Why Distracted Drivers Matter for Automated Cars
When a 2015 Tesla Model S collided with a tractor trailer at highway intersection west of Williston, Florida, the resulting crash killed the Tesla driver. An investigation of the May 7, 2016 incident by federal investigators found that the Tesla car’s Autopilot driver-assist system was not at fault and showed that the driver had at least seven seconds to spot the tractor trailer prior to the crash. But the tragedy emphasized the fact that the latest automated cars still require drivers to pay attention and be ready to take back control of the wheel.The need for human drivers to take control at least some of the time will last until automakers roll out the first fully driverless commercial vehicles. Most studies have understandably focused on how quickly drivers can take back control from future self-driving cars in emergency situations. But researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK found very few studies that looked at takeover reaction times in normal driving situations such as getting on and off of highways. Their new paper found such different takeover reaction times among individual drivers—anywhere from two seconds to almost half a minute—that they suggested automated cars should give drivers the flexibility to choose how much time they need.
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So, you have to decide how much time you need to be given manual control of a self driving car?
This sounds like an accident (or more literally millions of accidents) just waiting to happen. It's hard enough to get psyched up for driving a car on any given day and everyone has their ritual for this to make this work for them. However, imagine you had fallen asleep in the driver's seat and have been asleep while your car drove someplace. Now, you are going to take control of the car because some kind of anomaly or accident has occurred or your car doesn't have the exact address you are going to just the city and that's all. So, you are asleep and the car says:"You have 20 seconds to take over the driving or you are going to crash into something!" And you think "Oh Fuck! I'm going to die!"
This might be the reality of a situation like this. So, somehow safeguards need to be in place for just such an occurrence.
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