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Comment by EagnaIonat | Hacker News Reader

I rented a car that had this feature and instantly hated it. I forget the make, but if it detected you were not looking at the road for a period of time, it would slam on the brakes and release. A way to jolt you awake.

The problem was it routinely misclassified where I was looking, so I would get random brake slams which would panic me more.

I returned it after a day and asked for a new car.

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FWIW, the only time I ever had emergency brakes kick in are in spurious situations, like tight maneuvers or there is something ahead with plenty of headway to decide whether you should brake or not. A cyclist moved close to the traffic light fast and the car completely stopped. This one was a bit more dangerous because had there been someone behind, that driver would not have expected such an abrupt stop.

>so I would get random brake slams which would panic me more

Every time it happens, it hurts as I'm not prepared for it.

Lane assist is also particularly bad as it handles some slight curves incorrectly, so it resists your driving. As a result with such cars I have my arms muscles tense up in anticipation of some turns.

Theres already 3d models of heads you can print and attach to the rearview mirror to trick the ssensor! At least for the Teslas with Autopilot, but I can imagine it working just as well with other cars.

These systems are always beta tested on real drivers for years. Sometimes the tech improves often it doesn't. It's absolute madness

What the hell. I had my last rental just beep at me, and was astonished. But this... sounds literally unsafe.

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