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Comment by aphextron | Hacker News Reader

Seems like a huge oversight that Tesla didn’t make autopilot conditional on sensing a person in the driver’s seat.

I really don't understand why the only response to a driver being hands-off is a "reminder". It should immediately start decelerating and moving to the side of the road, coming to a complete stop if safe to do so, "limping" if not.

The M1 is a motorway. That means there's normally 3 lanes (but I think 4 here) and a hard shoulder, traffic travelling at 70 mph (if they're obeying the speed limit), and no stopping allowed.

I agree the reminder needs to be stronger, but it's not possible to safely slow or stop on English motorways.

Here's the road on Google maps: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.793955,-0.4119246,3a,75y,1...

I don't know which direction he was travelling.

From memory this part of the M1 is a 'smart motorway', which means that the hard shoulder is sometimes for breakdowns, but sometimes a running lane.

The speed limit on that stretch can vary depending on how heavy traffic is, as high as 70, but sometimes 60, 50, 40 or probably even lower.

> but it's not possible to safely slow or stop on English motorways.

Bullshit. Never broken down? It's perfectly possibly in the worst possible circumstances to safely pull over to the hard-shoulder.

Smart motorway? The left lane becomes hard shoulder with several miles of lane-closed warnings for other motorists.

Random dual-carriageway with no hard shoulder? Limp-home speed under control is far safe than inattentive driver at motorway speeds. Worst case, stopped in the left (or any!) lane is better than having the driver in the passenger seat.

Jeez!

Feel free to check back in when you pass the driving test.

He hasn't broken down though. That law exists because it's dangerous to stop on the hard shoulder.

Rule 264: You MUST NOT drive on the hard shoulder except in an emergency or if directed to do so by the police, traffic officers in uniform or by signs.

Rule 270: You MUST NOT stop on the carriageway, hard shoulder, slip road, central reservation or verge except in an emergency, or when told to do so by the police, traffic officers in uniform, an emergency sign or by flashing red light signals. Do not stop on the hard shoulder to either make or receive mobile phone calls.

does "Driver assumed not to be in control of vehicle" count as an emergency?

(I'd agree with the general point though that a system that can't handle driving alone is also going to have difficulties to stop safely, which in many cases is probably the harder problem)

"Safely" or "legally" slow down?

It seems that in cases like these there are two possibilities --either the driver is passed out/dead, so you definitely do want to stop as soon as possible, or the driver is a dangerous idiot, as it is in this case, so he also should be stopped quickly, and if he rack up another traffic violation in process, well, serves him right.

Practically speaking, of course, it is not obvious if Tesla is capable of safely navigating to a safe shoulder.

I've never been in a Tesla, but they have that prevention by detecting hands on the wheel. There are ways around that using e.g. oranges and sticking them into the steering wheel

I have a tesla and until recently I misunderstood how the hand detection works. It actually doesn’t detect grip, rather it sense slight resistance to its motors moving the wheel.

Also, there is another safeguard... it will warn you when you disconnect the drivers seatbelt.

I think the earnings are adequate. There are not much alternatives, as deactivating autopilot could potentially be more dangerous

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