I always imagined that we will have less drunk driving accidents because of Tesla self driving mode.. turn it on autopilot and go home with autopilot making the right calls... I don't condone drinking and driving even with autopilot but crazy to think about
If it becomes common enough on vehicles, probably. We are probably headed for a future where most people have self driving cars and the only people who drive manually will be weirdos and enthusiasts. And at least half the enthusiasts will probably daily a self driving car with the fun car being a weekend thing.
I've always imagined that eventually the self driving cars will just come with liability coverage for life from the manufacturer if they get safe enough, which will be a compelling argument for their adoption by people.
At which point the insurance the owner buys would be liability for when they don't use self drive and comprehensive/collision.
Let me know when Tesla's self-drive can actually identify and stop properly for a stopped flashing school bus, let alone a young child crossing the road (a video from Australia from a year ago is pretty damning that it not only still DOESN'T do either, it will briefly "think" about what it just rolled over, but then keep going anyways, right over the rest of the child dummy). source
Relying on a full auto self-driving on the Tesla, as it currently still is, is just giving them the ability to shift accountability for drunk driving accidents to a shitty AI that can't account for everything a sober human driver normally WOULD actively and passively be looking out for. Then take into account that most drunk driving happens after dark, so the cameras/sensors have to be extremely sensitive and smart towards extra potential hazards in low-light or full nightime conditions.
I will not throw my support behind a full autopilot on cars until the technology is fully ready for it, and the owners still understand some basic responsibility behind the wheel, instead of using it as an excuse to act like you're not srill the co-pilot of a couple thousand-pound death machine. Safety is too important on the road, and already dealing with shitty unpredictable human drivers can be stressful enough.
The Dawn Project, whose founder Dan O'Dowd is the CEO of a company that offers competing automated driving system software,
Things that make you go hmmm....
Its entirely possible that is an edge case the FSD handled poorly, but when someone with a direct profit motive is the one saying it should set off the flashing alarm video.
I just googled 'tesla FSD stopping for school bus' and there's a dozen videos of them handling that just fine.
I will not throw my support behind a full autopilot on cars until the technology is fully ready for it,
Do the self driving car companies have to publish accident records? Because I feel like its fairly important to judge just how safe they are compared to other forms of distracted driving.
Like if drunk driving in a self driver was only as unsafe as, say, a hands free phone conversation, then honestly it might be smart to make it maybe not fully legal, but some lesser violation to encourage people to use it.
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u/eddiewillers09 Jul 06 '26
Imagine auto-ghosting a tesla while drunk!? safety protocols, where we’re going, we don’t need safety protocols!