My day-two review of the Comma 3X Self Driving Camera for Gen1 R1- Promising, but not ready for laymen.

[JM.]

Running alphas has never been for the timid and lazy who are unwilling to check EVERY.DAMN.SETTING every time they update. This goes 100% more for something this important. Defaults? Who cares. Check EVERY.DAMN.SETTING. Trust nothing in alpha-beta levels.

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[dmurphy]

Running alphas has never been for the timid and lazy who are unwilling to check EVERY.DAMN.SETTING every time they update. This goes 100% more for something this important. Defaults? Who cares. Check EVERY.DAMN.SETTING. Trust nothing in alpha-beta levels.

Apologies for suggesting room for improvement.

Won’t be an issue from me anymore.

Sorry for interrupting the day.

 

[JM.]

Won’t be an issue from me anymore.

Glad to hear it.

 

[DayTripping]

Apologies for suggesting room for improvement.

Won’t be an issue from me anymore.

Sorry for interrupting the day.

I'm sorry you don't get it. This is basically alpha build software. Not even beta in a lot of ways and clearly not gold code. This goes with the territory to some extent.

It is like owning an Android vs. Apple phone. Android lets you tweak more but with some risk associated with it. Keep in mind, this is not the stock OP build, you are running a different branch. You have left the main road and all that entails. The pace of development is very rapid. The effort is being put into improving more important things than a setting you, yourself, can change.

SunnyPilot gives you a lot of really cool features once you explore them. Maybe this is too early for a lot of people to get on board but I love experiencing the pace of development.

For any of those worried about SP running MADS in the background, there is no issue at all taking over at any time. It is just like a little helper there that can pop up when needed and then fades back when you don't. Not to mention almost all the ADAS systems for Rivian over use the hell out of the brakes and seem to bypass regen. Isn't normally an issue on the highway but can be in heavy traffic. I love being able to still control the throttle so I can make sure regen is used instead of brakes.

Almost forgot to add to my early post that another big plus I like about running SP, is that the speed limit is much higher on it than Rivian AND it is based on the GPS speed rather than speedo. So it actually makes it pretty usable in Texas on a lot of highways were I can't use Tesla AP or FSD. Since Rivian and Tesla tie their max usable speed to the speedo's indicated amount, it often is too low to be usable in Texas.

We have a highway with a speed limit of 85 and Tesla will go to 85 indicated which is below a true 85. You often have people running over the speed limit by at least a few mph. With Comma, you have no problem running a true 90 mph (according to GPS) and I could easily run with traffic on the highway where they are running faster. Again, something a G1 or G2 Rivian can't do but Comma can. It makes a difference here, but may not in other congested, heavily enforced bureaucratic nightmare states. Looking at you, mostly the Eastern seaboard states (excluding state highways Florida).

Even on highways with a 75 mph speed limit, traffic is often going over 83 mph true which is over the max for Tesla or Rivian.

 

[JM.]

Rookie numbers.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

… and that’s what makes an airliner autopilot the perfect analogy, actually. I don’t want a situation where I don’t have ultimate control - keep the wings level, airspeed where I set it, and follow the route I give you. But I still maintain ultimate control, and any manual input transfers authority from the machine to me.

MADS is disconcerting to me as in when I make a manual input the car continues to do its own thing. Default mode in Sunnypilot does NOT disengage when pressing the brake, and in fact, on Rivian, offers basically no way to shut off except putting into offline mode or disconnecting the thing.

I realize I’m likely in the minority on this, but I’m really only after a driver assistant, and not turning over all responsibility.

The fact that this system allows this is frightening to me. If you are required to supervise an ADAS system any input by you should override the system. If I have to make a steering or braking correction the system has failed and as such it should only resume control under my deliberate command. Any other way is incredibly dangerous for a level 2/3 system.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

JFC I feel like I’m cosplaying Donald Stansfield here. How are you suggesting improvements for 1) something already with a user setting or 2) patently false?

Why are you so irrationally defensive over this open pilot? Can’t take any criticism, the problem isn’t with me here. Grow up.

 

[gerrylum]

The fact that this system allows this is frightening to me. If you are required to supervise an ADAS system any input by you should override the system. If I have to make a steering or braking correction the system has failed and as such it should only resume control under my deliberate command. Any other way is incredibly dangerous for a level 2/3 system.

Having used the system extensively, I wholeheartedly disagree. MADS is one of the best things about Sunnypilot and the Comma system and is nearly universally praised by people who use it across all makes and models.

To be honest, the whole cooperative steering system of the Comma is hard to wrap your head around if you've never used it, but to me feels much more intuitive and useful than the way other ADAS systems work.

That being said, criticism is welcome as long as it's constructive.

 

[xinaes]

Question: if OpenPilot is installed, how much of a hassle would it be to switch back and forth to/from Driver+ (for whatever reason)?

Does it require disconnecting/reconnecting the wire harness, or is there a software-based option/toggle within OpenPilot that can simply do the switch?

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Having used the system extensively, I wholeheartedly disagree. MADS is one of the best things about Sunnypilot and the Comma system and is nearly universally praised by people who use it across all makes and models.

To be honest, the whole cooperative steering system of the Comma is hard to wrap your head around if you've never used it, but to me feels much more intuitive and useful than the way other ADAS systems work.

That being said, criticism is welcome as long as it's constructive.

I can see how this system could be a benefit in minor situations like giving yourself a little more room for a semi that's drifting into your lane or a cyclist, but it becomes dangerous in an emergency. There should be an obvious delineation of responsibility between the driver and the system. Fighting the system if it is making a critical error is more likely to end up in an accident.

I'm sure no one would argue this system is ready to operate outside of human supervision/control and this feature seems to be placing too much emphasis on the computer and it eliminates a natural method to regain control under duress as in a fast developing emergency. In the times that I have used an ADAS system and it has made a mistake in steering my first instinct is always to grab the wheel to correct the input and switch to operator control. Removing that is dangerous at this stage of development for ANY ADAS system.

 

[gerrylum]

Question: if OpenPilot is installed, how much of a hassle would it be to switch back and forth to/from Driver+ (for whatever reason)?

Does it require disconnecting/reconnecting the wire harness, or is there a software-based option/toggle within OpenPilot that can simply do the switch?

You can toggle openpilot on and off in the software, at which point the Rivian will behave as it would in a stock setup.

 

[Riviot]

Yeah, just seems like a hack to add a poor man’s Gen 2 capabilities to Gen 1. If one is happy with that, cool. I’m not convinced, however

Gen1 owner over here like

 

[JM.]

If you are required to supervise an ADAS system any input by you should override the system.

Yes, that's exactly what OpenPilot does, in a far more graceful and safer way than Rivian/Tesla native systems.

 

[gerrylum]

Fighting the system if it is making a critical error is more likely to end up in an accident.

There's no fighting the system. This may be one of the misconceptions you have about Openpilot's cooperative steering and torque blending. With torque blending when you apply torque to the steering wheel, openpilot reduces the torque it is sending, essentially blending the two torque inputs for a smooth experience. It is actually quite pleasant and intuitive.

 

[JM.]

It is actually quite pleasant and intuitive.

While the Rivian and Tesla native systems fight you a bit, then suddenly let go. Definitely a less pleasant experience, and while not unsafe, certainly the smarter OP method has to be safer.

Certain people here have a long history of hating all ADAS, and also making things up and then running a tirade against the incorrect assumption. Don't get too caught up in it.

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