Definitely a valid concern. My wife had an Infiniti Q50 for a short while. It had dynamic cruise, but also had an ability to keep the car in its lane on its own (through very slight bends, though intervention would be needed in larger curves). During a return leg of a road trip we took in that car (highway), I remember remarking to her how I felt more awake and alert, letting the car do the driving (hands and feet off the controls, though of course ready to take over if needed), and letting me focus on watching the road and mirrors. To be fair, perhaps it was simply the excitement of having the car drive itself. As I had her to talk to, I was in no way inclined to reach for the cell phone/book/etc. I can certainly see that being what many drivers do when they no longer have to 'drive'. Interesting days ahead...
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
-
On today's TMC Podcast, we ask the question "What is the Tesla Cybercab?". Join us on YouTube live at 1PM and participate in the chat.
Definitely a valid concern. My wife had an Infiniti Q50 for a short while. It had dynamic cruise, but also had an ability to keep the car in its lane on its own (through very slight bends, though intervention would be needed in larger curves). During a return leg of a road trip we took in that car (highway), I remember remarking to her how I felt more awake and alert, letting the car do the driving (hands and feet off the controls, though of course ready to take over if needed), and letting me focus on watching the road and mirrors. To be fair, perhaps it was simply the excitement of having the car drive itself. As I had her to talk to, I was in no way inclined to reach for the cell phone/book/etc. I can certainly see that being what many drivers do when they no longer have to 'drive'. Interesting days ahead...
People do all those things now, without autopilot!
Since many (most?) people are already not paying attention to the road, I think autopilot will be a big positive. At least something will be paying attention...
Since many (most?) people are already not paying attention to the road, I think autopilot will be a big positive. At least something will be paying attention...
I attempted to broach this subject in another thread that dealt with the brakes not working properly while backing up when creep mode was on. The general consensus was that the problem was resolved relatively quickly (within 48hrs), but I think others were downplaying the seriousness of letting a glitch like that slide past QA. There is a reason that backup cameras are becoming mandatory on cars, because we tend to run over things. And for a software update to introduce interference with the backup process is of the utmost concern to me.
I've only recently become active on these forums, and I've noticed that there are a lot of people that come to the defense of Tesla (for good and bad) when these types of issues crop up. The first two that come to mind are the downplaying of the issue above and the requests by multiple members that one of the members here not report the jump seat belt failure to the NHTSB in another thread. Then there is the other end of the spectrum where the battery fires were blown way out of proportion and everyone on here seemed to keep a fairly cool head.
With regards to the autopilot issue and this thread specifically, I think there need to be serious discussions far in advance along the lines of autopilot-etiquette/autopilot-ethics. Regarding the etiquette, we need to realize that despite the need for constant vigilance on the road right now, we still text, read emails, lookup directions, find the right song, etc, etc, etc. Somehow thinking that is going to change when the car is driving itself is myopic at best. If I'm making that trip from Columbus to Indy, you can bet that I'll be tempted to take a 178 mile nap. Should I? Absolutely not. Will I willingly? I hope sure hope not. I know such a large amount of dis-involvement is perhaps a bit extreme, but we all know how you can get distracted by other things that would, at the very least, take your eyes off the road for longer than is reasonably safe.
With regards to the autopilot-ethics, I think we should still head that direction. And we should head that direction with the attitude that everyone else who makes cars needs to head that direction too. But these systems need to be perfect. There is nothing short of lives on the line. I know that some on here are thinking we are going to see these types of exit-to-exit features by now, or in the next couple months, or the next six months. But I think they are being overly optimistic. This is something we absolutely can't rush and I think the slow roll-out on Tesla's part is a pretty good indication they think so too (despite heavily touting it on the D's release). It's one thing if your backup lines are hard to see in heavy rain, it's completely different if the lane-change avoidance cameras steer you into a ditch because there is snow covering the lane-lines. It's all software, but the tolerances of failure in each instance are (and should be) completely different.
I like being on the bleeding-edge of this technology, I just don't want to be bleeding on the edge of the road by the hand of this technology.
SherSlick
Member
To me the choice to call it Autopilot was a very smart one. Much like the Autopilot on aircraft it allows for much less "pilot" stress. Not that I have gone a large distance with TACC yet I still remember taking a 9-hour road trip in a car without even cruise control. By the end my leg hurt from trying to keep the throttle at about the same position as well everything else to just maintain the controls.
Where as with cruise control I don't have to use muscles to hold the accelerator at a specific amount made a huge difference. Now with TACC the foot work necessary for stop and go rush hour is gone making that hour of my day much less exhausting.
When adding any of these features do I move away from the controls, NO, and you would a total fool to do as such. I was blown away when my road trip partner thought it was a good idea to sit with her legs under herself when going down the highway with cruise control.
My point is: these are all driver ASSISTANCE features. Until full, actual, autonomous driving is "ready" they will be ONLY that and should never be considered more.
edit: Spelling
Where as with cruise control I don't have to use muscles to hold the accelerator at a specific amount made a huge difference. Now with TACC the foot work necessary for stop and go rush hour is gone making that hour of my day much less exhausting.
When adding any of these features do I move away from the controls, NO, and you would a total fool to do as such. I was blown away when my road trip partner thought it was a good idea to sit with her legs under herself when going down the highway with cruise control.
My point is: these are all driver ASSISTANCE features. Until full, actual, autonomous driving is "ready" they will be ONLY that and should never be considered more.
edit: Spelling
riiiiight. Something like the scene from Anchorman II (fast forward to 2:17)....
Anchorman 2- hilarious RV scene - YouTube
Quoting Elon from Elon Musk Speech on why Hydrogen fuel cell is stupid (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPLMnkrZITA#t=1127
"People should be concerned about the safety with autonomous vehicles. We don't want two-ton death-bots roaming the street, and I think the standard for safety for autonomous vehicles should be much higher than it is for people. I think probably, to go to full autonomy, I think we want to show statistically that it's more like a factor of ten safer than a person. I think that most people would say that OK, if it's ten times safer than a person, then it's good. And we need to prove that. I think we'll really have sort of mainstream cars capable of full autonomy in 5 years or less. But proving that it's safe and getting the regulator approval is likely to take two to three years after that. It's probably seven or eight years there will be fully autonomous vehicles that you can just buy."*
*My apologies if I've slightly messed up the quote.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPLMnkrZITA#t=1127
"People should be concerned about the safety with autonomous vehicles. We don't want two-ton death-bots roaming the street, and I think the standard for safety for autonomous vehicles should be much higher than it is for people. I think probably, to go to full autonomy, I think we want to show statistically that it's more like a factor of ten safer than a person. I think that most people would say that OK, if it's ten times safer than a person, then it's good. And we need to prove that. I think we'll really have sort of mainstream cars capable of full autonomy in 5 years or less. But proving that it's safe and getting the regulator approval is likely to take two to three years after that. It's probably seven or eight years there will be fully autonomous vehicles that you can just buy."*
*My apologies if I've slightly messed up the quote.
Similar threads
