On 12 Jul 2021 at 21:54, mark hanson via EV wrote: > https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/bay-area-man-killed-in-tesla-crash-had-com > plained-about-autopilot/
The KRON article says that the accident victim, Walter Huang, had previously experienced the Tesla's autopilot steering toward the same barrier that it hit when Huang was killed. This glitch happened repeatedly. Not to minimize Tesla's responsibility here; I still think that they are way overselling autopilot, to say nothing of "full self driving." But why on earth would anyone who'd seen autopilot screw up this way, more than once at that, continue to rely on it? I approve of safety enhancing features in vehicles, but I think that we have to be careful that they don't lull drivers into a false sense of security. And when a "driving assistance" device such as autopilot has PROVEN itself unreliable, and you keep on using it ... well, I'll be polite, and let you put a label on what that says about the driver. BTW, you do keep your mobile phone in your pocket when you're driving, right? Things happen mighty fast at 70mph. A possibly entertaining automotive-gadgetry anecdote: A couple of years ago, my friend in France rented an (ICEV) Renault Clio to drive to an appointment in the Big City 45 minutes away. She left plenty early, which turned out to be a smart move. She headed out of town on a 2-lane road and very quickly became a hazard. The car wouldn't go over 50 km/h (30 mph). Traffic backed up behind her, the drivers honking, gesturing, passing in risky places. So she pulled off onto the shoulder. It took over 20 minutes of searching the car's owner's manual (in French of course), but this is how she learned that newer and fancier EU cars not only have such gimmicks as "lane holding," but also adjustable speed limiters to deal with the speed traps. Apparently the last person to rent that car had left it engaged at the town speed limit, 50 km/h. David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it. Use my offlist address here : http://evdl.org/help/index.html#supt = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common: they don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views. This can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that need altering. -- Doctor Who, "The Face of Evil" = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = _______________________________________________ Address messages to [email protected] No other addresses in TO and CC fields UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/ LIST INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org
