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Trivial, eh? I would argue that the solution is not some imaginary set of sensors that could somehow flawlessly detect every class of psychoactive drugs that co

Trivial, eh? I would argue that the solution is not some imaginary set of sensors that could somehow flawlessly detect every class of psychoactive drugs that could somehow impair a person, including but not limited to: xanax, PCP, ketamine, cocaine, alcohol, GHB, LSD, mushrooms, marijuana, 2C-I, MDMA, MDA, meth, heroin, fentanyl, etc. Not to mention a myriad more prescription drugs, including sleep medication and antipsychotics which are perfectly legal to drive on, but can also be equally impairing. ... But actually to continue the work that we're already doing to implement self-driving cars. I mean, it's not just drugs, it's also tiredness, distractions, and simple mistakes. We can make cars safer by removing human drivers and replacing them with extensively tested machines. It will take a bit more time, but we'll get there.

ablekh 6y ago
I didn't say trivial implementation, but rather a trivial solution (i.e., a general approach). Regarding the issue that, in addition to alcohol, there exist a large number of drugs potentially diminishing one's ability to drive: it could be approached using Pareto principle. Either focus just on alcohol (which most likely is responsible for 80% of road accidents) and ignore the other 20% (distractions, lack of attention, drugs, etc.), or apply Pareto principle again, now to the drugs class, and identify most frequently used ones and/or most potentially impairing ones and design relevant sensors to cover the 20% that causes 80% of issues. While I certainly recognize potential benefits of autonomous driving (and automation, in general), relevant global or nationwide deployments are still a very long way to go; it's not "a bit more time", but most likely decades. Imagine how many lives could be saved with simpler sensor-based solutions (which, by the way, could very much help with the problems of "tiredness, distractions, and simple mistakes") in the meantime ...
- tachyonbeam 6y ago
  I think it's very realistic to have driver-assist solution that can provide advanced collision warnings, collision assistance and watch the driver's face to see if they are paying attention. With respect to self-driving, search YouTube for FSD beta. You can see what Tesla has been up to. It's not perfect but it keeps getting better. It's not going to take several decades.
  - ablekh 6y ago
    The sensor-based driver assist solutions is what I meant as a secondary aid in my comment above. However, these solutions are reactive and quite partial as opposed to strong preventative measures like alcohol detection-based car immobilization solutions. Some would say that it is a radical measure, but so is electronic speed limiter/governor in all modern cars. I'm well aware of the progress in autonomous driving space (including Tesla's - though, I would argue that Tesla is not the leader in this space; I think that it's Waymo). However, more generally, my point was not about limited fleet use cases, but rather global-scale deployments and massive adoption. That, I believe, is certainly not going to happen soon.

ablekh 6y ago

I didn't say trivial implementation, but rather a trivial solution (i.e., a general approach). Regarding the issue that, in addition to alcohol, there exist a large number of drugs potentially diminishing one's ability to drive: it could be approached using Pareto principle. Either focus just on alcohol (which most likely is responsible for 80% of road accidents) and ignore the other 20% (distractions, lack of attention, drugs, etc.), or apply Pareto principle again, now to the drugs class, and identify most frequently used ones and/or most potentially impairing ones and design relevant sensors to cover the 20% that causes 80% of issues. While I certainly recognize potential benefits of autonomous driving (and automation, in general), relevant global or nationwide deployments are still a very long way to go; it's not "a bit more time", but most likely decades. Imagine how many lives could be saved with simpler sensor-based solutions (which, by the way, could very much help with the problems of "tiredness, distractions, and simple mistakes") in the meantime ...

tachyonbeam 6y ago
I think it's very realistic to have driver-assist solution that can provide advanced collision warnings, collision assistance and watch the driver's face to see if they are paying attention. With respect to self-driving, search YouTube for FSD beta. You can see what Tesla has been up to. It's not perfect but it keeps getting better. It's not going to take several decades.
- ablekh 6y ago
  The sensor-based driver assist solutions is what I meant as a secondary aid in my comment above. However, these solutions are reactive and quite partial as opposed to strong preventative measures like alcohol detection-based car immobilization solutions. Some would say that it is a radical measure, but so is electronic speed limiter/governor in all modern cars. I'm well aware of the progress in autonomous driving space (including Tesla's - though, I would argue that Tesla is not the leader in this space; I think that it's Waymo). However, more generally, my point was not about limited fleet use cases, but rather global-scale deployments and massive adoption. That, I believe, is certainly not going to happen soon.