Sleeping Tesla driver ploughed into 11 traffic cones on a motorway

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/26/tesla_driver_autopilot_motorway_idiocy/

by kamiYcombi • 7 years ago

9 22 7 years ago

theregister.co.uk

caymanjim• 7 years ago

What is the legitimate use of Tesla's self-driving function? You're not legally allowed to drive without being in control of your vehicle. Tesla says you're supposed to remain aware and in control. You aren't allowed to sit there eating a sandwich, or take a nap, or deal with the baby in the back seat. Yes, people drive distracted all the time, but encouraging them to do so isn't a good idea, and doesn't make it legal or remove personal liability. Any argument that people do these things anyway (well, not nap normally) is going to be offset by the fact that autopilot encourages and increases these behaviors.

I love the idea of self-driving vehicles, and when it's good enough, I'd trust it more than I'd trust most drivers (but of course not more than I'd trust myself, hypocrite that I am). We're not there yet, though, so I again ask what the legitimate use of it is.

getpolarized• 7 years ago

This is why I didn't buy a Tesla... It's half pregnant basically.

My 2019 Mazda 6 has adaptive cruise control and I think this gives you 80% of the features set for 1/3rd of the price.

FSD would allow you to only supervise which is definitely a lot LESS work.

atonse8• 7 years ago

I've gone on a 4 hour road trip (all on a major US highway) where I actually drove for maybe 30 mins total. The car drove flawlessly on the highway. For these situations, it is a perfect use case to help with the monotony of highway driving.

Yes I had to stay alert, but I could also relax a bit and look around every now and then, chuckle at a billboard, or pass some food back to my kid, which I can't if I'm driving.

whenchamenia• 7 years ago

Its for showing off to your poorer friends how much more 'woke' you are. Full stop.

jtaillon• 7 years ago

Oh stop it. I encourage you to go for a test drive and try it out yourself. It works (in the conditions they claim it does), and it makes driving long distances or in stop-and-go traffic significantly easier. Dumb people will do dumb things, but if it were not for Tesla pushing the envelope, the car industry as a whole would be stuck in 2005.

m-p-3• 7 years ago

They should rebrand the feature as Copilot, not Autopilot.

atonse8• 7 years ago

See my comment above. Autopilot is a perfect name. Co-Pilots on an aircraft are a full-redundancy to the pilot. They are also there to do every single function in case a pilot is not able to.

Autopilot is an assistive feature that helps with monotony and boredom, just like this.

Traster• 7 years ago

To a certain extent "Car hits traffic cones" isn't really a news story.

I know it's part of a broader conversation about Tesla's bad user experience, but still, traffic cones.

jmpman• 7 years ago

Makes you wonder if Tesla’s future Full Self Driving feature will handle this scenario differently.

atonse8• 7 years ago

My Tesla asks me every single minute to shake the steering wheel while on Autopilot. Are you telling me the guy fell asleep between one of those? Maybe, anything is possible.

Also we go through this every single time. Journalists often insist that Autopilot is a misleading name, when it is a PERFECT name for the feature. It is exactly like Autopilot on an aircraft.

Autopilot on an aircraft doesn't absolve the pilots from being at the wheel (yoke), nor does it automatically take off or land a plane. It is literally "I'll follow this heading and altitude until you tell me otherwise, and will make glide path and heading corrections as needed", which is EXACTLY what Tesla's Autopilot feature does. There are other warning systems for air collisions, etc.

Tesla has a name for their autonomous driving – it's called Full Self Driving. And it isn't out yet, to anyone.

The media needs to do a better job of not misunderstanding this feature, and better educating the public instead of just writing sensationalist articles.

w8vY7ER• 7 years ago

I could not agree more with this comment. As a fellow owner it's astonishing how much is incorrectly attributed to the brand instead of the operators of the vehicles in this kind of writing.

positr0n• 7 years ago

Ask the average person not interested in aviation what the autopilot does in an airplane. They will tell you "automatic pilot. It flies the plane."

Autopilot is technically correct, which is useless unless you are only selling it to aviation enthusiasts.

atonse8• 7 years ago

Which is why I comment that it is the job of the media to properly message this to the public, instead of hopping on the bandwagon of "The name is bad!!!"

Isn't that a big part of why the media even exists? To inform the populace?

Sleeping Tesla driver ploughed into 11 traffic cones on a motorway

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