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Have you tried the autopilot? If you haven't.. you really need to. It isn't as scary as you might think. It is essentially cruise control for the steering wh

by Daviey 10y ago

Have you tried the autopilot? If you haven't.. you really need to. It isn't as scary as you might think. It is essentially cruise control for the steering wheel. If you move the steering wheel just a few millimetres, it disengages. The driver still has complete control, authority and responsibility. There is really no reason to assume there will be more crashes.

adrianN 10y ago
I think the problem with these assistance systems currently is that they lull the driver into a false sense of security and increase reaction times for situation that can't be handled by the computer. So even if they work as advertised, I'm not convinced that they are at least as safe as having a human at wheel constantly. That being said, I'm somewhat wary of running "beta" software on cars. I'd expect a complicated and costly validation step with some independent government body before modifications to these systems are allowed to go live. I don't know whether Tesla does this or not.
- Daviey 10y ago
  Whilst I only have empirical evidence to go on, I will say that when I have used autopilot.. I've felt like I am paying more attention as I am not distracted with keeping the car placed central in the lane and following the slight curves in the road. This means that more attention can be focused on situational awareness, of what is happening ON the road.
  - wlesieutre 10y ago
    Even on planes, we've had problems with people being too reliant on autopilot. http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/children-of-the-magenta-automation-paradox-pt-1/ http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/children-of-the-magent... With self driving cars where we're relying on the car for moment-to-moment instantaneous reactions, I think it's very unlikely that human drivers will be able to pick up the slack in a system failure. If you're expecting the car to stop it self and it doesn't, you have what, a quarter second to jump in manually? The recent video of a self driving uber going through a red light is probably a similar scenario. Even though uber insists it's a "driver assistance technology" and not a self driving car, the driver expected the car to stop itself, so they didn't bother applying the brakes. And that one was at low speeds, maybe 10 mph. The saving grace here is that they're competing against human drivers. The technology doesn't have to be perfect, just better than us. But relying on human oversight to maintain 100% perfect attention for a six hour journey of doing literally nothing but watching a car drive itself in case you need to step in? I think that's a non-starter. For these to work, the car has to be able to manage on its own.
  - gambiting 10y ago
    I feel the same about automatic transmissions - not having to worry about being in correct gear allows me to concentrate 100% on the road - but I'm usually shouted down by people who think that driving anything but a manual is not driving. All my cars for the past 7 years were manual, and now that I have an automatic I would never go back.
    - jonathansizz 10y ago
      I'd argue that having to worry about the being in the correct gear actually necessitates greater awareness of the road conditions and situation. In a manual transmission vehicle you have to continuously anticipate what's about to happen (so you can select the correct gear), and so you're forced to pay attention to what's going on around you. In general, I hypothesise that the more a system is automated, the less awareness is demanded of the operator and thus the more likely the operator is to get into some kind of trouble, whether this stems from development of a lazy habit, rustiness or just not being able to recover the situation if the automation abruptly fails. In fact, we've seen several plane crashes attributed to pilot error related to increasing automation in aircraft.
  - shostack 10y ago
    When I'm on the highway during my commute I use cruise control. I've noticed that it helps tremendously in letting me focus more on other things, like other drivers, road conditions, etc. Because I'm not having to make small adjustments to me speed or constantly check my speedometer. I imagine this has a similar effect. The flip side is, I always have my foot resting lightly on the gas, so I'm not really at a disadvantage if I need to brake. Do Tesla drivers using autopilot have their hands hovering over the wheel typically? If not I imagine reaction time could be impacted.

by Daviey 10y ago

adrianN 10y ago

I think the problem with these assistance systems currently is that they lull the driver into a false sense of security and increase reaction times for situation that can't be handled by the computer. So even if they work as advertised, I'm not convinced that they are at least as safe as having a human at wheel constantly. That being said, I'm somewhat wary of running "beta" software on cars. I'd expect a complicated and costly validation step with some independent government body before modifications to these systems are allowed to go live. I don't know whether Tesla does this or not.

Daviey 10y ago
Whilst I only have empirical evidence to go on, I will say that when I have used autopilot.. I've felt like I am paying more attention as I am not distracted with keeping the car placed central in the lane and following the slight curves in the road. This means that more attention can be focused on situational awareness, of what is happening ON the road.
- wlesieutre 10y ago
  Even on planes, we've had problems with people being too reliant on autopilot. http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/children-of-the-magenta-automation-paradox-pt-1/ http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/children-of-the-magent... With self driving cars where we're relying on the car for moment-to-moment instantaneous reactions, I think it's very unlikely that human drivers will be able to pick up the slack in a system failure. If you're expecting the car to stop it self and it doesn't, you have what, a quarter second to jump in manually? The recent video of a self driving uber going through a red light is probably a similar scenario. Even though uber insists it's a "driver assistance technology" and not a self driving car, the driver expected the car to stop itself, so they didn't bother applying the brakes. And that one was at low speeds, maybe 10 mph. The saving grace here is that they're competing against human drivers. The technology doesn't have to be perfect, just better than us. But relying on human oversight to maintain 100% perfect attention for a six hour journey of doing literally nothing but watching a car drive itself in case you need to step in? I think that's a non-starter. For these to work, the car has to be able to manage on its own.
- gambiting 10y ago
  I feel the same about automatic transmissions - not having to worry about being in correct gear allows me to concentrate 100% on the road - but I'm usually shouted down by people who think that driving anything but a manual is not driving. All my cars for the past 7 years were manual, and now that I have an automatic I would never go back.
  - jonathansizz 10y ago
    I'd argue that having to worry about the being in the correct gear actually necessitates greater awareness of the road conditions and situation. In a manual transmission vehicle you have to continuously anticipate what's about to happen (so you can select the correct gear), and so you're forced to pay attention to what's going on around you. In general, I hypothesise that the more a system is automated, the less awareness is demanded of the operator and thus the more likely the operator is to get into some kind of trouble, whether this stems from development of a lazy habit, rustiness or just not being able to recover the situation if the automation abruptly fails. In fact, we've seen several plane crashes attributed to pilot error related to increasing automation in aircraft.
- shostack 10y ago
  When I'm on the highway during my commute I use cruise control. I've noticed that it helps tremendously in letting me focus more on other things, like other drivers, road conditions, etc. Because I'm not having to make small adjustments to me speed or constantly check my speedometer. I imagine this has a similar effect. The flip side is, I always have my foot resting lightly on the gas, so I'm not really at a disadvantage if I need to brake. Do Tesla drivers using autopilot have their hands hovering over the wheel typically? If not I imagine reaction time could be impacted.