Trust Elon Musk to come with up with something "ludicrious" time and again, and he sure won't disappoint. While the Tesla electric cars are known for some very interesting features and performance figures, its CEO Elon Musk has now hinted that the upcoming Tesla Semi Truck will also come with what is called the "Mad Max" mode. Fortunately, the Semi truck won't be participating in a post-apocalyptic adventure with the Mad Max mode, but it will be a feature for the autopilot system. In a series of tweets recently, the entrepreneur revealed an image with the autopilot system and the Mad Max mode being one of the options.
undefinedIt’s real pic.twitter.com/L9h3F86Guo
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 25, 2018
According to the image shared by Musk, the Mad Max mode has to do with the Autopilot's Blind Spot Threshold system which is associated with the Autopilot's lane switching algorithms. The system comes with three modes including Standard, Aggressive and Mad Max. The latter will be "plunging people in the air" kind of aggressive, we would like to think.
However, that will not be the case and the Mad Max Autopilot system will be a more aggressive lane changing algorithm on the Tesla Semi truck. That is interesting since the Tesla Semi will then be able to adapt to different driving styles of the driver. Musk also added that in practice it will be more likely to add a 'manual override' for more hardcore lane changes since self-driving cars will virtually "always yield and are easily bullied, which is unbecoming of a truck."
undefinedIt’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
Musk hasn't revealed exact details of this mode or what will be available on the final version of the software. The feature is not available in the current Tesla cars either. However, earlier this month, the Tesla CEO did reveal that the Autopilot system with "full, self-driving features" in an update planned for August. While the exact features that are part of the update are yet to be known, the update is expected to allow Tesla vehicles to perform better with lane changes on highways.
Presently, the Autopilot system can keep a car in its lane and adjust the speed based on the surrounding traffic. A lane change can only be activated when the driver initiates with the engaging the indicator when in Autopilot mode.
Tesla's Autopilot system has seen share of criticism with the recent number accidents only adding further to its problems, with questions raised if drivers placed too much trust on the autopilot to actually pay attention themselves. However, the American electric automaker has always maintained that the Autopilot is meant to be used with an attentive driver behind the wheel.
