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I wrote the following a little while ago just after the auto pilot crash was reported. Since then my feelings on auto pilot haven't' changed. it's the future

I wrote the following a little while ago just after the auto pilot crash was reported. Since then my feelings on auto pilot haven't' changed. it's the future but right now it actually makes things harder due to the uncanny valley situation its currently in..... If you've never used the Tesla autopilot its a weird feeling. It's not a fully self driving car and its obviously not strictly human controlled. Unfortunately it ends up being more mentally taxing to use this hybrid approach than to just drive yourself. Consider highway driving, with normal human powered mode you are in full control so if you see brake lights a half kilometer up ahead you can disengage the cruise control and react on your own, everyone who has driven is comfortable with this. With this assisted driving the car doesn't slow down right away, and its not clear if the car just can't see the tail lights lighting up yet or if its decided it doesn't need to react yet and as such you start to second guess the car, - should I drive or should I leave it to the car? - what if it turns when I grab the wheel? Will I make things worse by driving? - does the car even see the object up ahead? How can I tell, its impossible to expect the car to tell you of an object that it cant' even see. It becomes just more taxing to use the hybrid approach to driving and as such I don't use it at all. I have no doubt that the Tesla auto pilot is safer than driving, but I also have no doubt that it can royally screw up. I've come to the conclusion that some assisted driving, like auto braking for obstacles that you will imminently hit is good but the kind of assisted driving where it can almost automatically drive for you is not really anywhere near ready, if you follow Tesla's rules on how to use it, it actually makes driving harder:(

throwaway2016a 10y ago
I have a Volvo XC90 which can drive itself to a certain extent (stays in its lane and can come to a complete stop) in traffic under 30 miles an hour and has dynamic cruise control for higher speed and I feel the same way. Especially when breaking. The will it break or won't it (spoiler: it does) is nerve wracking.
- cyberferret 10y ago
  > Especially when breaking. The will it break or won't it (spoiler: it does) is nerve wracking. I would like to think that you intentionally spelled "braking" as "breaking" in a deliciously punny word play on the robustness of the technology itself, as well as its ability to stop a hurtling vehicle from 'breaking' itself against a stationary object.
  - throwaway2016a 10y ago
    Let's go with that ;)
mikeash 10y ago
I just did about 400 miles on autopilot today (and thousands previously) and I find it to be the total opposite. It's infinitely more relaxing than fully manual driving. You still have to pay attention and decide, but the minutiae of making tiny steering movements is gone, leaving more capacity for higher level observation and planning. The second guessing you describe simply doesn't happen for me. I'm capable of taking over and driving competently in any situation autopilot can handle. I never try to guess whether the car can see something; if it fails to respond in a way I like, I just take over. If I want to brake for a car and autopilot isn't braking, I brake. There's no need and no reason to wait for the car to maybe do it on its own or maybe not. Disengaging autopilot, performing some maneuver, and reengaging it takes no significant time or effort beyond the maneuver itself. If you're sitting there wanting the car to react to something and it hasn't yet and you're waiting to see if it will, you're doing it all wrong.
- derefr 10y ago
  > If you're sitting there wanting the car to react to something and it hasn't yet and you're waiting to see if it will, you're doing it all wrong. Okay, but what if you're the sort of prematurely-conscientious person who holds a door for someone who's still 30 seconds away from the door? You'll always be doing things before the autopilot gets to them, because you're doing them before you're "supposed" to do them (which in normal human driving is almost never a problem, so there's nothing discouraging people from this.) Thus, the autopilot will never get to do anything, so there's no point to turning it on.
  - mikeash 10y ago
    Indeed. If you're that way the system will probably not be useful to you. That's OK: most people aren't like that, and it doesn't have to be useful to 100% of the population.
  - jfoster 10y ago
    Suppose you're right about that type of person and autopilot never getting to do anything. I think it's still worth having it on. People make errors. The one time that person misjudges something and is about to hit something on the road, there's a good chance autopilot will see it and brake. It only needs to happen once to be worth it.

throwaway2016a 10y ago

I have a Volvo XC90 which can drive itself to a certain extent (stays in its lane and can come to a complete stop) in traffic under 30 miles an hour and has dynamic cruise control for higher speed and I feel the same way. Especially when breaking. The will it break or won't it (spoiler: it does) is nerve wracking.

cyberferret 10y ago
> Especially when breaking. The will it break or won't it (spoiler: it does) is nerve wracking. I would like to think that you intentionally spelled "braking" as "breaking" in a deliciously punny word play on the robustness of the technology itself, as well as its ability to stop a hurtling vehicle from 'breaking' itself against a stationary object.
- throwaway2016a 10y ago
  Let's go with that ;)

mikeash 10y ago

I just did about 400 miles on autopilot today (and thousands previously) and I find it to be the total opposite. It's infinitely more relaxing than fully manual driving. You still have to pay attention and decide, but the minutiae of making tiny steering movements is gone, leaving more capacity for higher level observation and planning. The second guessing you describe simply doesn't happen for me. I'm capable of taking over and driving competently in any situation autopilot can handle. I never try to guess whether the car can see something; if it fails to respond in a way I like, I just take over. If I want to brake for a car and autopilot isn't braking, I brake. There's no need and no reason to wait for the car to maybe do it on its own or maybe not. Disengaging autopilot, performing some maneuver, and reengaging it takes no significant time or effort beyond the maneuver itself. If you're sitting there wanting the car to react to something and it hasn't yet and you're waiting to see if it will, you're doing it all wrong.

derefr 10y ago
> If you're sitting there wanting the car to react to something and it hasn't yet and you're waiting to see if it will, you're doing it all wrong. Okay, but what if you're the sort of prematurely-conscientious person who holds a door for someone who's still 30 seconds away from the door? You'll always be doing things before the autopilot gets to them, because you're doing them before you're "supposed" to do them (which in normal human driving is almost never a problem, so there's nothing discouraging people from this.) Thus, the autopilot will never get to do anything, so there's no point to turning it on.
- mikeash 10y ago
  Indeed. If you're that way the system will probably not be useful to you. That's OK: most people aren't like that, and it doesn't have to be useful to 100% of the population.
- jfoster 10y ago
  Suppose you're right about that type of person and autopilot never getting to do anything. I think it's still worth having it on. People make errors. The one time that person misjudges something and is about to hit something on the road, there's a good chance autopilot will see it and brake. It only needs to happen once to be worth it.