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I agree, but I am quite cautious of technology which prevents me from doing something and much more comfortable with and welcoming of technology that informs me that I'm doing something unsafe, so that I can not do that thing.

There is a post going around just this morning about a Tesla that stopped itself on a major bridge in San Diego and caused a huge accident and pileup. I don't want technology that has the ability to take action like that on it's own. I don't trust it's decision making enough for that.

The idea is baffling to me that anyone lets self-driving software pilot a multi-ton steel missile that contains the only body they will ever get hurtling through an asphalt field full of other humans and an environment that is often not predictable and actively hostile. I write automation for a living, and like everyone else I know that does the same I want automation in safety-critical applications to be as simple, bulletproof, and limited as possible. Self-driving software does not fall into that category right now. Some day it probably will. Until that time I won't be buying it.

> There is a post going around just this morning about a Tesla that stopped itself on a major bridge in San Diego and caused a huge accident and pileup. I don't want technology that has the ability to take action like that on it's own. I don't trust it's decision making enough for that

There is still almost no information on this crash, probably because Tesla HQ stopped Elon from writing blog posts to put the record straight on PR-harming issues [0]. The fact of the matter is that the person was not using "Full Self-Driving Beta", given it does not activate on highways yet; the only real possibility is Enhanced Autopilot, ie. the driver hit the left turn stalk, the car moved over for them, and it detected a stopped car in front of it, either triggering the AEB system (which can slam on the brakes completely independently from every other system) or TACC detected a car and came to a safe stop as if the traffic in that lane was already stopped.

My guess is confused pedals or both pedals being depressed at the same time, since the accelerator will not spin the tires if you're on the brake whatsoever.

0: https://www.tesla.com/blog/not-so-revealing-story

I have driven few cars with assistive technologies and I came to the conclusion that I feel more tense in them than I do with all assistive technologies turned off.

You get way too "distracted" with those technologies imho, but you still need to check what the car is doing.

So if before I was relaxed and driving in auto-pilot mode not even thinking about it, I'm now more tense and looking over what the car is doing.

Obviously blind spot, simple cruise control or beeps that warn you in traffic the car ahead is moving are fine, but the more complex assistive technology gets the more you need to check what it's doing.

Stuff like lane assist is just...unreliable in many situations. I was more than once driving on streets that from a second to the other had the white marks disappear and the car drift dangerously off road.

I just find more relaxing and safer normal driving (unless I was doing thousands of kilometers per week I guess) than being this controller who has to check what the car is doing.

For longer drives, I can shake highway hypnosis by looking anywhere but straight ahead. Something that I could "turn on" when in light traffic and good conditions would mean I could do this more easily.

As far as "the car preventing me from doing stupid things" goes it's good in theory, but requires an excellent implementation to not suck. When driving in traffic it's basically 100% of the time that my car beeps at me when I put my turn signal on, because I'm either passing or waiting for a car to pass me when I signal. I would turn it off, but I can't do so without also disabling the RTCA which is a great feature.

I agree. It would be like an “easy bake oven” that guarantees either a perfectly baked cake, with no user input required, or your entire house burnt to the ground in a fiery explosion. I’d rather just watch it myself

This is why I think the only direction in which this can all be headed is “human roads” and “robot roads”. When the robot cars all start talking to each other/the road 100,000x/second, there won’t be a need for traffic lights, and so anytime an accident happens, it will be because of a human.

The nudge when leaving a lane is annoying and something I turn off. Going near / over the lane lines happens inadvertently from time to time while driving and the nudge often catches me by surprise. I worry it might cause me to instinctively pull the wheel back too hard by mistake causing an accident.

Going over lane lines does not happen inadvertently with any frequency to most people who are paying attention. If this is happening often enough and you're zoned out enough that this is something that might cause you to over-correct I question if you ought to be driving at all.

This depends a lot on the country and the infrastructure.

True, i'm considering this from a NA perspective. Maybe it's different elsewhere.

For me it really depends on the actual implementation. On most rentals I quickly disabled it because it really felt unsafe. But on my own car, different brand, it feels quite „naturally“ at least for me.

I feel similarly about these technologies. If I wanted to nanny another driver, I'd work as a driving instructor. Tech that assists driving I think I'd appreciate more, like the ABS brakes.

The more assistance drivers get, the less attention they pay to the road, and the safer people perceive something to be, the more likely to take risks.