Are Autonomous Cars Ready for Human Drivers?
"A man killed in a crash last year while using the semi-autonomous driving system on his Tesla Model S sedan kept his hands off the wheel for extended periods of time despite repeated automated warnings not to do so, a U.S. government report said on Monday." -Reuters
There is a story on CNBC today about an accident involving a man from Florida in 2016. The gentleman was driving his car for an extended period of time in which he ignored the warnings from the autonomous car.
I was expecting to read that there was a lawsuit against Tesla for this incident, and I was plesantly surprised that there wasn't. This is not to say that I wanted there to be a lawsuit, for I do not see how Tesla is at fault.
There is a lawyer representing the family who is looking through the report that has been published. At this point, it seems the law is working to preserve the dignity of the family involved versus pushing for monetary reimbursment.
While this incident seems pretty straightforward, it sparked a thought in my head. Is this something I could be capable of?
I can imagine myself in the future enjoying a leisurely drive with the auto-pilot feature turned on in my car. My phone begins vibrating with a text. Since the autonomous car has things under control I start to answer the text. A few moments later when the car starts to warn me of danger and insists that I take control of the wheel, will I want to do so or take the warnings as a boy crying wolf scenario?
Hopefully I'll be smart enough to put the phone down and forego that Dopamine rush from texting.
One more thing, the man pictured above has a virtual reality of sorts device that he is wearing. What happens when we are on a long trip and want to enjoy our favorite show or play a game? Will we be paying attention enough to notice the car's commands and snap out of unreality?
I realize I am being a bit dramatic with this but it begs the question of what our near future looks like with the rise of the autonomous car, and humans beings who can be lost in the world of virtual reality.
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Good post....
There wasn't a lawsuit against Tesla because ot wasn't Tesla's fault.
There are plently of sensors and cameras arround the car, if on the display it says that you need to hold the stearing wheel, that is something that you need to do.
I think Elon Musk is a visionary and his ideas are years in front of us.
I started hearing about him maybe 2 or 3 years ago...nowadays I see Tesla's everywhere.
Just look what happened with model 3, there was 325 million cars sold within a week of the unveiling?!
(That was the triple of model S and the car was made)
Model 3 is not even out....!
I think not even Elon was expecting such success.
Good question and good content. 😀
That is a lot of Model 3 cars sold!
I agree, Elon is quite the visionary. It will be interesting to see how the pioneering work of Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity continue.
Thanks for the great comment!
Well good content mate keep it up,
Well i agree that he is an visionarry he has alot of other projects for in the futur and i think he will change the world with it like you said 3 years ago there weren't that much telsa's around but since the models S is out it became an world wide succes can't imagen what will happen it you can preorder the model Y.
"Snap out of it." Moonstruck
You got it!
I caught my autonomous car texting while driving. LOL
Lol! Sounds like a night in the pound for your car.
Hmmmmm...... I try it after they get the bugs out! Thank you for sharing.
Haha, I imagine a lot of people are thinking the same thing.
You sound a cautionary note, my friend, but I was also thinking about a ten yr. old girl who was killed near me by a young driver. I pass the site every day and am so grieved. I keep asking how many times I've been distracted while driving and wouldn't a computer be more likely to attend to this crucial task than a fallible human?
I hear you John.
If I had my choice of computers or humans at this point, I would go with a computer. The calculations and precautions seem like they would be more apt to keep people safe.
The story caught my attention because it sounded a thought that had been brewing in mind. We must be wary of trusting ourselves completely to the emerging technologies.
Amen to that - but your point is well-taken - it's so easy to be caught up in virtual reality, cocooned and insulated, and literally lose track of time and your surroundings. As a writer you know how it happens - switching back and forth between sites, connecting data and before you know it an entire evening has disappeared
I certainly know that feeling. Today was like that for me.
One of the balances I work on every day is finding physical books to read mixed with all the articles I read from my devices.
That cocoon closes in faster than we realize.
it does :)
The autonomous cars do raise some interesting ethical issues. They need to program what the car will do for various situations. For example should the car take an evasive option that is likely to injure you, so as to not hit a pedestrian.
Hmm, that is an interesting scenario.
That sounds like the merging of AI with these cars in order to make decisions like that.
Suddenly you opened another train of thought for me, haha.
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Nice post, let us vote and follow @svtechnik @coreyou