I am someone who thinks that self-driving cars are the future and am not opposed to them. But I was not aware that they had already been allowed on public streets. This unnerving video shows a driver and passenger in a Tesla self-driving car fast asleep while speeding along the Massachusetts turnpike. Tesla says that drivers should be awake and have their hands on the wheel, ready to take control if necessary.
This driver has way more confidence in this new technology than I have. I would not have the nerve to fall asleep like that.
Back in the good old days the driver would be dead by now, his car wrapped around a tree.
As someone who can’t drive, I’d have to have such confidence in a self-driving vehicle. It’s all very well saying that someone should be there with the hands on the wheel to take control, but what if said person doesn’t have the ability to operate the machine?
I have high hopes for self driving cars. In a decade or two, when I am no longer able to drive, I want to be able to sit in my car, say “Home James” and have the car drive me home.
I’m surprised that the car doesn’t require that you hold the steering wheel. We got a new car recently with lane detection that keeps you in the lane automatically. On the highway, with that and cruise control, its more or less a self driving car. But it has sensors on the steering wheel that will beep incessantly if you let go for more than a second or two.
Tesla does require that you keep slight pressure on the steering wheel. It does not require that you keep your eyes open, however.
Is it OK to drive drunk in a selfdriving car?
I’m more alarmed at the person shooting the video, who according to the text in the video was driving his car. That’s some major, inexcusable distracted driving. Of the two “drivers” he’s the one I’d be more scared to be anywhere close to. Pay attention to the road, buddy!
Unnerving maybe but not the first by a long shot. The following was big news in the Bay Area just six months ago:
https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Drunk-driver-slept-while-Tesla-drove-Hwy-101-on-13435295.php
The driver in this case was drunk and asleep. The CHP stopped the car by boxing it in and slowing down, so the autopilot correctly slowed and stopped for “traffic”.