, sensors on its electric cars, tirelessly repeating that a person only needs eyes and a brain to assess the traffic situation. Tesla's active driver assistance systems currently rely primarily on data received from a complex of onboard cameras. More cautious automakers prefer to add at least ultrasonic sensors, and ideally rely on data from optical radars (lidars), which recognize obstacles even in conditions of limited visibility.
Blogger Mark Robert compared the efficiency of autopilot systems equipped with lidar and relying solely on camera images. In the first case, a prototype based on a Lexus crossover was tested, equipped with additional equipment, including lidar. In the second case, the standard on-board system of the Tesla Model Y was compared with it. The latter, as had to be found out after a series of experiments, failed to detect a pedestrian dummy in conditions of heavy fog or rain.
In addition, Elon Musk's brainchild failed the main test, which required the most serious preparation. The organizers literally blocked the road with a wall made of a destructible frame with "photo wallpaper" across the entire width, which from the driver's point of view formed a reliable illusion of movement on an open road. In this way, the on-board cameras of the Tesla Model Y were deceived, so the car rammed the wall at full speed without noticing the trick. The prototype with lidar stopped in front of such an "invisible wall" because it identified it as an obstacle.
Tesla test with a standing doll
In another test, fog was driven onto the road - Tesla cameras could not cope with this: it did not see and hit the doll. The same thing happened when several watering machines were launched right next to the road: Tesla could not see the object behind the streams of water.
In the next test, the cars were tested at night, with powerful spotlights directed at them to imitate sunset, sunrise, or the light from the bright headlights of a truck. A doll was hidden in the rays. Both cars braked in time.
As part of the final test, a false wall with a photo of an empty road was placed on the road. The car coped with the lidars. Tesla did not, breaking through the obstacle at a speed of 64 km/ h.
Some users on social networks criticized Robert. According to them, the blogger presents information as if he is testing the Full Self-Driving autonomous driving system, although in fact he is testing the Autopilot driver assistance system - a technology that "has not been updated for years" and "is offered for free."
As the American Forbes explains, Autopilot is something like a “fancy cruise control that often makes mistakes and requires you to watch the road and keep your hands on the wheel.”
