[northwest65]

> Autopilot has been running in hundreds of thousands of cars, has driven several billion miles,

Has it really though?

> I have noticed for me at least it started happening after I updated at 2021.4.18.11

This implies that the functionality of the AutoPilot is constantly changing, presumably meaning each version has thousands of miles rather than AutoPilot having 'several billion miles'. It doesn't seem like you can trust past performance is the users are to be believed.

My assumption is that OTA updates won't be allowed once this stuff starts requiring certification.

[slg]

I think the first half of your comment is a pointless semantic debate. The Autopilot system has driven billions of miles. Those miles obviously all aren't equally relevant. The older miles lose value as the hardware or software changes. However those miles don't all become worthless anytime there is any software update.

>My assumption is that OTA updates won't be allowed once this stuff starts requiring certification.

It is unclear whether this would actually be safer or not. I am reminded of how both Tesla[1] and Toyota[2] had similar software problems with their antilock brakes. Both companies had a software fix relatively quickly. Tesla deployed the fix immediately to cars through OTA updates. Toyota issued a voluntary recall meaning its cars wouldn't be updated to the fixed software for months, years, or potentially ever.

[1] - https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/30/technology/consumer-reports...

[2] - http://www.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/02/09/japan.prius.recall/in...