[HN Gopher] Comma 3X: Initial Impressions
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Comma 3X: Initial Impressions
Author : surprisetalk
Score : 70 points
Date : 2025-05-13 00:26 UTC (3 days ago)
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| vasco wrote:
| > Anxiety is one of my big vertigo trigfgers, and having this
| thing that will make sure my car is still going straight even
| during a vertigo attack
|
| If it's serious to the point you don't know if you can keep the
| car going straight, how can you guarantee you can stop or react
| in other ways in an emergency? I don't see how this is OK, you
| shouldn't be driving.
|
| > There are different regulations about driving with certain
| health conditions based on where you live. For example, South
| Carolina and Utah, USA do not have any stipulations about driving
| with a vestibular condition. However, US federal law requires
| that you stop driving until any vertigo attacks are controlled
| and well regulated.
|
| https://vestibular.org/blog/should-you-drive-with-a-vestibul...
| kleiba wrote:
| Even when you "just" cannot guarantee that you can keep your
| car in your lane, you shouldn't be driving.
| fluffycritter wrote:
| It's the fear of a vestibular attack that gives me anxiety
| which causes a vestibular attack. These attacks last like two
| seconds. Having a thing that keeps me lane centered has stopped
| the vestibular attacks. If I have another big one I will
| definitely pull over.
|
| I am disabled, unemployed, and live alone and have no other
| reliable access to transportation. What else am I supposed to
| do? Simply stop existing?
|
| I am well aware that I am taking a huge risk. It is harm
| reduction. And as the main underlying issue is anxiety, simply
| having a safety net (or even the perception of a safety net)
| has significantly cut down on the anxiety.
| adgjlsfhk1 wrote:
| either move in with someone else or get an ebike/scooter? you
| don't have a god given right to operate a 2000 pound death
| machine.
| fullstop wrote:
| > I am well aware that I am taking a huge risk.
|
| Right, but you're not just risking yourself here, mate.
| Please reconsider whether or not you should be operating
| heavy machinery.
| threeseed wrote:
| At least you are aware that you are an increased risk every
| time you drive.
|
| Which means when you do inevitably kill someone and ruin the
| lives of their friends and family you will be culpable and
| spend a long time in jail.
|
| You are morally on par with a drink driver and deserve zero
| sympathy from anyone.
| arp242 wrote:
| > I am well aware that I am taking a huge risk
|
| You're not the one taking the main risk though: that would be
| the cyclists and pedestrians around you (as well as other
| motorists, to a lesser degree).
|
| I appreciate the difficulty of your situation and I really
| don't want to be a judgemental jerk to you. But also ...
| yeah, based on what you've written this really doesn't sit
| well with me.
|
| There's a reason people with things such as epileptic
| seizures are not permitted to drive unless they're 1)
| medicated for it, and 2) been free of seizures for a period
| of time to prove the medication works reliably.
| zemvpferreira wrote:
| I'm sorry you've been dealt a bad hand but please don't make
| it worse by risking other people's lives. You're not fit to
| drive, period. Your circumstances don't excuse this behaviour
| outside of an emergency.
| kotaKat wrote:
| All it'll take is one crash - or someone requesting a DMV
| medical review.
| coolcase wrote:
| Lots if fibro stuff so if you are reading.
|
| Yeah LDN I do found a bit helpful! Worth a try but ymmv. r/cfs is
| good.
| fluffycritter wrote:
| I tried LDN, it didn't help at all unfortunately.
| coolcase wrote:
| Thanks for responding. Know what its like--I tried things
| others have recommended to no effect.
|
| LDN isn't a cure for me... just another 10% in the tank.
| theparanoid wrote:
| I bought one for my 2020 Toyota Sienna a couple months ago. The
| best analogy is that it's like upgrading to Tesla Autopilot. It's
| great for highway and freeway driving but not city streets.
| chrischen wrote:
| I've found it works for suburban streets really well, and I've
| even used it for city streets with no problems. Nothing about
| city streets makes it not work except the need to frequently
| stop for lights and stop signs.
| Havoc wrote:
| Surely that's not legal to have someone with surprise vertigo
| that impairs ability to steer a car straight on public roads?
|
| That seems utterly insane to me. Even people driving with severe
| disabilities are expected to maintain continuous control of their
| vehicle. Anything else is willfully endangering others
| dep_b wrote:
| Anybody else thought it was about a brand of Rum as well?
| nsbk wrote:
| I thought it was tequila
| farmdve wrote:
| I like the concept of the Comma device. If only to get just one
| feature from it, adaptive cruise control.
|
| But it requires for me to not only reverse engineer, but
| potentially also modify the firmware of my ABS unit to allow it
| to brake, which I am not comfortable doing.
| brenschluss wrote:
| This isn't true; no reverse engineering or firmware
| modification is necessary.
| mtlynch wrote:
| I'm still too nervous to hand driving control over to AI (from
| any vendor), but one thing I wish existed was a system that
| passively monitored my driving and gave me safety feedback. Like
| if I got into a near-collision, the system would tell me what I
| could have done earlier to avoid the risky situation to begin
| with. Does anything like this exist for consumers?
| dheatov wrote:
| Sounds like a neat idea and potential fit with certain niche
| market. But I would be surprise if the answer is not just drive
| slower in most of the cases. In that case do you still want
| more specifics like brake timing? Optimal speed given current
| traffic condition, visibility, and curvature?
| mtlynch wrote:
| Stuff like that but also near misses. Like, "you cut off
| another car and they had to slam the brakes."
|
| There are also subtle precautions that not everyone knows.
| For example, I was taught that when waiting for traffic to
| clear for a left turn (in the US and other right hand driving
| countries), I should keep the wheel straight until
| immediately before I accelerate. That way, if someone rear
| ends me, I go forward rather than left into oncoming traffic.
| I suspect there are other techniques like that that I'm not
| aware of.
| AStonesThrow wrote:
| This system is known to my father as "marriage"
| mock-possum wrote:
| r/boomershumor is that way
| fkyoureadthedoc wrote:
| > but one thing I wish existed was a system that passively
| monitored my driving and gave me safety feedback
|
| Most cars with these features also have features where they
| will beep/vibrate at you if you're going outside of the lane or
| it seems like you're going to have a collision.
| shellfishgene wrote:
| So in the US you can replace/add hardware to your car and install
| some open source software on it that takes over steering and
| braking, and this is legal? I'm amazed. Here I can't even install
| an aftermarket blinker if it does not have the correct
| certificates, ID numbers and documents, to be carried in the car
| at all times.
| AlotOfReading wrote:
| The US has very lax automotive regulaions. The manufacturer has
| to affirm that the vehicle meets road worthiness standards
| (FMVSS) at sale and aftermarket parts aren't supposed to be
| sold or installed if they would take vehicles out of
| compliance. There are essentially no rules on driver
| assistance, so there's not much that would be prohibited.
| kube-system wrote:
| There are a decent number of requirements placed on
| manufacturers, but the _use_ of vehicles in the US are
| primarily regulated at the state level. Most states do not
| perform safety inspections vehicles, and even when they do,
| they are minimal in nature (e.g. do the lights work, are there
| holes in the exhaust, are the tires and brakes worn out?)
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_inspection_in_the_Unit...
|
| Police can pull someone over for faulty equipment, but that
| would generally have to be an egregiously obvious defect.
|
| From a federal level, the primary thing that is illegal to
| modify is emissions equipment (however, if a vehicle is
| registered in a state without inspections, even that is
| essentially unenforced)
|
| In much of the US, you can legally drive just about anything
| with brakes, seatbelts, lights, wipers, turn signals.
| mandeepj wrote:
| > So in the US you can replace/add hardware to your car and
| install some open source software on it that takes over
| steering and braking, and this is legal?
|
| US is a heaven for car enthusiasts, builders, fabricators,
| modders, etc
|
| As far as I know, none of the other countries allow any kind,
| small or big, of modification to their cars. And, any changes
| like engine oil must be done by a pro. Too bad for them,
| they've killed a multi-billion-dollar industry themselves and
| thousands of jobs too.
| krosaen wrote:
| I find this product appealing, but aren't you taking on full
| liability when using it? Not having the company I buy a product
| like this from have any liability seems like bad incentives and
| makes me nervous, currently wouldn't drive with my family in the
| car especially. For instance, what if there was a bug that caused
| the system to make an abrupt right turn off the road? Seems
| highly unlikely, but again, if they are confident it is safe, can
| they not have some legal skin in the game to prove it?
| threeseed wrote:
| > but aren't you taking on full liability when using it
|
| Of course. And if you were to do something stupid like take
| your hands off the wheel it would constitute reckless driving.
| Which means in an accident your warranty is void, insurance
| claims extinguished and you would be criminally liable for any
| bodily damage/death.
|
| I will never understand the logic of anyone using a product
| like this.
| alnwlsn wrote:
| Is this different than any other time?
|
| you crash your car (mechanical problem) -> Ford says "not our
| fault, we're not paying" -> you sue Ford -> court decides
|
| you crash your car (FSD problem) -> Tesla says "not our fault,
| we're not paying" -> you sue Tesla -> court decides
|
| you crash your car (Comma problem) -> Comma says "not our
| fault, we're not paying" -> you sue Comma -> court decides
| insaneirish wrote:
| Maybe it's me, but I think in the worse case scenario
| (criminal liability), a jury will be more sympathetic to a
| person (acting in good faith) that had an issue because of
| the car manufacturer's provided system than they would to a
| person who installed a DIY/open source self-driving system.
|
| And I say this as someone who considered trying out the
| project.
| tzs wrote:
| > you crash your car (FSD problem) -> Tesla says "not our
| fault, we're not paying" -> you sue Tesla -> court decides
|
| That's only if you sent Tesla a written notice within 30 days
| of purchasing that you wished to opt out of the binding
| arbitration clause in the purchase agreement you had to agree
| to to get the car.
| sathackr wrote:
| You're responsible for what your car does period. Using
| anything to help you drive does not absolve you of your
| responsibility to operate your vehicle in a safe manner.
|
| Any autopilot/self driving/driver assistance system with a
| couple of very narrow exceptions(waymo etc..) is only an
| assistant and does not remove your responsibility to operate
| your vehicle safely.
| mscbuck wrote:
| I love my Comma 3X. You just need to have the right expectations.
| I honestly think their motto of "making driving chill" is a
| really apt description. I use it in traffic and on the interstate
| almost all the time, and then on more suburban drives in that
| 30-40mph range, which is where my Ioniq's HDA doesn't activate.
| Also IIRC the Ioniq's HDA is map based so very frequently in the
| city it would just straight up deactivate without any warning due
| to construction I'm guessing messing with maps. The lateral
| steering is so much better than the stock LKAS on my car which is
| jerky and probably scares the living shit out of other drivers.
| HDA2 is probably a 4/10, Comma is probably an 8/10 in terms of
| just general driver experience. I've done multiple long (150mi+)
| drives where I don't touch the wheel for nearly 95% of the trip.
|
| The one thing I worry about though is that they really were
| promising a lot with the new MLSIM training architecture, and
| consensus (and my own anecdotal experience) is that these newer
| models have not been great. They've been working on MLSIM for a
| whiiiiiile now and there really hasn't been any improvement,
| though I fully endorse why they are going that way and I
| understand the difficulty of the problem.
| sathackr wrote:
| I also have the 3x for my Ioniq 5.
|
| Steering is about 25% better than HDA when solely based on
| lined lanes, but the 3X is able to adapt to situations that the
| LKA/HDA would just disengage (such as passing through an
| intersection) or a random car parked on the side of the road.
|
| I routinely use it even on NYC streets and grass parking lots.
| It's about 80% accurate in avoiding unexpected cars and larger
| obstacles or following simply a "laid down" grass trail from a
| previous car in a grass lot or field.
|
| I did buy it expecting results like in the "Taco bell" video --
| and was disappointed under those expectations at first, but
| after a reality check I still decided to keep it and have
| easily driven 40,000 miles with it since.
| nancyminusone wrote:
| >I really wish I could disable the endless ads for Comma Prime
|
| If it's open source, why can't you?
|
| >driving model ... will only get better over time
|
| Citation needed
|
| > I don't seem to be having as much vertigo when driving
|
| If keeping your license is a goal, I wouldn't admit to this
| publicly. That's aside the ethical issues discussed elsewhere in
| this thread.
| kevin_thibedeau wrote:
| So I take that this sends CAN messages to borgify the steering
| control in a car with lanekeeping. One that was never designed or
| certified for FSD. And using only two front facing cameras. There
| is a whole lot of legal liability taken on by the driver and
| Comma when this Goldbergian system inevitably fails because it
| encounters conditions never tested outside of SoCal.
| numpad0 wrote:
| Tesla Autopilot works exactly the same way.
| mdaniel wrote:
| Comma.ai uses uploaded video from anyone[1] with a Comma device
| to train their models, so it is most definitely not just SoCal.
| I thought they had a few datasets available because they run
| competitions on them but I didn't have much luck digging up
| supporting links
|
| 1: I believe it's possible to opt out, and believe it's also
| possible to change the upload endpoint to a storage bucket that
| you control, if you do want the segments just not for Comma to
| have them
| optimusprinceps wrote:
| What does this thing do? The sales page doesn't help much either
| "The comma 3X is custom hardware designed to live in your car,
| and purpose built to run openpilot." What is openpilot??
|
| To me this just looks like a generic dashcam
| barnas2 wrote:
| It's really not hard to just search "openpilot" and click the
| first link. There's also a link at the top of the comma.ai
| website that links to the same page.
|
| https://comma.ai/openpilot
|
| openpilot is an open source advanced driver assistance system
| that works on 300+ car models of Toyota, Hyundai, Honda, and
| many other brands. Automated Lane Centering
| Adaptive Cruise Control Lane Change Assist
| Driver Monitoring (no wheel nags) Can drive for hours
| without intervention Open source and developed on
| GitHub
| davidb_ wrote:
| It is an advanced driving assistance system. It kind of drives
| your car for you (lane centering, basic obstacle avoidance, and
| adaptive cruise control all without you have to touch the wheel
| or the pedals) as long as you're looking forward and paying
| attention to the road.
|
| They have demonstrated full self driving capabilities with a
| car driving "itself" to Taco Bell. I have a comma3 and have
| never had much success with that feature. The car drove itself
| very slowly and seems to just weirdly creep through stop signs.
| I think the last time I tested that was over a year and a half
| ago, so it may have improved.
|
| I use mine only on the highways. I noticed for long trips (6+
| hours), I can drive longer distances in one go and not feel as
| fatigued when I reach my destination. As an example, a 10 hour
| trip to visit family (11-12 hours including stops) I can do by
| myself in one day with the comma device instead of stopping
| halfway, or splitting driving time with someone else. For
| shorter trips (3-6 hours), I arrive to my destination with more
| energy than when I drive without these features. I am also able
| to focus more on potential obstacles further down the road than
| without it.
|
| I think my device has already paid for itself thanks to a
| couple year period where I had to do that 12 hour trip I
| mentioned a couple times per month. Plus it is a really nice
| dash cam.
| paulryanrogers wrote:
| Are you tuning out closer concerns like lane keeping or
| smaller objects?
|
| How can you be confident the system is at least as reliable
| with the concerns you are less focused on?
| overstay8930 wrote:
| The US government made them tie their hands behind their back a
| few years ago, NHTSA tried to shut down the company so they
| rebranded their then Comma 2 as a dashcam that _might_ be able
| to drive your car.
| paulryanrogers wrote:
| Golly, sure is great regulations to protect pedestrians and
| other road users are trivially bypassed or bought off. /s
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