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> It's really bad design to require a car driver to be distracted just to perform normal operations. And to fix that, they started pushing even more computers

> It's really bad design to require a car driver to be distracted just to perform normal operations. And to fix that, they started pushing even more computers into cars so that people don’t have to pay attention. All this self-driving fad is there to cover up the big fuck up of pushing more and more distracting stuff into cars. There are sone really cool things in modern cars: speed limiter is awesome when driving in the city, active cruise control is awesome in heavy traffic. Lane keeping assistant annoys me but I guess it helps some, collision avoidance more often annoys me than helps because of false positives. Every time it comes on it just freaks me out because it does something I didn’t expect. I mean, who’s driving the car: me or the manufacturer? And it doesn’t even work properly. It didn’t save that poor cyclist from hitting the side of my car… on the other hand, if one doesn’t know what the mirror is for, they may find it useful. I never thought I would say that but think I wouldn’t mind the speed limiter automatically engaging in the city. Under two conditions: that I can override it, and that the speed limit recognition is top notch. All other stuff with level 2 and 3 is plain dangerous. We’re teaching people to not pay attention behind the wheel just to throw the driver under the bus when the computer doesn’t know what to do anymore. The problem with that approach is that the driver doesn’t have a mental model of what’s around them. An example of the last point is the new idea from BMW. To initiate an overtake when in self-driving mode, look in the side mirror. I have no idea who’s the genius behind that but what a great way to teach people not to check their mirrors. I don’t know how others drive but I’m glancing in side mirrors quite often just to know what’s going on around.

adhesive_wombat 3y ago
> I never thought I would say that but think I wouldn’t mind the speed limiter automatically engaging in the city. You'll get that wish: speed limiters will probably be on by default in future. I find them very annoying as they currently are: I've had it do things like misread a 50 as a 30, decide the current speed limit is 35 (I have never seen a 35 limit) and also read a side-road 20 while traveling on a 40. It will then shift gears and slow down dramatically in moving traffic, but won't show brake lights, so it's just asking for someone to rear-end me to use it except on side-roads. Hopefully, they'll get better.
- rad_gruchalski 3y ago
  > You'll get that wish: speed limiters will probably be on by default in future. I don’t wish for them but I would not mind them coming on. As it happens, I put a speed limiter on most of the times already anyway. > I find them very annoying as they currently are: I've had it do things like misread a 50 as a 30 Yes. One of my two conditions for not minding it coming on.
  - adhesive_wombat 3y ago
    I don't know what they're really going to do about it, it's sometimes confusing enough as a human. Like overhead gantry signs that don't "release" the limit and you have to guess that passing a blank one means you can go back to 70 and not get a fine in the post! And another one near me where the sign has been rotated 180 degrees in the post so the limits are backwards. Or the sign is painted on the road and then burned off, but you can still read it (one of these on the A1) and you're not immediately sure if it's just worn out like all the others. I think for them to be reliable enough that I don't think they'll cause a crash on the A406, some signs need to be changed somehow to make them more unambiguous, or a better "digital twin" exists including live dynamic speed limits.
eternityforest 3y ago
I think the self driving stuff is because full autonomy will be absolutely amazing, but companies want to start profiting early because that's what they do. If full self driving existed now, my life would likely be totally different.

adhesive_wombat 3y ago

> I never thought I would say that but think I wouldn’t mind the speed limiter automatically engaging in the city. You'll get that wish: speed limiters will probably be on by default in future. I find them very annoying as they currently are: I've had it do things like misread a 50 as a 30, decide the current speed limit is 35 (I have never seen a 35 limit) and also read a side-road 20 while traveling on a 40. It will then shift gears and slow down dramatically in moving traffic, but won't show brake lights, so it's just asking for someone to rear-end me to use it except on side-roads. Hopefully, they'll get better.

rad_gruchalski 3y ago
> You'll get that wish: speed limiters will probably be on by default in future. I don’t wish for them but I would not mind them coming on. As it happens, I put a speed limiter on most of the times already anyway. > I find them very annoying as they currently are: I've had it do things like misread a 50 as a 30 Yes. One of my two conditions for not minding it coming on.
- adhesive_wombat 3y ago
  I don't know what they're really going to do about it, it's sometimes confusing enough as a human. Like overhead gantry signs that don't "release" the limit and you have to guess that passing a blank one means you can go back to 70 and not get a fine in the post! And another one near me where the sign has been rotated 180 degrees in the post so the limits are backwards. Or the sign is painted on the road and then burned off, but you can still read it (one of these on the A1) and you're not immediately sure if it's just worn out like all the others. I think for them to be reliable enough that I don't think they'll cause a crash on the A406, some signs need to be changed somehow to make them more unambiguous, or a better "digital twin" exists including live dynamic speed limits.

eternityforest 3y ago

I think the self driving stuff is because full autonomy will be absolutely amazing, but companies want to start profiting early because that's what they do. If full self driving existed now, my life would likely be totally different.