Tesla has previously shown love for movies with the Spaceballs-inspired "Ludicrous" and "Plaid" speed modes, as well as a 007-themed Easter egg — on its cars. For the upcoming Tesla Semi, the company is pulling from a different franchise, as evidenced by the below tweet from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. It shows the console from a test vehicle with a bunch of different Autopilot settings and configurations, one of which is called "Mad Max."
It's real pic.twitter.com/L9h3F86Guo
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 25, 2018
The setting is found under the category of "Blind Spot Threshold," and it has "Standard" and "Aggressive" modes, too. Though Musk didn't explain specifically what these settings do, we suspect they have something to do with how aggressive the truck is when making lane changes. More specifically, the "Blind Spot Threshold" probably determines how close a car in the next lane can be when the truck executes a merge. Based on the following exchange of tweets, it's possible these different settings will not be available on the production vehicle.
It's a tough call. Reality is that it will be pretty easy to bully a self-driving car, as it will always yield. Will prob have a manual override that requires continuous press for hardcore lane changes.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 25, 2018
Aside from the post-apocalyptic film series-inspired Autopilot mode, we can see a variety of other setting categories the test driver can select. The most intriguing is "Augmented Vision." Odds are it's just a fancy term for a heads-up display, but the name certainly conjures up thoughts of something closer to Mission Impossible than most manufacturers' 4- to 6-inch squares on windshields. There's also the possibility that that section has something to do with the rearview camera displays that take the place of mirrors. Like an augmented reality phone app, it may overlay information and graphics over the live view outside for help navigating and maneuvering.
Related Video:
Sign in to post
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Continue