Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

MrPterodactyl t1_iy0dzxq wrote

Reply to comment by SquishWindow in The Exceptionally American Problem of Rising Roadway Deaths (includes a focus on pedestrian and cyclist deaths in DC) by woulditkillyoutolift

> Most "semi-autonomous" features are features that engage under very rare and extreme circumstances, 99+% of the time drivers are driving their cars the exact same way we always have.

https://www.tesla.com/support/autopilot

This isn't the case. Tesla autopilot can steer and change lanes autonomously. Other car manufacturers will catch up if they haven't already.

This is just going to train people to not pay attention while driving.

I do not believe the sensors that ensure your hands are on the steering wheel and your eyes are on the road will do an adequate job of ensuring the driver is paying attention.

Even if these systems are not actively defeated, how many of us know how to daydream while keeping our eyes forward and hands in a certain position?

1

SquishWindow t1_iy0evbt wrote

> This is just going to train people to not pay attention while driving.

I think it's TBD. Most people don't turn on smart cruise control until they are on a highway; the entire time that they are pulling out of their house, driving through neighborhood streets, and navigating to a freeway, they have to do all the normal work that drivers do to make sure they stay in their lane and not hit what's in front of them.

And again, ultimately what will matter is the number of accidents averted. If we have shitty drivers in safer cars, that might result in safer streets even as drivers themselves become worse. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if rear cameras and some of the automatic parking features in cars today have, on average, made people less skilled at parallel parking. But that doesn't mean there are more accidents while parallel parking than there used to be. It just means that if you gave today's driver yesterday's technology, they would be worse at using it.

2