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If you don’t know, you’ll learn pretty quickly when you buy one. If you don’t keep your hands on the wheel, it will flash at you, then beep at you, then stop th

If you don’t know, you’ll learn pretty quickly when you buy one. If you don’t keep your hands on the wheel, it will flash at you, then beep at you, then stop the car. In reality, once you are used to it, it’s actually quite easy to keep a hand on the wheel while using Autopilot.

mdorazio 7y ago
> In reality, once you are used to it, it’s actually quite easy to keep a hand on the wheel while using Autopilot. ...while you do something other than pay attention. Like take a nap or watch a movie (just search YouTube for Tesla nap).
- zaroth 7y ago
  I drive on AutoPilot every day. The shit I see other drivers doing on the highway blows my mind. Yesterday a guy was trimming his toes. Bare foot up on the dash and just going at it. Can’t. Unsee. Approximately half of drivers are holding a cellphone on their ear, or yawning with a look of utter exhaustion on their face, occasionally rocking out to some great tunes, which is fun when they catch you watching. None of it is OK, but it is very clearly a universal issue much bigger than AutoPilot.
  - mdorazio 7y ago
    100% agree. Almost as bad for me was a recent conversation with a Tesla owner who said he drives his Model 3 to bars instead of taking Uber since it can take him home when he's drunk. The level to which people are abusing the system is phenomenal.
    - revscat 7y ago
      I fail to see how this isn’t a step forward, though. Given that there will always be a subset of people who drink at bars who will drive themselves home, then the availability of things like Autopilot can only help to reduce overall the number of accidents that occur as a result.
  - toast0 7y ago
    > Yesterday a guy was trimming his toes. Bare foot up on the dash and just going at it. Can’t. Unsee. I had that guy as a Lyft driver once.
shoo_pl 7y ago
It's not about how easy it is to put your hand on wheel so that it can detect a bit of force (you can use bottle of water to do that). The difficult part is to stay focused when doing that. If you spent 30 minutes driving to work on a highway, and your car was able to drive itself every day for 2 months, how likely are you to take any reasonable action on 3rd month when something unexpecting happens?
- toddmorey 7y ago
  I think this undersells how easy it is to disengage attention when you are actively driving. The task of driving (especially your commute route) is very mundane.
- mulmen 7y ago
  So the problem is the human attention span? Cars without any always-on computer aids such as automatic braking must be really dangerous then.
  - Filligree 7y ago
    Driving a car is absolutely the most dangerous activity most people regularly participate in. I don't think you're saying anything controversial there.
    - mulmen 7y ago
      Right so any time a computer can take over is a good thing because computers don’t get bored.
      - makomk 7y ago
        That doesn't follow, because making the human supervise the computer as it takes over rather than actively participating increases the risk of them getting bored and losing attention.
        7y ago

mdorazio 7y ago

> In reality, once you are used to it, it’s actually quite easy to keep a hand on the wheel while using Autopilot. ...while you do something other than pay attention. Like take a nap or watch a movie (just search YouTube for Tesla nap).

zaroth 7y ago
I drive on AutoPilot every day. The shit I see other drivers doing on the highway blows my mind. Yesterday a guy was trimming his toes. Bare foot up on the dash and just going at it. Can’t. Unsee. Approximately half of drivers are holding a cellphone on their ear, or yawning with a look of utter exhaustion on their face, occasionally rocking out to some great tunes, which is fun when they catch you watching. None of it is OK, but it is very clearly a universal issue much bigger than AutoPilot.
- mdorazio 7y ago
  100% agree. Almost as bad for me was a recent conversation with a Tesla owner who said he drives his Model 3 to bars instead of taking Uber since it can take him home when he's drunk. The level to which people are abusing the system is phenomenal.
  - revscat 7y ago
    I fail to see how this isn’t a step forward, though. Given that there will always be a subset of people who drink at bars who will drive themselves home, then the availability of things like Autopilot can only help to reduce overall the number of accidents that occur as a result.
- toast0 7y ago
  > Yesterday a guy was trimming his toes. Bare foot up on the dash and just going at it. Can’t. Unsee. I had that guy as a Lyft driver once.

shoo_pl 7y ago

It's not about how easy it is to put your hand on wheel so that it can detect a bit of force (you can use bottle of water to do that). The difficult part is to stay focused when doing that. If you spent 30 minutes driving to work on a highway, and your car was able to drive itself every day for 2 months, how likely are you to take any reasonable action on 3rd month when something unexpecting happens?

toddmorey 7y ago
I think this undersells how easy it is to disengage attention when you are actively driving. The task of driving (especially your commute route) is very mundane.
mulmen 7y ago
So the problem is the human attention span? Cars without any always-on computer aids such as automatic braking must be really dangerous then.
- Filligree 7y ago
  Driving a car is absolutely the most dangerous activity most people regularly participate in. I don't think you're saying anything controversial there.
  - mulmen 7y ago
    Right so any time a computer can take over is a good thing because computers don’t get bored.
    - makomk 7y ago
      That doesn't follow, because making the human supervise the computer as it takes over rather than actively participating increases the risk of them getting bored and losing attention.
      - 7y ago