Tesla Workers Trained Autopilot To Ignore Road Signs So It Didn't Drive Like 'Robot That’s Just Following Rules'

Good morning! It’s Monday, September 9, 2024, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.

Tesla Had A Very Interesting Week

1st Gear: Tesla’s Autopilot Labeling Site Sound Like Hell

In order for its Autopilot driver assistance system to work, Tesla fits cameras to every corner of its electric vehicles to monitor surroundings and assess the road ahead. While the car’s internal computers make on the fly decisions about how to respond to things like road signs and parked cars, Tesla has a whole team of researchers programming Autopilot to respond to different situations that may arise on the road.

However, while you might expect that these workers are training Autopilot to follow the rules of the road, a report from Business Insider
found that they’re teaching cars to ignore certain regulations:

Workers can run into data from any number of countries in a single workflow, meaning they must constantly be aware of the different road rules for each region. At times, Tesla seemed to take a more relaxed stance on those rules, seven former and current workers said. For example, some workers said they were told to ignore “No Turn on Red” or “No U-Turn” signs, meaning they would not train the system to adhere to those signs.

“It’s a driver-first mentality,” one former worker said. “I think the idea is we want to train it to drive like a human would, not a robot that’s just following the rules.”

Sometimes the role requires workers to label videos from accidents and near-misses. Seven workers recalled labeling videos that included Tesla accidents or those involving nearby vehicles. At one point a worker even distributed a video between employees of an incident that involved a young boy on a bicycle getting hit by a Tesla, four workers said. It was one of many videos and memes workers used to exchange, they said.

As if programming cars to break the law wasn’t bad enough, workers at the site are doing so under some pretty harsh conditions. Workers at three Tesla facilities across America tasked with watching the footage have their progress closely monitored by Tesla:

Employees are also very closely monitored using two different software systems.

One system, called HuMans, gauges how long they should spend on each clip, four workers said. Annotators who take consistently longer than the allotted time are likely to receive poor performance reviews or be put under a performance improvement plan, or PIP, they said. The software was originally designed to help pilots in the US Air Force and also has the capability of tracking employees’ eye movement and taking audio recordings, according to its website. But it’s unclear if Tesla uses the software to track staff’s eye movement.

The company also uses a measure called “Flide Time” to track annotators’ active time on the labeling software, 17 workers said. It can track keystrokes and how long workers spend with the labeling software open, but it won’t track the time workers spend using other tools on their computer, they said. Depending on their level, workers can be expected to log anywhere from five to seven and a half hours of Flide Time, meaning they must be active on the software for at least that amount of time.

Work such as this is designed to teach Tesla cars operating Autopilot of Full-Self Drive how to behave on the roads correctly. However, the software has so far been linked to dozens of crashes on America’s highways, including run-ins with parked police cars and rail crossings.

2nd Gear: Stellantis Recalls 1.2 Million Models Over Dodgy Brakes

A new week means one thing: it’s time for some new recalls. After Ford was forced to recall almost 100,000 cars last week over fears the engines could fail, Stellantis has one-upped the Blue Oval with a recall of 1.2 millions cars due to braking issues it’s uncovered.

Stellantis issued a recall of more than 1.2 million Ram 1500 vehicles, reports CNN. The trucks are being recalled due to a software malfunction in the anti-lock brake system that’s been identified by the automaker:

The vehicles being recalled include certain 2019, 2021-2024 Ram 1500 trucks, the NHTSA said Saturday in a statement.

“A routine review of customer feedback led to a Company investigation that discovered some 2019 and 2021-2024 Ram 1500 trucks may be equipped with (ABS) module software that could inadvertently disable the Electronic Stability Control (ESC) system,” Stellantis said in the statement.

Stellantis added that should the ESC disable, it would not affect the foundation brake function. Also, the ABS, ESC, Adaptive Cruise Control and Forward Collision Warning indicator lights would illuminate when the vehicle started up to show the systems are unavailable.

To rectify the issue, dealers will reinstall the ABS software on impacted models. So far, Stellantis has not been made aware of any injuries or accidents linked to the recall.

If you are worried that your car might be affected by a recall, there are a few easy ways to check if it’s the case. First up, the NHTSA has a super handy app that you can use to see if your vehicle is impacted by a recall, or you can head to the regulator’s website and plug your VIN into its recall search tool.

3rd Gear: Musk Denies Tesla’s Ties With xAI Are Getting Tighter

There are people out there who believe that Elon Musk’s focus on all his other endeavors is hitting Tesla’s profitability. While Musk has been messing around with SpaceX, his purchase of Twitter and its rebrand as X, as well as all kinds of artificial intelligence startups, the automaker’s profits have plunged. Now, the Tesla boss has been forced to concede that he’s not working to bring Tesla closer to his AI startup xAI amid claims that the tech firm could take a cut of the automakers falling profits.

A report last week claimed that xAI was lending its research to Tesla in order to better train the systems that run its Autopilot and Full-Self Drive systems. As such, it was suggested that Tesla may soon pay the AI firm for its work, but now Musk has claimed that this isn’t the case and the two companies will remain distant from one another, reports Reuters. As the site explains:

The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that Tesla would license xAI’s artificial-intelligence models to help power its driver-assistance software, full self-driving technology and share some of that revenue with the startup, according to the proposed arrangement as described to investors.

“Tesla has learned a lot from discussions with engineers at xAI that have helped accelerate achieving unsupervised FSD, but there is no need to license anything from xAI,” Musk posted, opens new tab late on Saturday on his social media platform X, adding that the report is “not accurate.”

The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter whom it did not identify, said xAI would support the development of other features for Tesla, including a voice assistant in its electric cars and software to power its humanoid robot Optimus.

The WSJ reported that xAI was pursuing a 50:50 split in revenue collected through Tesla’s autonomous driving systems due to its extensive work on the program.

Despite several high-profile crashes involving Autopilot and FSD, Tesla is still working to roll out the system to further global markets. Earlier this year, the automaker reportedly cleared the way for Autopilot’s launch in China and discussions to offer the system in Europe are reportedly progressing also.

4th Gear: At Least Boeing Doesn’t Have A Strike To Worry About

So far this year, Boeing has been found to have skimped on quality control of its planes, been forced to issue a production cap while it tightens up issues at its facilities and been convicted a felon for its handling of high-profile crashes involving its planes. Now, the American planemaker has one less thing to worry about though as it’s averted strike action at its plants.

Boeing has reportedly agreed a new deal with workers at its sites in the U.S. that means strike action at factories in Seattle and Portland will be avoided, reports the BBC. The new deal offers workers a 25 percent pay rise over the next four years as well as better retirement benefits and new healthcare assurances. As the BBC reports:

Although the preliminary deal did not match the union’s initial target of a 40% pay rise, negotiators still praised it and advised members to accept it.

“We can honestly say that this proposal is the best contract we’ve negotiated in our history,” the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said in a statement.

Aside from the pay rise, the deal offers workers improved healthcare and retirement benefits and a commitment by Boeing to build its next commercial plane in the Seattle area.

It also gives the union members more say on safety and quality issues.

“Financially, the company finds itself in a tough position due to many self-inflicted missteps. It is IAM members who will bring this company back on track,” the union negotiators said, referring to the crises faced by Boeing in recent years.

More than 30,000 union members will now be given the opportunity to vote on the new deal proposed by Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. If ratified by union members, the deal will be the first full labor agreement reached between unions and Boeing in more than 16 years.

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