Who Should be in Control?

[Harold Gough]

https://tinyurl.com/3f5xyvuf

Harold

[BDennis]

A pretty horrible accident.

I don’t know much about how it works with these Teslas but I wouldn’t engage some “autonomous driving” feature, take my hands off the wheel and go nose down in my phone or a book. That’s what you do on a train. Have you seen this BBC programme “Death by Driverless Car” with Hannah Fry. It discusses a similar Tesla accident when the driver put their faith in this technology

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002r9c1

My new car has “lane keeping assist”. The manual explicitly says you need to keep hands on the wheel at all times and be in proper control. It’s a gentle nudge on the steering when you drift out of lane. It also keeps trying to nudge me back towards pot holes, I need to find the quickest way to turn it off when not needed.

Bill

[Ian]

On our Tesla you just steer away from the danger and Autopilot is cancelled so you have full control again instantly.

[Ian]

Our Tesla is considered old (it's just had its tenth birthday!) and it doesn't have the in-house Tesla designed Autopilot that uses multiple cameras and no radar (vision only). But it does have auto-steering that uses a front facing camera and radar. You do need to keep some pressure on the steering wheel, so it's not hands-off, though you can take your hands off for short periods before it nags you. The car will slow down if encountering a bend in the road that is beyond a certain rate of turn.

Ian

[Ian]

By the way, the car will automatically sound an alarm and slam on the brakes if it senses a possible collision and sometimes this can be unreasonably sensitive, causing what we call phantom braking.

[BDennis]

My new Renault hybrid has the front camera and radar. I think the most advanced feature is adaptive cruise control with start / stop and lane keeping which they call "Autonomous driving level 1". If the car senses no hands on the steering wheel it should start issuing warning sounds then eventually start braking to a stop with hazard lights on (I haven't tried this and don't intend to). Maybe useful if a driver has a medical incident and passes out perhaps - but do the hands of an unconscious driver fall off the steering wheel?

The camera will also pick up speed limits from signs and warn via beeps if you're exceeding the limit. It's not 100% reliable as it can pick up 20 mph signs on side streets as you continue in a 30 mph zone and then constantly ping you until it sees another sign. Also recently on the M6 it interpreted a compulsory 60 mph gantry speed reduction limit as 80 mph which isn't a legal speed in the UK. I'm glad the cruise control doesn't auto update with these limits without driver confirmation!

It's taking a while to get used to all this tech in the car - it replaced a Clio Estate which was 15 years old!

[shenstone]

I watched the Hannah fry program and I understand the difference between assist as Ian and others describe and what has clearly been put in people's heads with the terms like "autopilot" and "self drive".

I was glad to see that Tesla were found to be jointly liable in a court case and even though they are appealing that, it is only through holding people and companies liable that things will improve

IMO it is inevitably coming to all vehicles (as is the speed limiting is now in the EU and UK) but I think that it is right that both the driver and technology provider are responsible for safety when using a 2 ton machine on the road

[Ian]

shenstone I think we agree on this. Certainly on the open road and on European roads, in particular, it will be a long time before FSD (Full Self Driving) will mean we don't need a steering wheel any more. I'm also sceptical that Tesla's stubborn commitment to vision-only is the right way to go. In the mean time, these systems still require a degree of care and attention from the driver - yes, someone is still the driver!

Ian

[Gerry]

It could be helpful if the car computer could read the destination entered in the navigation system and then ensure that the car used the correct lane, especially on roads disrupted by construction work and where the direction signs have been rearranged. 😵