4 ms·

This was clearly a terrible idea from the beginning. They presumable thinking was that autopilot/fsd would be driving the car so the driver could play games. A

by olliej 5y ago

This was clearly a terrible idea from the beginning. They presumable thinking was that autopilot/fsd would be driving the car so the driver could play games. At the same time they’re claiming that they aren’t responsible for autopilot crashes because the driver is always meant to be able to instantly be in control of the car. You can’t really do both “the driver can be focused on non driving tasks” and also “the driver must be focused on driving”. That is obviously impossible.

ajross 5y ago
> They presumable thinking was that autopilot/fsd would be driving the car so the driver could play games. Arrgh. It was a feature for the passenger to play games while preserving the driving UI. Absolutely no one intended for this to be used by drivers. There isn't even any evidence of a driver being caught doing this. The coverage is basically clickbait, and you appear to have bought it exactly as it was intended. Whether it's really a good idea or not? I mean, the driver can pull out a phone or iPad and game/text/whatever to their hearts content already. And many do. And lots of them die. Why exactly are we treating this any differently?
- greyface- 5y ago
  > There isn't even any evidence of a driver being caught doing this. Elsewhere in this very discussion, a driver admitted to doing this. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29670414 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29670414
  - Dylan16807 5y ago
    They said they tried and the car wouldn't let them. A quick test even if successful shouldn't count, and a failed test definitely doesn't count.
- bestcoder69 5y ago
  Not seeing how this could be clickbait or even misleading. No one had to intend anything, and there doesn't have to be evidence of drivers doing anything. The NHTSA is investigating to see if they have to enforce some laws, and that made Tesla pivot. Also the rule seems to be that you can bring a distraction into a car but you can't build the distraction into the car. Which seems totally reasonable to me. I mean, even after Tesla got rid of the games, passengers can still play any non-Tesla-exclusive game on their iPhone, so it seems like no one is really harmed.
  - ajross 5y ago
    > Not seeing how this could be clickbait or even misleading. The upthread comment was from someone who clearly assumed that this was intended as a driver feature, even to the extent of supposing that it was designed to be used under autonomous control. And that's clearly not the case. That mistake is a direct result of headlines like the one here, which talk about "allowing drivers" to play games. It's technically true, but it leads to the wrong conclusion. And that's the intent!
- olliej 5y ago
  Even if that was the case, the screen is the primary information and control interface for the driver, and should not be displaying any focus drawing, non-driving related information.
  - ajross 5y ago
    Define focus-drawing, though? Radio doesn't count? Full-screen climate control? Album art? Web browser? Pairing a bluetooth device? Hell, even having a glove box on the other side of the cabin is a distraction. The car is filled with distractions already, and we accept that it's broadly safe even if some drivers are distracted[1]. Why is this one in particular such a big deal for everyone, except for the somewhat obvious reason that it's new and Tesla did it. [1] To be fair: by far the most fatal distraction in the vehicle isn't even the device UI, it's the phone in their pocket.
    - pandaman 5y ago
      Something moving with high frequency in the peripheral vision would be mighty distracting. I did not know Teslas allow you to browse Web while driving, this also looks very distracting, the other things you listed - not much.
      - ajross 5y ago
        It was Solitaire, FWIW, not Sonic the Hedgehog. The list of Passenger Play games was curated. Which is another fact that would seem to be reasonable to have included in the reporting, but was suspiciously absent.
        pandaman 5y ago
        https://youtu.be/jKzHvIXT3Bc?t=81 https://youtu.be/jKzHvIXT3Bc?t=81 looks a bit more like Sonic the Hedgehog than Solitire to me tbqh. Curation does not seem to be relevant. Why do I care if the driver that runs the red light is playing/being distracted by a game that have been curated, is he going to cause less damage because of this somehow?

by olliej 5y ago

ajross 5y ago

> They presumable thinking was that autopilot/fsd would be driving the car so the driver could play games. Arrgh. It was a feature for the passenger to play games while preserving the driving UI. Absolutely no one intended for this to be used by drivers. There isn't even any evidence of a driver being caught doing this. The coverage is basically clickbait, and you appear to have bought it exactly as it was intended. Whether it's really a good idea or not? I mean, the driver can pull out a phone or iPad and game/text/whatever to their hearts content already. And many do. And lots of them die. Why exactly are we treating this any differently?

greyface- 5y ago
> There isn't even any evidence of a driver being caught doing this. Elsewhere in this very discussion, a driver admitted to doing this. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29670414 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29670414
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  They said they tried and the car wouldn't let them. A quick test even if successful shouldn't count, and a failed test definitely doesn't count.
bestcoder69 5y ago
Not seeing how this could be clickbait or even misleading. No one had to intend anything, and there doesn't have to be evidence of drivers doing anything. The NHTSA is investigating to see if they have to enforce some laws, and that made Tesla pivot. Also the rule seems to be that you can bring a distraction into a car but you can't build the distraction into the car. Which seems totally reasonable to me. I mean, even after Tesla got rid of the games, passengers can still play any non-Tesla-exclusive game on their iPhone, so it seems like no one is really harmed.
- ajross 5y ago
  > Not seeing how this could be clickbait or even misleading. The upthread comment was from someone who clearly assumed that this was intended as a driver feature, even to the extent of supposing that it was designed to be used under autonomous control. And that's clearly not the case. That mistake is a direct result of headlines like the one here, which talk about "allowing drivers" to play games. It's technically true, but it leads to the wrong conclusion. And that's the intent!
olliej 5y ago
Even if that was the case, the screen is the primary information and control interface for the driver, and should not be displaying any focus drawing, non-driving related information.
- ajross 5y ago
  Define focus-drawing, though? Radio doesn't count? Full-screen climate control? Album art? Web browser? Pairing a bluetooth device? Hell, even having a glove box on the other side of the cabin is a distraction. The car is filled with distractions already, and we accept that it's broadly safe even if some drivers are distracted[1]. Why is this one in particular such a big deal for everyone, except for the somewhat obvious reason that it's new and Tesla did it. [1] To be fair: by far the most fatal distraction in the vehicle isn't even the device UI, it's the phone in their pocket.
  - pandaman 5y ago
    Something moving with high frequency in the peripheral vision would be mighty distracting. I did not know Teslas allow you to browse Web while driving, this also looks very distracting, the other things you listed - not much.
    - ajross 5y ago
      It was Solitaire, FWIW, not Sonic the Hedgehog. The list of Passenger Play games was curated. Which is another fact that would seem to be reasonable to have included in the reporting, but was suspiciously absent.
      - pandaman 5y ago
        https://youtu.be/jKzHvIXT3Bc?t=81 https://youtu.be/jKzHvIXT3Bc?t=81 looks a bit more like Sonic the Hedgehog than Solitire to me tbqh. Curation does not seem to be relevant. Why do I care if the driver that runs the red light is playing/being distracted by a game that have been curated, is he going to cause less damage because of this somehow?