Over the past few years, the automotive industry has seen a huge uptick in partially automated vehicles. Nearly every major automaker has some form of Level 2 driver assistance, whether that be Tesla's Autopilot, GM's Super Cruise, or even the Honda Sensing suite. Consumer Reports recently tested every large player on the market to evaluate performance, reliability, and overall usefulness. To everyone's surprise, it wasn't a legacy automaker who came out on top--it was a small California-based startup called Comma AI.

• Openpilot Disable Driver Monitoring
• Openpilot Drivers

Before we jump into how Comma ranked so highly on Consumer Reports' scale, it's important to understand how the organization chose to evaluate each automotive offering.

The objective of Consumer Reports' testing was to evaluate the major Advanced Driver Assistance Systems on the market today and determine how well the systems performed when stacked up against each other. It's worth noting that the testers indicated that not all systems have complete feature parity, as the systems may be designed with different intentions and goals in mind by the manufacturer. However, a large emphasis on safety was taken when evaluating the different systems.

Openpilot Disable Driver Monitoring

Of all the solutions, Comma AI's Comma Two (which is an Android-based device capable of running an open-source application called OpenPilot) came out on top. This was the only aftermarket system that Consumer Reports tested and, as predicted by Alex Roy in 2016, it seemingly embarrassed the rest of the auto industry by simply outperforming what automakers have been building into their cars for years.

Way back in 2016 I flew out to Las Vegas to check out Comma Ai's driver's assistance system crammed into an Acura. At the time, it was being developed as a self-driving add-on for vehicles. OpenPilot also scored well on its driver engagement thanks to its sophisticated Driver Monitoring System (DMS). The Comma Two uses its driver-facing camera to determine the position of the driver's.

In a close second was GM's Super Cruise, followed by Tesla's AutoPilot, and then Ford's Co-Pilot 360. At the bottom of the list sits Land Rover's Driver Assist, GM's Driver Confidence, and Mazda's i-ActivSense.

OpenPilot, when installed on a $999 Comma Two, uses existing factory-installed vehicle safety hardware to improve a vehicle's ability to center itself in a lane. This includes using the forward-facing monocular camera to help track lane lines and the vehicle's radar unit to determine how far away other cars might be. The Comma Two also adds a layer of driver monitoring to ensure that someone is paying attention to the road at all times, and even doubles as a dashcam. It's important to recognize it as a supplemental driver assistance system instead of a factory baked-in solution.

I'm no stranger to OpenPilot. I actually purchased Comma's products for my Honda Odyssey, simply due to the improvement over Honda's stock package. However, it's important to note that the capability and performance can vary drastically from car to car. For example, a stock Honda vehicle may greatly limit torque whereas some Toyota or Hyundai vehicles are much better suited to adhering to tight lane curvature. In Consumer Reports' test, a Toyota Corolla LE was driven, which arguably will provide a better overall experience than, say, a Honda Accord.

This report was met with a good bit of skepticism across the internet. People are more concerned about how well the system performed rather than the additional categories vetted during testing. After all, surely a system like Tesla's Autopilot can perform better since it uses multiple cameras around the vehicle to help make partially automated driving decisions, right?

Well, it's not just the performance that Consumer Reports was evaluating. The outlet's testing also measured how well it kept the driver engaged, along with general ease of use. Additional tests were performed to gauge how clearly the system indicated when its features were safe to use, as well as how it handled an unresponsive driver.

A large takeaway from the testing is that automakers may not make it clear enough when its systems are safe to use. Consumer Reports gave a larger number of sub-par ratings to nearly every ADAS system on the market with the exception of Super Cruise and, to a lesser extent, OpenPilot. Perhaps this is an indication that automakers need to take a step back and look at how to communicate its intended Operational Design Domain (ODD) to drivers, as activating the system outside of the ODD can cause the system to perform outside of the user's expectations and cause a false sense of driver security.

OpenPilot also scored well on its driver engagement thanks to its sophisticated Driver Monitoring System (DMS). The Comma Two uses its driver-facing camera to determine the position of the driver's head and eyes. If it determines that the driver is distracted, it activates a visual and audible alert. To ensure that the driver is also tracked at night, a series of infrared LEDs are used to illuminate a dark cabin. An inattentive driver will be handed back control of the vehicle.

It's almost surprising to see Comma rank so highly among seasoned automakers, especially pioneers like Tesla and General Motors who are undoubtedly seen as leaders in the self-driving segment. But all things considered, the small startup has done quite a few things right that some automakers could use as a lesson on. Now the battle will be staying ahead as automakers breeze on to higher levels of automation.

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You can use the OpenPilot Ground Control Station (GCS) both to configure yourcontroller board and to control and monitor your aircraft during flight. Morecommonly, you would use a conventional radio control transmitter to controlyour vehicle, but the GCS is also capable of doing so.

All OpenPilot products use the same Ground Control Station. OpenPilot GCS iscurrently available for the Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.

Warning

OPENPILOT WAS DISCONTINUED!

Use LibrePilot instead.

Downloading the GCS installer¶

The first step is to download the appropriate GCS installer. Using the releasetable below, select the Download Link that corresponds to your computer’soperating system.

If updating from a previous release, you may wish note the current settings foryour vehicle first by creating a .UAV file or taking screenshots of vehiclesettings.

Important

The software on this page comes with no warranty. Use it at yourown risk and please be careful!

Visit the OpenPilot forums if you havequestions and/or suggestions. Extensive documentation about how the systemworks and how to install and configure it is available in this wiki.

Latest version can be found here: http://www.openpilot.org/download/.

RELEASE – OP-15.05.02 – Revolution Nano, Revo, OPLM and Platinum GPS¶

Note

Please note that CC3D is NOT supported by this release. To findthe latest release for the CC3D, please see Release – 15.02.02 below.

Windows NSIS Installer

Uninstall previous version first.

Mac OS X distribution image

Open as a standard distribution image.

Linux 64 bit Debian package

Uninstall previous version first, then use your system package installer toinstall.

Note

Please note that Linux .debs will only work with Linux versions Ubuntu14.04 or later, due to lack of popularity we are no longer building 32 Bit.debs but if needed you can build them easily using the source below and the‘make package’ command.

Source code

(Previous) RELEASE – OP-15.02.02 – Revo, CC3D, Atom, CC and v9 GPS¶

This version supports the CopterControl, CC3D, Atom, and Revo as well as theOPLink Modems.

Windows NSIS Installer

Uninstall previous version first.

Mac OS X distribution image

Open as a standard distribution image.

Linux Debian packages

Uninstall previous version first, then use your system package installer toinstall.

Note

Please note that Linux .debs will only work with Linux versions Ubuntu14.04 or later.

Installation of the GCS¶

Open the GCS installer file that you downloaded and follow these steps:

1. Choose a language from the drop-down list on the first page, then click OK.(You can cancel installation at any point by clicking Cancel.)
2. The OpenPilot Welcome screen appears. Click Next.
3. Review the conditions of the license agreement and then click I Agree toaccept the terms.
4. You can select which components to install in the Choose Components dialogbox. Click Next to accept the default selections.

Note

Note that the Mesa OpenGL driver may be required by older operatingsystems and is a required component for the GCS interface. If major elementsof the GCS user interface fail to display, re-installation with selection ofthe Mesa OpenGL driver may help.

5. You can specify where to install OpenPilot GCS in the Choose Install Locationdialog box. Click Browse to choose a location or Install to install thesoftware in the default location shown in the text box.

   Previous installations of the OpenPilot GCS were installed in the Documentsand Settings directory on Windows machines. The latest default GCS locationis the standard Program Files location on Windows machines.

6. OpenPilot GCS installs on your computer. Click Next when installation iscomplete.

7. If you have have chosen the default setup, Windows will now install the CDCdriver for the Virtual Comm Port of your OpenPilot board.

Note

Note that the CDC driver is not required to connect and configureyour OpenPilot board with the GCS. You need the CDC driver for VirtualComm Port support.

Openpilot Drivers

8. Click Finish to complete installation. (Clear the check box if you don’t wantOpenPilot GCS to run immediately.)
9. If you choose to run OpenPilot GCS immediately, click OK to load the defaultconfiguration file.
10. The OpenPilot GCS start page appears. Congratulations! You can exploreOpenPilot GCS or proceed to the next step, Installing or Updating YourFirmware.