Tesla uses big data from over 100 million autonomous miles driven to generate highly accurate maps for self-driving cars. They gather sensor data from vehicles to continuously improve features like autopilot through over-the-air software updates without needing to physically recall vehicles. While this approach enhances safety and convenience, it also means the vehicles are susceptible to hacking if proper security measures are not in place.
2. WHAT IS TESSLA ,INC.
is an American automaker, energy storage company, and solar
panel manufacturer based in Palo Alto, California. The company was
initially founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning,
4. HOW TESLA DRIVES OVER THE AIR
In October of 2014, Tesla offered the customers who bought the new
sedan model an optional “technology package” for an additional
$4,250. It included cameras and sensors that warned the driver about
collisions before they happened, but customers didn’t know that
Tesla was also using those sensors to gather data from the drivers as
well.
5. SOFTWARE UPDATES
• After a year of gathering data, in October 2015, these car owners
received an Over the Air (OTA) update which gave each of their
60,000 sedans the ability to drive themselves
• was no need to bring any cars into the dealership or even to a
mechanic. In fact, there was no need for any human intervention at
all. The drivers did not even know their cars could be updated with an
autopilot function before it happened.
6. SOFTWARE UPDATES
•when there was a problem with their cars overheating in 2014, Tesla
sent out another OTA to 30,000 owners that automatically reduced
the power fluctuations, which had caused the cars to overheat in the
first place.
7. SOFTWARE COMPANY
•“Tesla is a software company as much as it is a hardware company.
That’s a huge part of what Tesla is. It’s the same way you’re updating
your phone or laptop: People have come to take it to be normal that
your phone and laptop will keep improving.”
8. “RECALL” IS OUTDATED
unlike cars that need to be recalled en-mass. This means that Tesla
might have put an end to the recall for their cars, or as the
corporation tweeted, “the term “recall” is outdated. No vehicles are
being physically recalled by Tesla.”
9. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
•Machines actually like the same question over and over again and
deal with them better than people do.
•Tesla also uses big data to improve customer satisfaction. With near-
real time information, the corporate office can anticipate and correct
problems before they happen. And Tesla does not stop there. They
also gather data from online forums, which they host for customers
to complain about their cars. They use this data to make
improvements to the next car.
10. HOW TESLA MAPS THE ROAD
THROUGH BIG DATA
•Tesla claims they have gathered data from over 100 million miles with the
autopilot software. Now, Tesla gathers so much data, that it logs more miles
in a single day than all the miles Google logged with its driverless car
program since it began in 2009.
•All this data has been compiled in the cloud to generate road maps for
driverless cars that are 100 times more accurate than standard navigation
systems. These maps record where cars have slowed down for traffic or
swerved around obstacles that might not be obvious to the cameras on
another driverless car.
With these big data maps, Tesla claims that their cars know the road so well
that, “the car should almost always hit the brakes correctly even if a UFO
were to land on the freeway in zero-visibility conditions.”
11.
12. HOW SUSCEPTIBLE TO HACKING
ARE TESLA CARS?
•All of these sensors and updates help make a safer car, but they can also
present an opportunity for hackers. In order to demonstrate Tesla’s security
flaws, the Keen Security Lab hacked into a Tesla and was able to take over
the vehicle’s brakes, the side mirrors, the windshield wipers and the trunk,
all while the car was driving at a distance from the hackers. They were also
able to open the sunroof, control the vehicle’s lights and unlock the doors
while the car was stopped.
• but it is not the first time that a car was able to be remotely controlled by
hackers: BMWs, Jeeps, Escalades, Fords, even the Toyota Prius are all
susceptible to hacks. Almost any car that has a connection to the internet
can be hacked in one way or another. The difference is, these other cars
have to be taken to the dealership after being hacked, whereas a Tesla can
automatically update software patches to all of their cars before being
hacked.
13. HOW TESLA USES DEEP LEARNING
Tesla has recently partnered with NVIDIA and is using their deep
learning technology to improve their car’s ability to learn from their
own data, and deal with new data sets that it has never been taught
to deal with. “In contrast to the usual approach to operating self-
driving cars,” NVIDIA has stated, “we did not program any explicit
object detection, mapping, path planning or control components into
this car. Instead, the car learns on its own to create all necessary
internal representations necessary to steer, simply by observing
human drivers.”
Deep learning will help Tesla vehicles see in poor visibility, and
respond to a child that jumps in front of your car too quickly, without
needing to be programmed to do so.