In the piece — titled “Can You Fool a Self Driving Car?” — Rober found that a Tesla car on Autopilot was fooled by a Wile E. Coyote-style wall painted to look like the road ahead of it, with the electric vehicle plowing right through it instead of stopping.
The footage was damning enough, with slow-motion clips showing the car not only crashing through the styrofoam wall but also a mannequin of a child. The Tesla was also fooled by simulated rain and fog.
It’s . Not. A. Science. Paper.
It is however a damn good reason for people to do further real research.
People can make and share interesting observations without doing elaborate lab conditions every time.
Rover never claimed this to be actual scientific research.
This is a case of “I wonder if…”
He made an elaborate test track specifically to make interesting observations.
He set up dozens of cameras to record interesting observations from multiple angles.
He collected footage of interesting phenomena he observed as they were happening in his elaborate test environment.
He then cut the footage up so much it’s impossible for us to say exactly what really happened.