Tesla’s former head of AI infrastructure, Tim Zaman, expressed admiration for the latest FSD v12 Full Self-Driving software while playfully critiquing the company’s AI efforts.
Having served as the head of AI infrastructure and platform at Tesla until last year, Zaman dedicated his expertise to AI products starting in 2019. He notably participated as a speaker at Tesla’s AI Day in 2022.
Zaman transitioned to Twitter, now X, alongside other engineers recruited by Elon Musk to assist during a significant reduction in staff at the social media platform. Subsequently, in 2023, he joined Google DeepMind to further contribute his skills.
In his recent commentary on the FSD Beta v12 update, Zaman highlighted Tesla’s AI-driven automatic wipers, pointing out their inconsistent performance. While Tesla’s vehicles feature an automatic wiper system that adjusts wiper speed based on precipitation intensity, the unique aspect is the absence of a traditional rain sensor. Instead, Tesla utilizes its Autopilot cameras to provide input to its computer vision neural net for wiper speed determination.
Despite being integrated into Tesla vehicles since 2018, numerous owners have voiced concerns about the system’s accuracy compared to rain sensor-based solutions. Issues include the auto wipers activating unnecessarily or failing to match precipitation intensity accurately.
Elon Musk has previously discussed enhancing the system with a new “Deep Rain” neural net, aiming to address these challenges.
Regarding Zaman’s jest, it resonates with some users who have found Tesla’s auto wipers to be less effective than sensor-based alternatives. The need to manually adjust or deactivate the auto wipers due to delayed activation or erratic behavior, especially in winter conditions, underscores the current limitations.
While questioning how Tesla plans to tackle AI challenges with auto wipers, Zaman’s humorous observation prompts contemplation on the company’s ability to overcome more significant software hurdles in autonomous driving.
Zaman’s light-hearted critique, despite his insider knowledge from his tenure at Tesla, adds an intriguing perspective to the discussion, emphasizing the importance of continual improvement and innovation in AI technology.
