My Tesla Robotaxi "safety" driver fell asleep | Hacker News Reader

My Tesla Robotaxi "safety" driver fell asleep

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34 pointsleoh6 comments

Probably better than the time I took a SuperShuttle to SFO and the driver fell asleep, several times. He had a app on a phone thing to keep him awake that would beep and he would wake up, press the button, and sometimes go right back to sleep on the highway.

If the Tesla self-driving is decent, the safety driver has the very difficult for a human job of being engaged to takeover a task, but not having to do it very often. No wonder they're asleep, but the ride should probably end and a replacement come out when the driver attention detection goes off, especially if more than once.

Yes this is definitely an extra layer of safety. Essentially, you get two attention systems to get you where you’re going. If the backup system fails and the driving system recognizes that attention deficit to stop and alert, you’re safer than if you only had a sleepy driving system.

Tesla auto steering disengages for the ride, and you get several strikes until it turns off for good without recourse, if you’re inattentive while the mode is engaged, and you need to touch the wheel quite frequently especially at night to confirm for the legal requirements, since the interior cam can’t see you clearly. I hate to have to pull the wheel slightly so frequently when it gets dark (when wearing glasses).

Please tell me somebody did something about it. That guy needed to get off the road ASAP and have a nice nap.

I thought that "earn money while you sleep" passive income schemes are popular, not frowned upon.

Something to be said for requiring the human to do something related like press go every time the vehicle starts from a complete stop, or annotate "threats" detected in the 3d view.

This is a safety problem that needs solving. Just detecting when they sleep isn't a good solution.

This has never happened to me when riding in a Waymo.

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