Peter said:
a.) Do we know a human driver would have avoided this collision?
It's hard to know for sure but it sounds like the answer is probably
yes. Despite the sleazy, deceptive, blame-the-victim wording by
Tesla's Mouth of Sauron, it's hard to imagine Mr Brown or even a
minimally attentive driver:
1. Not noticing a trailer swerving in front of him and cutting him off
2. Continuing to drive, "leaving the road, striking a fence, crossing
a field, passing through another fence and finally hitting a utility
pole about 100 feet south of the road"
b.) Automated cars are never going to overcome the laws of physics,
particularly if less than predictable, non-communicating humans are
driving in the opposition direction at say,100 kms, and suddenly
swerve to the other side of the road.
True.
c.) "Wait till they start aging ?" That's what they already say
about human drivers over the age of 75, I believe.
Well this could eventually (once the technology is good enough) be a
plus for both learner drivers and aging and increasingly impaired
drivers. Autodrive cars could assist learners and inexperienced
drivers to deal with unusual and dangerous conditions. They could also
ease the transition to non-driving for older drivers as they gradually
become less capable behind the wheel.
--- Stuart
On 1 July 2016 at 16:10, LIVERANI Petra wrote:
Very sad. More information on the crash. Ironically, it seems that
the driver, Joshua Brown, had posted a video in May saying how the
autopilot function had saved him from an accident.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-01/tesla-driver-killed-while-car-was-in-on-autopilot/7560126
[2]
It seems that although the autopilot function isn’t perfect (and
this is very much emphasised by the company) the Model S is still a
very safe car. Accidents have been reported in Model Ss where it is
surmised the occupants would normally have died but didn’t. The
supposed saving of their lives, however, was nothing to do with
autopilot. The trouble is that even if Tesla say that you should
always have your hands on the steering wheel, etc, it will be
virtually impossible for drivers to maintain normal concentration and
in a lapsed moment when autopilot fails they could have an accident.
Unfortunately, in the improvement process lives will be lost and I’d
say it is more likely than not that it will never achieve 100% safety
… but that’s hardly unexpected. Presumably, autopilot will save
more lives than it loses.
Links:
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[1] mailto:Petra.LIVERANI@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[2]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-01/tesla-driver-killed-while-car-was-in-on-autopilot/7560126
