this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2023
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I have been saying this for years. The last thing your car should do is take your eyes off the road. This is a 1-3 ton box of metal hurdling at 60+ miles down the highway next to a bunch of other metal boxes that can all kill each other.
And car manufacturers seem to be in love with the idea of you forgetting you’re even driving. Add on all the bs lane assisting, warning bells, alerts, automatic correction, and the driver is convinced that the car will protect them.
These are all systems built on software. Last time I checked, that shit has never been reliable. If the software fails, the manufacturer can just hide behind “They weren’t paying attention!”
Mfer, YOU TRAINED THEM TO IGNORE IT. I don’t know what I’m going to do when all the cars from before touchscreens and digital gauges are no longer running or affordable because I hate the idea of having to look at a screen to change volume or turn on the AC.
Modern cars can suck a fuck.
Remember when a self-driving car killed someone walking their bike in Arizona, while the car's "handler" was watching a movie on their tablet?
Yeah, the employee should have been paying attention, but it's not realistic to expect someone to stay alert for an 8-hour shift where the task is as monotonous as watching a car drive itself. That's why commercial transport drivers have mandated breaks and why two pilots are in charge of an airplane at a time.
To be clear, I am in favour of self-driving cars and don't think they need to be perfect, just better than the average human, but the companies training them need to have standards that are both realistic and safe.
I mean, these things are going to happen. But that person was attempting to cross 5 lines of traffic after crossing 2 just before. It's a terrible idea to try that. Here is a picture: https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/2018/03/20/self-driving-uber-death/7ed17129da41763ed1c6f0bf194fa32d10bda7dc/accident-diagram-1050.png
The driver also ignored safety instructions. You can only plan for so much. Let's say you put two drivers in the car. They could both be watching the movie and not paying attention. I have no sympathy for the driver being "bored". I used to have a long boring commute. I listened to audio books and podcasts. I did not fiddle with my phone or watch movies. If you pilot a veihicle with autonomous driving or not pay attention. Most people can handle that just driving themselves around. This person had it as a job. No excuse.
I'll note that you were actually doing something during that long, boring commute - you were driving the car (I assume). In the other case, the person wasn't doing anything at all and had nothing to focus on...that's MUCH harder.