truck on auto pilot

[wiredgeorge]

Was watching a commercial for a Chevy truck. The front and rear passengers were playing pattycake or similar while the truck drove itself. They were towing an airstream and passed another vehicle (while playing pattycake) on a bridge. This hands free driving seems to have crossed a line with me. Was bad enough when Chevy sold their trucks based on a 37 way tailgate then the camera system that made a trailer invisible but the pattycake no-steering mode seems insane. What if there was an emergency? Need to swerve, panic stop? Geesh, I ride motorcycles and seeing the Chevy driver in the lane next to me playing pattycake instead of driving is really disconcerting. Worse than being on a cell phone I think. Rant off; going home to get some dinner and watch the Spurs fall flat again...

[retiredusps69]

do we really need self driving?? bad enough so many electronics failing on vehicles, no one paying attention to what goes on just a big mistake in my mind. maybe should do away with humans and only have robots.

[Salty25]

When they finally do get self drive working, and reliable, the roads should be safer. Hopefully they don't allow any mods to the programming to prevent people from making them drive like idiots.

Vehicles will sense and overload and not drive on the road; won't pull in front of another vehicle going faster and cause a rear end accident. My wife's car has the auto braking that will sense a vehicle two car lengths ahead stopping and apply her brakes to prevent a collision.

So, hopefully things will get safer on the roads.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by Salty25

When they finally do get self drive working, and reliable, the roads should be safer. Hopefully they don't allow any mods to the programming to prevent people from making them drive like idiots.

Vehicles will sense and overload and not drive on the road; won't pull in front of another vehicle going faster and cause a rear end accident. My wife's car has the auto braking that will sense a vehicle two car lengths ahead stopping and apply her brakes to prevent a collision.

So, hopefully things will get safer on the roads.

Self driving vehicles are ridiculous and can't possibly be "reliable" (as in human brain power). Unless we put them all on a rail and let them roll behind each other there is no way they can watch, digest and then use intelligence to ascertain what is happening in front of them - ever.....unless we think we are going to let AI make our decisions and direct us - as we abdicate our ability to think.....enter Zagar and Evans "Year 2525" song.

As far as auto braking, auto sensing, auto slowing you down etc. etc. - I have it on all my vehicles....and they are disabled simply because they have zero intelligence, only some sensor functionality that leaves a lot to be desired. "Safer roads" depends 100% on driver competence, knowledge and adherence to established laws and rules.....whoops, that eliminated about 80% of the drivers on the road.

[chuckster57]

“The roads must roll on”

By Robert Heinlein…read it, I did.

[JRTJH]

There have been "SOME" improvements in self driving since 2019, which is when I did some research on the subject prior to buying DW's Edge (with some driver assist features). At that time, all the research pointed to the feature becoming an aid to driving, not a replacement for drivers. The startling tidbit, for me anyway, was that "driving technology" made an average of 8 critical errors per mile. Critical errors were defined as those that would have/could have resulted in an accident.... Thinking back to DD's "learning events", I don't think, even on her first "behind the wheel training session" that she made more than one or two of what I'd call "critical errors"...

So, appears the "self driving technology" is about 4 times more likely to have an accident than an unskilled human driver on their first attempt at controlling a vehicle on the highway......

Odds are not too great that it'll be trustworthy enough for me, and I don't really like "pattycake" anyway..... Now, maybe a bottle of good Scotch and some ice ????? With enough "liquid courage" I might be persuaded to let Ford's technology take me home

[LHaven]

All I can add is that I've had a very lucrative career babysitting automated systems that weren't performing as they were designed to perform. In a small but significant portion of that practice, actual smoke and fire were involved (and not environmental).

[Roper46]

I remember my store manager, when I was working, told me a story of when his step daughter went for driver's test at sixteen years old. He said she failed the test within the first five minutes when she backed out of the parking space. She failed because she used the backup camera in the dash and never once actually turned to look to the rear.

[rhagfo]

I just wonder how well it works in snow, heavy rain, construction zones with just the little sticker tabs for lane markers.

[Canonman]

"SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The driver of a Tesla electric car had the vehicle's semi-autonomous Autopilot mode engaged when she slammed into the back of a Utah fire truck over the weekend, in the latest crash involving a car with self-driving features."

This accident happened close to our home. I'm not trusting this technology. If you want to do something other than drive the car then get in the back seat and let someone else drive.

[firestation12]

Currently only available on 1/2 ton trucks and the vehicle tracks the driver's eyes which must be looking at the road ahead for the autonomous steering to function.

[vampress_me]

I’m not thinking I’m too worried about Chevy/ GM doing any self-driving vehicles anytime soon. They have started stripping features off their vehicles due to the chip shortages, can’t think this would be a high priority issue compared to losing features still standard on other brand trucks.

[flybouy]

"Why sure it can drive itself, park itself, hitch itself up yo your 30,000 lb. trailer AND only use 1 gal of gas per year!". The salesman said it so it must be true!

[Lee]

Driving Under Influence (DUI) will have to be changed to Operating Under Influence (ODI).

[ljdriscoll]

I thought the same while watching the commerial

[wiredgeorge]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H59SFrxbJM

[jsb5717]

I wonder who get's sued when the accident happens...

[JRTJH]

Reminds me of the "legendary" story about the 3 foreign exchange pilots that were assigned to a USAF flight training squadron in the southwest that rented a motorhome for a weekend and while in the mountains, the driver set the cruise control, got up to make a sandwich and, after recovering the wreckage at the bottom of the mountain, their government added another restriction on the entire group of pilots, no more weekend motorhome rentals.... I've no idea if that story is true or just "military legend"....

But, I can visualize the same happening with some of today's "less informed with factual information but with a high credit rating people who are gullible enough to actually believe a commercial like that". Hmmmm, I don't like patty cake, but I do need to check my email and watch a U-Tube video my buddy told me about.....

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

I have a '21 Kia Sorento that will do that, maybe not the lane change, but after a couple minutes it'll ding & flash a message to "keep both hands on the wheel".
I did notice in the video that the majority of the time the driver was looking forward.
Won't be long all the manufacturers will have that same option.

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Reminds me of the "legendary" story about the 3 foreign exchange pilots that were assigned to a USAF flight training squadron in the southwest that rented a motorhome for a weekend and while in the mountains, the driver set the cruise control, got up to make a sandwich and, after recovering the wreckage at the bottom of the mountain, their government added another restriction on the entire group of pilots, no more weekend motorhome rentals.... I've no idea if that story is true or just "military legend"....

But, I can visualize the same happening with some of today's "less informed with factual information but with a high credit rating people who are gullible enough to actually believe a commercial like that". Hmmmm, I don't like patty cake, but I do need to check my email and watch a U-Tube video my buddy told me about.....

When I was learning to fly (private ticket) my flight instructor told me a similar story. He was talking about the plane operating manual. This was in the 1980's for a time frame. He told me the story of a 15 yr.that broke in to an airport, started a Cessna 152 and crashed and was killed attempting to take off. The family sued because the operatting manual did not say you had to be a licensed pilot to operate. He said the OP whent from about 15 pages of basically weight/balance and performance tables to about 50 pages of discliamers.

He also told the "Winnebago" story with a woman that bought it, set the cruise control and got up to make coffee. She sued for basically the same reason. Like the grandma with the hot McDonald's coffee or the cell phone causing fires while refuling the gas. I think it's likely urban legend that took on a life of it's own.