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I agree with you. Touching the brakes should not completely disable autopilot. The aviation industry has a term for this sort of error, a Mode Error. If it i

I agree with you. Touching the brakes should not completely disable autopilot. The aviation industry has a term for this sort of error, a Mode Error. If it is unclear what mode the vehicle is in (semi-autonomous mode, or full manual mode) there will be times when the user assumes they are in one mode when in fact they are in the other. Having the change in modes be as subtle as tapping the brakes makes this type of user error very likely. I think Tesla needs to impose some very clear indicators when they are in autopilot mode vs manual mode (lights on the A pillars, etc.). They also need to revisit what exactly disables autopilot mode. Tapping the brakes should not disengage auto braking for example, only accelerating should do that.

alblue 10y ago
Touching controls should disable autopilot - what's not reasonable is the car failing to apply the emergency brakes to avoid an upcoming collision, regardless of whether autopilot is enabled or not.
- gus_massa 10y ago
  Disabling autopilot can also be dangerous. Perhaps someone in the future puts the autopilot in a highway at 100mph, and few minutes later one kids plays with the manual brake ... There was a similar accident in Aeroflot Flight 593 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_593 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_593 > With the autopilot active, Kudrinsky, against regulations, let the children sit at the controls. First his daughter Yana took the pilot's left front seat. Kudrinsky adjusted the autopilot's heading to give her the impression that she was turning the plane, though she actually had no control of the aircraft. Shortly thereafter Eldar occupied the pilot's seat.[4] Unlike his sister, Eldar applied enough force to the control column to contradict the autopilot for 30 seconds. This caused the flight computer to switch the plane's ailerons to manual control while maintaining control over the other flight systems. A silent indicator light came on to alert the pilots to this partial disengagement. The pilots, who had previously flown Russian-designed planes which had audible warning signals, apparently failed to notice it. Aeroflot Flight 593 Crash Animation + CVR : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrttTR8e8-4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrttTR8e8-4
hatsunearu 10y ago
Planes make an annoying horn blast when it goes out of autopilot. Maybe that's necessary.

alblue 10y ago

Touching controls should disable autopilot - what's not reasonable is the car failing to apply the emergency brakes to avoid an upcoming collision, regardless of whether autopilot is enabled or not.

gus_massa 10y ago
Disabling autopilot can also be dangerous. Perhaps someone in the future puts the autopilot in a highway at 100mph, and few minutes later one kids plays with the manual brake ... There was a similar accident in Aeroflot Flight 593 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_593 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_593 > With the autopilot active, Kudrinsky, against regulations, let the children sit at the controls. First his daughter Yana took the pilot's left front seat. Kudrinsky adjusted the autopilot's heading to give her the impression that she was turning the plane, though she actually had no control of the aircraft. Shortly thereafter Eldar occupied the pilot's seat.[4] Unlike his sister, Eldar applied enough force to the control column to contradict the autopilot for 30 seconds. This caused the flight computer to switch the plane's ailerons to manual control while maintaining control over the other flight systems. A silent indicator light came on to alert the pilots to this partial disengagement. The pilots, who had previously flown Russian-designed planes which had audible warning signals, apparently failed to notice it. Aeroflot Flight 593 Crash Animation + CVR : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrttTR8e8-4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrttTR8e8-4

hatsunearu 10y ago

Planes make an annoying horn blast when it goes out of autopilot. Maybe that's necessary.