Thread

1. WithinReason · 1790174595 · focus · HN ↗

   AFAIK their driver monitoring is very good and checks if you're looking at the road, so I wonder how this happened.

   1. jerlam · 1790176548 · focus · HN ↗

      Looking at the road; and realizing that your otherwise well-behaved self-driving car is about to do the most obvious mistake and kill you; are two different things.

      1. doomslice · 1790178760 · focus · HN ↗

         It's not self driving though... people should stop pretending it is. It's driving assist. Think of it as a slightly better lane-keep and adaptive cruise control (which often require intervention in stock configuration).

         1. jerlam · 1790179673 · focus · HN ↗

            Adaptive cruise control will detect a stopped car and come to a complete stop - but only sometimes. Might depend on speed difference or even the color or shape of the car or object. So it's very possible that the car stopped in previous situations, and the driver completely expected it would do the same, especially with such a large emergency vehicle with flashing lights. By the time the driver realized the car did not detect the emergency vehicle, it may have been too late.

            These systems are unable to detect when intervention is required.

   2. AlotOfReading · 1790178827 · focus · HN ↗

      Humans have a remarkable ability to be apparently cognizant and engaged with tasks, without actually using higher level awareness. One example of this is distracted driving while talking handsfree or lost in thought.

      Driver monitoring is better than nothing, but it's not the same thing as an engaged driver.

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