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!

  • RambaZamba@feddit.org
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    5 hours ago

    Things that happen when you rely exclusively on optical sensors, i.e. cameras. But that’s just cheaper, more money for Nazi Elon.

  • Jeffool @lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    This would be hilarious if it weren’t for shitty cars causing deaths.

    That said, I always wondered why we don’t find a system like RFID that could penetrate concrete and asphalt, and plant passive receivers in roads? We re-pave roads so damn often in this country (the U.S.) it seems like we could’ve knocked it out in the past couple of decades, minus our most rural areas.

    I know RFID itself isn’t strong enough, but I imagine that would’ve been an easier problem than figuring our complete self driving. Not to mention making GPS a secondary system for U.S. road travel in most cases.

    Maybe it’s just a dumb shower thought?

      • Jeffool @lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        I don’t know the value of echolocation in this case, as I’m generally ignorant here, but it’s straight wild to me that they went purely on visuals.

        • dan@upvote.au
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          1 hour ago

          Tesla used to also have radar (and maybe lidar?) but they removed it as a cost cutting measure. If you ever see older videos of a Tesla slowing down or stopping due to a potential collision a few cars ahead, that’s from before they switched to only relying on cameras. The collision avoidance was significantly better back then.

    • KayLeadfoot@fedia.ioOP
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      8 hours ago

      It’s dirt cheap, too. If this was a cost-cutting measure, it was a thoroughly idiotic one. Which feels like the mark… of a certain someone I can think of

  • Yoga@lemmy.ca
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    9 hours ago

    Insurance fraud is going to bankrupt Tesla robotaxis faster than an incompetent CEO ever could.

    There will be too many ways to defeat the cameras and not having LiDAR unlike the rest of the industry may prove to be found to be a failure of duty of care.

  • Magnus@lemmy.brandyapple.com
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    13 hours ago

    I remember Elon foolishly saying his cars don’t need radar or lidar. Even software-disabling radar in cars that already had the hardware.

    • gmtom@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Not even just his cars, he thinks the MILITARY, doesn’t need radar and can just use cameras to spot and track stealth fighters.

      He’s a fucking lunatic.

  • Naevermix@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    Make Elon test ride the first Tesla robotaxi and there’s a chance the funniest thing of all time will happen.

    • bier@feddit.nl
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      9 hours ago

      In short because Elon (wrongly) believes you only need cameras, he made the claim people also drive with just 2 eyes.

      The thing is, we recognize a truck with stickers of a stopsign, while AI vision gets confused.

      Waymo (Googles self driving side hussle) was build on lidar and other sensors and has been using robot taxis for many years now in geofenced specific areas.

      • Yoga@lemmy.ca
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        9 hours ago

        The thing is, we recognize a truck with stickers of a stopsign, while AI vision gets confused.

        Lmao would it be illegal to put a stop sign on the back of your car?

        • CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee
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          5 hours ago

          I was thinking the same thing. What would happen if you popped one out of the back of your car while driving in front of a self driving car on the freeway?

  • EaterOfLentils@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    Apparently they keep getting tickets in China because they didn’t bother to adjust the settings to accommodate Chinese roads and traffic laws. Result is Tesla is getting utterly crushed by BYD in their one major market that doesn’t care about Elon’s antics.

    • accideath@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      Huh, now I’m mildly interested in the differences in traffic laws in China vs US vs Europe that lead to Teslas getting more tickets in China than elsewhere.

      • elephantium@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        I found this article. My takeaways were:

        1. No driving in bus lanes during certain times of day.
        2. No using the shoulder as a turn lane.
        3. No using a bike lane as a turn lane.
            • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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              2 hours ago

              I think their regs, while seemingly very basic rules of the road, are based because I live in the US and we have bike lanes here that just whole ass turn into turn lanes with almost no warning. I wish we could get basic decency for everyone on the road, too.

  • kameecoding@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    This is why it’s fucking stupid Tesla removed Lidar sensors and relies on cameras only.

    But also who would want a tesla, fuck em

    • bitchkat@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      They never had lidarr. They used to have radar and uss but they decided “vision” was good enough. This conveniently occurred when they had supply chain issues during covid.

    • AreaKode@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      I was horrified when I learned that the autopilot relies entirely on cameras. Nope, nope, nope.

      • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        Leon said other sensors were unnecessary because human driving is all done through the sense of sight…proving that he has no idea how humans work either (despite purportedly being a human).

    • Mic_Check_One_Two@reddthat.com
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      15 hours ago

      They also removed radar, which is what allowed them to make all of those “it saw something three vehicles ahead and braked to avoid a pileup that hadn’t even started yet” videos. Removing radar was the single most impactful change Tesla made in regards to FSD, and it’s all because Musk basically decided “people drive fine with just their eyes, so cars should too.”

  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    I am very glad that Elon and Trump have overreached and now Tesla is suffering. I hope Starlink is the next domino to fall.

  • FauxPseudo @lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    New stuff to add to the car kit bag for the 21st century

    1. poster board to block usonic weapons
    2. black paint, white paint, roller, brush to paint tunnels on walls
    3. orange cones to pen in self driving cars