Driverless cars could change everything

[HemiEd]

This article is covering "driver assist" but I thought it might be relevant and interesting in this thread.

Almost No One Makes a Good Driver Assistance System, Report Says
Your driver assistants are letting you down.

A report released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Tuesday examined the safety of 14 driver-assistance products from various automakers. The results were dismal: only one car, Toyota’s Lexus LS, notched an “acceptable” rating. The GMC Sierra and Nissan Ariya managed to nab “marginal” scores, while the rest — including driver-assistance poster child Tesla — were deemed “poor.” The report’s individual assessments were pretty withering, but potentially more damaging was the overall conclusion that driver-assistance systems do nothing to improve safety.

The Insurance Man Cometh
The IIHS’ main safety concerns stemmed from a lack of driver engagement. Driver-assistance systems can pretty much drive your car, but they’re not fully self-driving systems. Drivers need to be ready to take control of their vehicles at any time — and in the IIHS’ view, the systems themselves should enforce that level of engagement. “Many vehicles don’t adequately monitor whether the driver is looking at the road or prepared to take control,” Alexandra Mueller, a senior research scientist at the IIHS, said in a statement. “Many lack attention reminders that come soon enough and are forceful enough to rouse a driver whose mind is wandering,” she added.

This isn’t really a smoking gun, since automakers with driver-assistance systems can assert that it’s the driver’s responsibility to remain attentive. However, bullish automakers like to maintain that self-driving vehicles are in fact safer than those driven by fallible humans. The IIHS study hints otherwise:

IIHS President David Harkey said in a statement that there is “little evidence [partial automation] makes driving safer,” and added: “As many high-profile crashes have illustrated, it can introduce new risks when systems lack the appropriate safeguards.”
Harkey told Reuters that his statement leaned on insurance claims data. "We have been able to look at vehicles with and without these (systems) and determine there is no reduction in claims as a result of these more advanced systems," he said.
Lithium Lining: The IIHS wasn’t totally raining on automated driving’s parade; the report looked at how each system performed in a variety of criteria, and none were universally bad. “No single system did well across the board, but in each category at least one system performed well,” Starkey said in a statement. “That means the fixes are readily available and, in some cases, may be accomplished with nothing more than a simple software update.” The report was completed before Tesla’s most recent software update in December, so improvements may already have been made there. We hope, anyway.

Written by Isobel Asher Hamilton

[BWillie]

Good news. I found a way to beat 2024 Tesla Autopilot

[mlyonsd]

Bought the wife a new Subaru in Jan with all the safety features including driver assist. We call driver assist Jesus take the wheel mode and I find it annoying. The car tends to wander a little as it looks for the lane lines. It also doesn't like you driving with only one hand. It will eventually flash a warning on the dash and if you don't obey it will then sound a beep alarm.

Separately it has a lane warning system that will attempt to keep you in your lane. If you go to pass someone it will kick in if you don't turn on your blinker.

The forward looking avoidance system is nice with one exception. If you have the cruise set and you slowly catch up to a car going 1 or 2 mph slower it will lower your speed and keep you at a pre-selected distance until you change lanes to pass. The few times I've driven it I all of a sudden I'm going 77 instead of 80 because I caught up to a slower car.

I think I'll eventually get used to it even though I will hardly ever drive it. The wife loves the car.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

Bought the wife a new Subaru in Jan with all the safety features including driver assist. We call driver assist Jesus take the wheel mode and I find it annoying. The car tends to wander a little as it looks for the lane lines. It also doesn't like you driving with only one hand. It will eventually flash a warning on the dash and if you don't obey it will then sound a beep alarm.

Separately it has a lane warning system that will attempt to keep you in your lane. If you go to pass someone it will kick in if you don't turn on your blinker.

The forward looking avoidance system is nice with one exception. If you have the cruise set and you slowly catch up to a car going 1 or 2 mph slower it will lower your speed and keep you at a pre-selected distance until you change lanes to pass. The few times I've driven it I all of a sudden I'm going 77 instead of 80 because I caught up to a slower car.

I think I'll eventually get used to it even though I will hardly ever drive it. The wife loves the car.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing that

I would probably be cussing and yelling at the car like I do other idiot drivers now.

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

Bought the wife a new Subaru in Jan with all the safety features including driver assist. We call driver assist Jesus take the wheel mode and I find it annoying. The car tends to wander a little as it looks for the lane lines. It also doesn't like you driving with only one hand. It will eventually flash a warning on the dash and if you don't obey it will then sound a beep alarm.

Separately it has a lane warning system that will attempt to keep you in your lane. If you go to pass someone it will kick in if you don't turn on your blinker.

The forward looking avoidance system is nice with one exception. If you have the cruise set and you slowly catch up to a car going 1 or 2 mph slower it will lower your speed and keep you at a pre-selected distance until you change lanes to pass. The few times I've driven it I all of a sudden I'm going 77 instead of 80 because I caught up to a slower car.

I think I'll eventually get used to it even though I will hardly ever drive it. The wife loves the car.

That would probably be enough to make me turn the system off.

[El Lobo Gordo]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

That would probably be enough to make me turn the system off.

I've thought about turning off the system. It is annoying and you never really get used to it. I have left it on because I keep thinking one day it might save my ass.

[suzzer99]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

Separately it has a lane warning system that will attempt to keep you in your lane. If you go to pass someone it will kick in if you don't turn on your blinker.

Every rental car I've driven for the past few years does this. It's annoying. But then I figured I should be signaling anyway, so I just gave in.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

Every rental car I've driven for the past few years does this. It's annoying. But then I figured I should be signaling anyway, so I just gave in.

That is just automatic for me, even on these back roads with no other traffic.

I used to say, up in New England/Boston that nobody uses turn signals because they would giving away their intentions. They are just crazy aggressive drivers.

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

That is just automatic for me, even on these back roads with no other traffic.

I used to say, up in New England/Boston that nobody uses turn signals because they would giving away their intentions. They are just crazy aggressive drivers.

People turning on their turn signal one second before they turn is annoying as hell.

Too many lazy drivers.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by stevieray

People turning on their turn signal one second before they turn is annoying as hell.

Too many lazy drivers.

For sure. And then you have some old folks that signal a mile ahead of the intended turn.

I have been thinking about those Boston drivers off and on today since my post as it used to be a real issue to deal with about one or two weeks a year .

Up there, it is competitive driving so to speak. If you can advance one spot in traffic by not letting the rest know what you are doing, it is a win! Surprise attack!

Maybe this driver assist was designed with them in mind?

[mlyonsd]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

Every rental car I've driven for the past few years does this. It's annoying. But then I figured I should be signaling anyway, so I just gave in.

Yeah I've been surprised by dick drivers enough I started religiously using my blinkers years ago.

[suzzer99]

I go the other way in normal LA commuter traffic (idiot weekend traffic is a whole different story). I signal when there's a gap and basically force them to be a dick to not let me in. 19 times out of 20 they slow down to let you get in.

[Katipan]

Blinkers are a declaration of intent, not a request for permission.

[Otter]

I've been in 4 accidents in my life (one of them almost took me out) and none of them were remotely my fault and every one of them involved a woman driver. If these things can prevent women from driving I'm all in.


Women are horrible drivers. Nothing anyone will say will convince me otherwise. I'd take a drunk driving man over a sober woman.