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As systems become more reliable, it becomes progressively harder for humans to stay focused and maintain the concentration required to respond in the way this d

by yodon 6y ago

As systems become more reliable, it becomes progressively harder for humans to stay focused and maintain the concentration required to respond in the way this driver was expected to respond. Yes, the driver is at fault for failing to maintain vigilance, but the engineers who built this system are far more at fault for designing a system whose operating parameters (long stretches of nothing to do culminating in either more nothing to do or a sudden life or death emergency requiring full concentration to detect and process and prevent) are well outside the operating envelope of the human in the system. The driver was hired to perform a task that was almost guaranteed to result in a deadly injury while some driver was behind the wheels. She didn't have any way to know that, but the engineers did.

sokoloff 6y ago
> The driver was hired to perform a task that was almost guaranteed to result in a deadly injury while some driver was behind the wheels. Every airline pilot is hired to perform a task that is guaranteed to result in a deadly injury while some pilot is behind the [yoke/sidestick]. Every Registry/Department of Motor Vehicles each weekday grants licenses to civilians which are guaranteed to result in a deadly injury while some of them are behind the wheel. Every commercial truck driver is hired to perform a task... That can't possibly be the standard by which we object.
- yodon 6y ago
  Airline pilots are highly trained, subject to regular physical inspections and testing, and spend much of their careers practicing for emergency procedures to maintain their vigilance. Auto and truck drivers operating normal vehicles are in a state of at least partial task concentration while operating their vehicles. The task concentration context in which this test driver was seated was completely unlike that of a normal vehicle driver.
weaksauce 6y ago
> The driver was hired to perform a task that was almost guaranteed to result in a deadly injury while some driver was behind the wheels. She didn't have any way to know that, but the engineers did. I think the culpability lies a bit more on her than you imply... she was watching a video on her phone instead of surveying the road/instruments for dangers
- yodon 6y ago
  By virtue of being a HN reader, you are almost certainly much better educated and much more highly skilled than the person Uber hired to baby sit their vehicles during testing. Set the alarm on your watch to go off in two hours. Start looking at your monitor to see if any pixels fail in the next two hours. Ask yourself how far into that 2 hour task you were able to maintain vigilance. Now try to do it day after day. Was she at fault, yes. Were the Uber engineers who designed this testing system at fault too? Absolutely.
  - weaksauce 6y ago
    > Was she at fault, yes. Were the Uber engineers who designed this testing system at fault too? Those two tasks are quite different. One is driving and observing new stimuli and the other is looking at paint dry. I don't think anyone could do that without adequate breaks. I never implied that the guilt was solely on her... she's culpable to an extent as is uber for not having two backup drivers and/or more breaks to stay fresh. I don't know if they had a written policy about it but I can't imagine being on the phone watching a movie is allowed.

by yodon 6y ago

sokoloff 6y ago

> The driver was hired to perform a task that was almost guaranteed to result in a deadly injury while some driver was behind the wheels. Every airline pilot is hired to perform a task that is guaranteed to result in a deadly injury while some pilot is behind the [yoke/sidestick]. Every Registry/Department of Motor Vehicles each weekday grants licenses to civilians which are guaranteed to result in a deadly injury while some of them are behind the wheel. Every commercial truck driver is hired to perform a task... That can't possibly be the standard by which we object.

yodon 6y ago
Airline pilots are highly trained, subject to regular physical inspections and testing, and spend much of their careers practicing for emergency procedures to maintain their vigilance. Auto and truck drivers operating normal vehicles are in a state of at least partial task concentration while operating their vehicles. The task concentration context in which this test driver was seated was completely unlike that of a normal vehicle driver.

weaksauce 6y ago

> The driver was hired to perform a task that was almost guaranteed to result in a deadly injury while some driver was behind the wheels. She didn't have any way to know that, but the engineers did. I think the culpability lies a bit more on her than you imply... she was watching a video on her phone instead of surveying the road/instruments for dangers

yodon 6y ago
By virtue of being a HN reader, you are almost certainly much better educated and much more highly skilled than the person Uber hired to baby sit their vehicles during testing. Set the alarm on your watch to go off in two hours. Start looking at your monitor to see if any pixels fail in the next two hours. Ask yourself how far into that 2 hour task you were able to maintain vigilance. Now try to do it day after day. Was she at fault, yes. Were the Uber engineers who designed this testing system at fault too? Absolutely.
- weaksauce 6y ago
  > Was she at fault, yes. Were the Uber engineers who designed this testing system at fault too? Those two tasks are quite different. One is driving and observing new stimuli and the other is looking at paint dry. I don't think anyone could do that without adequate breaks. I never implied that the guilt was solely on her... she's culpable to an extent as is uber for not having two backup drivers and/or more breaks to stay fresh. I don't know if they had a written policy about it but I can't imagine being on the phone watching a movie is allowed.