Comment by mikkupikku
4 hours ago
All these self driving and "drivers assistance" features like lane keeping exist to satisfy consumer demand for a way to multitask when driving. Tesla's is particularly cancerous, but all of them should be banned. I don't care how good you think your lane keeping in whatever car you have is, you won't need it if you keep your hands on the wheel, eyes on the road, and don't drive when drowsy. Turn it off and stop trying to delegate your responsibility for what your two ton speeding death machine does!
I think it’s unfair to group all those features into “things for people who want to multitask while driving”.
I’m a decent driver, I never use my phone while driving and actively avoid distractions (sometimes I have to tell everyone in the car to stop talking), and yet features like lane assist and automatic braking have helped me avoid possible collisions simply because I’m human and I’m not perfect. Sometimes a random thought takes my attention away for a moment, or I’m distracted by sudden movement in my peripheral vision, or any number of things. I can drive very safely, but I can not drive perfectly all the time. No one can.
These features make safe drivers even safer. They even make the dangerous drivers (relatively) safer.
There are two layers, both relating to concentration.
Driving a car takes effort. ADAS features (or even just plain regular "driving systems") can reduce the cognitive load, which makes for safer driving. As much as I enjoy driving with a manual transmission, an automatic is less tiring for long journeys. Not having to occupy my mind with gear changes frees me up to pay more attention to my surroundings. Adaptive cruise control further reduces cognitive load.
The danger comes when assistance starts to replace attention. Tesla's "full self-driving" falls into this category, where the car doesn't need continuous inputs but the driver is still de jure in charge of the vehicle. Humans just aren't capable of concentrating on monitoring for an extended period.
What about lane assist and follow technology in other cars? Do they also fall in the category of thing that replace attention?
Have you ever driven more than 200km at an average of 80km/h with enough turns on the highway? Perhaps after work, just to see your family once a month?
Driver fatigue is real, no matter how much coffee you take.
Lane-keep is a game changer if the UX is well done. I'm way more rested when I arrive at destination with my Model 3 compared to when I use the regular ICE with bad lane-assist UX.
EDIT: the fact that people that look at their phones will still look at their phones with lane-keep active, only makes it a little safer for them and everyone else, really.
If you're on a road trip, pull the fuck over and sleep. Your schedule isn't worth somebody else's life. If that's your commute, get a new apartment or get a new job. Endangering everybody else with drowsy driving isn't an option you should ever find tenable.
You are correct - but the reality is many humans do those stupid things.
But this is why people bought Tesla. Musk promised that the car is automatic.
Don’t be silly. Why would a reasonable person think “Full Self Driving” meant that a car would fully drive itself?
My current FSD percentage is 90% over 2k miles (recorded since v14 update).
FSD is not perfect, but it is everyday amazing and useful.
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We made drunk driving super illegal and that still doesn't stop people. I would rather they didn't in the first place, but since they're going to anyway, I'd really rather they have a computer that does it better than they do. FSD will pull over and stop if the driver has passed out.
If we could ensure that only drunk people use driver assistance features, I'd be all for that. The reality is that 90% of the sober public are now driving like chronic drunks because they think their car has assumed the responsibility of watching the road. Ban it ALL.
No, remove their licenses if they can’t drive safely. Let safe and responsible drivers use these safety-enhancing features.
If someone is driving dangerously despite these safety features, they should not have a license to operate a motor vehicle on public roads.
These features are still valuable even to safe drivers simply because safe drivers are human and will still make mistakes.
What I'm hearing here is anecdotal and largely based on feelings. The facts are that automatic emergency braking (which should not activate under normal driving circumstances as it is highly uncomfortable) and lane-keeping are basic safety features that have objectively improved safety on the roads. Everything you've said is merely conjecture.
Modern cars could easily detect drunk like driving and stop or call the cops.
A car that calls the cops on you. Great. It could also park, lock the doors and hold you in while the police take their sweet time knowing you're already in a cell?