Cameras also need to be "both inside and outside" Tesla monitors human-machine interaction

Recently, according to the electrek website, at the beginning of this year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) launched a study on "Driver Interaction with Tesla's Autopilot System", and Lex Fridman, a postdoctoral associate researcher from MIT Agelab, served as the head of the study. Fridman believes that this study can provide big data to prove that cars equipped with driving assistance functions such as Tesla's Autopilot system are safer than cars without this function.

The study is still ongoing. Earlier this summer, Fridman presented more details of the study at TMC Connect, a Tesla owner conference. Last weekend, the Tesla Motors Club released the full study report.

The idea is simple: install a camera in a Tesla car equipped with the Autopilot automatic assisted driving system, point it at the driver and the screen, and observe how the driver interacts with the Autopilot system.

As can be seen in the pictures, these cameras can capture the driver's every gaze, record their interactions with the steering wheel or touchscreen, and detect when the Autopilot system is activated.

Fridman's team synchronized these video feeds and processed the images to record the moment when the driver interacted with the Autopilot system without having to monitor the driver in person. The study involved nine Tesla vehicles with a total mileage of more than 30,000 miles (about 50,000 kilometers) and more than 1,000 hours of video. Fridman explained in the report: "I hope to have more data to support Tesla's claim that Autopilot is safer than manual driving."

Fridman's research team plans to conduct further research and start collecting more data. If users are interested in participating, they can register on the research website. Tesla owners who participate in the study can receive a reward of about $1,000 (about 7,000 yuan) a year. Of course, the study will also help car owners better understand the impact of autonomous driving assistance systems on safe driving.

If users are concerned that the driver's actions when they know they are being monitored (drivers keep their hands on the steering wheel and do not use the high-tech programs in the car when they know they are being filmed) will affect the data in the video, Fridman said this is not a problem because the filming usually lasts less than a minute.

Fridman said his research team has been in contact with Tesla, and he hopes Tesla will participate in the research and expects Tesla cars to have new driver-facing cameras.

Fridman explained: "Currently, no car on the market, especially a car equipped with an autonomous driving system, is equipped with a driver-facing camera. This seems to be a big gap in the automotive industry. At present, Tesla does not know what the owner is doing. The information it obtains from the owner comes from the pressure sensor installed on the steering wheel. If the (autonomous driving) car wants to form a more effective communication with the owner, it should know what the owner is doing."

In addition, Fridman believes that installing cameras inside the cabin will also be beneficial to Tesla's upcoming Tesla Network car-sharing service.

Of course, there are always concerns about privacy issues. I don’t know how OEMs such as Tesla protect user privacy, but this MIT study has taken this into consideration: all collected data will be securely stored on MIT servers, and the MIT research team will delete the corresponding data according to user requests.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.