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Comment by tempestn | Hacker News Reader

I have trouble understanding how autopilot could be relaxing. You have to be constantly vigilant lest it drive you into a concrete barrier or parked truck—yes those events are highly unlikely, but that would just make it more difficult to stay focused. And if I have to be entirely focused on the road anyway, why not just guide the car myself?

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It's relaxing because people have convinced themselves it won't happen to them (which is probably true, experimentally).

Have you tried it? I recently got my first car that has adaptive cruise control and “lane-keep assist,” which is essentially what Tesla calls “autopilot,” and it’s really great even with its limitations and flaws. Yes, you need to remain alert, and it doesn’t do everything for you, but it still does some things for you. I’m not sure what’s difficult to understand.

I have driven a car with lane keep assist and hated it. If I'm getting close to the edge of a lane, it's intentional and often for safety; having the car try to interfere with that is counter-productive. I wouldn't call it comparable to Tesla's autopilot though, as it only intervened in steering when you neared the edge of the lane. I guess you could just let it pinball down the road like that, but I wouldn't want to attempt it. Maybe other cars do it better.

Adaptive cruise on the other hand is great, but all modern cars have that.

The real issue though is that it's harder to remain alert when the car is effectively doing everything for you... until it doesn't.

Infiniti’s lane assist doesn’t ping pong nearly as much as others. Newer cars have lane centering now which keeps you in the middle of the lane. Some manufacturers have done the Tesla thing and mapped out public roads like GM SuperCruise

Also don’t let the car ping pong, if it loses the lane marking then the car will keep on lane changing with impunity

All lane keep assists are not the same. Tesla’s version drives through curves with ease, not like others which flop around one lane marker to other and may give up pretty easily

If you’ve flown a plane on autopilot, the experience is similar: you can direct your attention elsewhere and you end up less fatigued. You still need to be awake and alert but don’t have to worry about tedious things like holding a heading/drifting out of your lane or maintaining speed.

I haven't flown myself, but I would guess when cruising in a plane, there's far less likelihood of hitting a stationary object should the autopilot mess up.

Yes. But sometimes, the plane randomly decides it should tenderly hug the ground.

See Boeing 737 Max and it’s infamous autopilot

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