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I think these "attentive driver systems" like lane assist, auto braking, ect, are eventually going to get banned by the DOT because they seem to be causing peop

I think these "attentive driver systems" like lane assist, auto braking, ect, are eventually going to get banned by the DOT because they seem to be causing people to over rely on them and drive distracted. They keep causing high profile fatal accidents, like the recent one where a guy was watching a movie with lane assist on and his car plowed right into a the back of a semi. It's going to get to a point where they say it's all or nothing, we can't rely on people to stay attentive when the car is doing 90% of the driving.

spullara 10y ago
1 crash is literally all of them. Also it was a truck passing across the path of tge vehicle.
- makomk 10y ago
  1 crash is more than the expected number of crashes for that amount of highway driving, at least from the stats I've seen, and driving at full speed under a truck despite having more than enough time to break is a really nasty failure mode.
- krapp 10y ago
  >Also it was a truck passing across the path of the vehicle That is exactly the sort of situation self-driving cars are expected to be perfect, or at least superior, to humans at handling. If they're no better than a human driver or even a bit worse when edge-cases occur than what's the point?
nil_is_me 10y ago
Right, 1 accident. Have we banned air travel due to all of the crashes?
- throwaway7767 10y ago
  The statistics aren't in yet, and it's too soon to make a reasonable comparison. That said, I think GP will be proven right in time. Risk compensation[0] is a well-documented phenomenon and this seems highly likely to trigger that sort of behaviour. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation
  - greeneggs 10y ago
    As the system gets incrementally better, paradoxically it could get less safe, because drivers will get more used to relying on it and stop paying attention.
    - brianwawok 10y ago
      Except the less human drivers the safer the overall system. Less people to crash into others.
      - mason240 10y ago
        Right, but the problem with these partial systems is that they still require the driver to be fully attentive.
- mason240 10y ago
  I only gave one example of the most recent one, there have been others.
  - ufmace 10y ago
    Such as?
encoderer 10y ago
People drive more safely on roads without guardrails, but that is not a good enough reason to ban guard rails. On the contrary, you've already seen Mercedes add these features to every one of their new cars sold, it's only a matter of time before all automakers do the same.
- mason240 10y ago
  When people drive on roads with guard rails, they don't think "hey, I have more time to send this text because the rail will stop my car from going over the cliff."
  - DubiousPusher 10y ago
    But they will take a corner faster because they don't feel as vulnerable.
- et-al 10y ago
  Yeah, ever since they put a divider (the "Zipper") on the Golden Gate Bridge drivers have been speeding more [0], but it's still better than having some plastic sticks separating opposing lanes of traffic. [0]: http://www.mercurynews.com/2015/01/23/chp-tackles-surge-in-speeding-on-golden-gate-bridge-since-barrier-installation/ http://www.mercurynews.com/2015/01/23/chp-tackles-surge-in-s...
maxerickson 10y ago
Various DOTs will likely examine before and after statistics, and consider the statistics compared to vehicles without assist systems. They might get political pressure to consider high attention events instead of the statistics, but they are partly in the business of pushing back against that kind of pressure.
BurningFrog 10y ago
> They keep causing high profile fatal accidents One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to believe that the news is an accurate reflection of reality. The opposite is actually true, in the sense that what makes it to be high profile news is something unusual and surprising.
cLeEOGPw 10y ago
> we can't rely on people to stay attentive when the car is doing 90% of the driving. Make the autopilot ring alarm when uncertainty reaches some point and that's it. Tesla already can do it, but doesn't do it for some reason.

spullara 10y ago

1 crash is literally all of them. Also it was a truck passing across the path of tge vehicle.

makomk 10y ago
1 crash is more than the expected number of crashes for that amount of highway driving, at least from the stats I've seen, and driving at full speed under a truck despite having more than enough time to break is a really nasty failure mode.
krapp 10y ago
>Also it was a truck passing across the path of the vehicle That is exactly the sort of situation self-driving cars are expected to be perfect, or at least superior, to humans at handling. If they're no better than a human driver or even a bit worse when edge-cases occur than what's the point?

nil_is_me 10y ago

Right, 1 accident. Have we banned air travel due to all of the crashes?

throwaway7767 10y ago
The statistics aren't in yet, and it's too soon to make a reasonable comparison. That said, I think GP will be proven right in time. Risk compensation[0] is a well-documented phenomenon and this seems highly likely to trigger that sort of behaviour. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation
- greeneggs 10y ago
  As the system gets incrementally better, paradoxically it could get less safe, because drivers will get more used to relying on it and stop paying attention.
  - brianwawok 10y ago
    Except the less human drivers the safer the overall system. Less people to crash into others.
    - mason240 10y ago
      Right, but the problem with these partial systems is that they still require the driver to be fully attentive.
mason240 10y ago
I only gave one example of the most recent one, there have been others.
- ufmace 10y ago
  Such as?

encoderer 10y ago

People drive more safely on roads without guardrails, but that is not a good enough reason to ban guard rails. On the contrary, you've already seen Mercedes add these features to every one of their new cars sold, it's only a matter of time before all automakers do the same.

mason240 10y ago
When people drive on roads with guard rails, they don't think "hey, I have more time to send this text because the rail will stop my car from going over the cliff."
- DubiousPusher 10y ago
  But they will take a corner faster because they don't feel as vulnerable.
et-al 10y ago
Yeah, ever since they put a divider (the "Zipper") on the Golden Gate Bridge drivers have been speeding more [0], but it's still better than having some plastic sticks separating opposing lanes of traffic. [0]: http://www.mercurynews.com/2015/01/23/chp-tackles-surge-in-speeding-on-golden-gate-bridge-since-barrier-installation/ http://www.mercurynews.com/2015/01/23/chp-tackles-surge-in-s...

maxerickson 10y ago

Various DOTs will likely examine before and after statistics, and consider the statistics compared to vehicles without assist systems. They might get political pressure to consider high attention events instead of the statistics, but they are partly in the business of pushing back against that kind of pressure.

BurningFrog 10y ago

> They keep causing high profile fatal accidents One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to believe that the news is an accurate reflection of reality. The opposite is actually true, in the sense that what makes it to be high profile news is something unusual and surprising.

cLeEOGPw 10y ago

> we can't rely on people to stay attentive when the car is doing 90% of the driving. Make the autopilot ring alarm when uncertainty reaches some point and that's it. Tesla already can do it, but doesn't do it for some reason.