Lane Keep Assist warning

I think we are a LONG way from steering control, much less self-driving vehicles. No level of AI has yet to match human reaction times, and that is what will be required for safe driving autonomy - UNLESS ALL cars were self-driving, interconnected, and communicated with every other vehicle around them. And then, who's going to play the role of traffic controller? Even if it did the perfect job of keeping me engaged, alert, and vigilant in my own car, who keeps the idiot from running a red light, entering the highway with oncoming traffic, or heaven forbid DUI?

Sorry for the mini rant, but I guess the number of close calls on my 900 mile trip to Santa Fe and back this past weekend proved once again that I'm not the worst driver on the planet...and no AI system can save me from them.

HONDA - just keep we awake, alert, and reactive behind the wheel (and if you err on the side of being conservative and brake too aggressively, props to you!).

 

I'm with Brady on this one. The race to autonomy has already started with a lot of companies participating in the race. It will come sooner rather than later. And when it does get here you won't have to worry so much about those close calls or drunk drivers. I say 10 years.

 

Elon has the right idea. If we wait for perfection, then autonomous driving won’t happen in our lifetimes. If we aim for “safer than the average human” we are closer than most would believe. We all like to think we are much better drivers than we actually are, but statistics and experience says otherwise. We set a pretty low bar for expectations honestly.

 

We are especially bad when we have to take control at the last second in a level 2 or 3 autonomous car, like most cars are, including the Clarity. Car autonomy really has to be all or nothing for it to work reliably. The car manufacturers understand that, I think, and there is a huge monetary incentive to get there first.

 

I like to think of the driver assist as having a mother-in-law in the back seat telling me how to drive.
'Watch out for that car in front of you!'
'Don't get so close to the center!'
'Get back on the road!'
'Get those hands back on the wheel!'

 

Driving to work this morning in the dark, in the rain (there are no reflective lane dividers in this area of the country) I can't begin to imagine trusting my life to a vision-based autonomous car.

 

And unfortunately for one lady in Tempe Uber and Nvidia found out first hand about that after she walked out in front of an Uber test vehicle on a dark street. Cameras are not as good as an eye yet, this lady paid for that with her life. Watching the video I believe high beam assist would have prevented the accident as it would have illuminated the road far enough ahead of the vehicle to detect the pedestrian with enough time to react. Even autonomous vehicles are driving too fast at night and over driving the headlights...

 

Actually, there is suggestion that the auto braking system on the Uber was disabled, although I don't think it has been confirmed. Other companies have run the footage through their systems (even though it is lower than original quality) and showed that their systems would have detected the pedestrian and applied braking 1 second in advance.

To be fair though, this accident appears to be completely the pedestrians fault. The only thing different in this case is the car had some fancy sensors on it. In the US in 2017 6,000 pedestrians were killed by cars, or about 16 a day. Meaning since this happened, about 50 more pedestrians have been killed and not made the news.

 

One thing to note is that the original video does not show the correct level of lighting that was actually present on that place in the road at night. It makes it appear as if the woman with the bicycle just came out of the dark and suddenly appeared in front of the car when that is not the case. Multiple videos have been posted from inside cars driving at that same location at the same time of night that show light levels and visibility much more accurately. These videos show that the car was not over driving it’s lights as it appears in the original video from the car and that if the safety driver had not been looking down she would have seen the pedestrian and this accident could easily have been avoided. The safety driver was negligent in this accident. Her job was to have both hands on/near the wheel and eyes on the road to be ready to take over in the case of a malfunction in autonomous mode. The video clearly shows she did neither.

 

There are already self driving cars on the road being tested and improved. Some research efforts have racked up impressive time and distance under all conditions. I think this is going to happen sooner rather than later.

My problem is I really like to drive so I'm in no hurry for this to happen.

I don't think the public is behind this movement. I think it is being propelled by two factors. First it can be done and it is an interesting technical challenge to work on. Second manufacturers don't want to be left behind so they are jumping on the bandwagon.

 

Do you happen to have a link to any of these?

 

I found them following the stories on the news app on my iPhone. Will try to go thru the huge list of stories since then and find it. I do remember it was a striking difference in light levels and visibility from the Uber car video.

 

LegoZ, I found this which shows the Uber video does not show the night scene of the accident as it really looks in real life. I think you will find it quite “illuminating”.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/cars/2018/03/police-chief-said-uber-victim-came-from-the-shadows-dont-believe-it/%3famp=1l

 

I’m absolutely willing to give up driving if it means that none of the other half-asleep, texting, eating, arguing, inattentave morons are allowed to continue to try to kill me with their cars either.

 

I’ve personally been to Tempe and driven on Mill and I don’t remember it being that dark either...

 

Not sure how the Clarity’s system works, but Tesla’s system gives reminders if your hands aren’t on the wheel frequently enough.

A well placed tennis ball wedged into the steering wheel in the right spot has been demonstrated to keep a Tesla thinking your hands are on the wheel. See YouTube.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs

 

Sounds like a great strategy.
https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/30/tesla-autopilot-model-x-crash-mountain-view/

 

And now that we know a little more, we learn that guy's hands were off his steering wheel for at least 6 seconds - his Tesla had already warned him to put his hands back on the wheel - when tragedy struck.

 

It's bizarre if true. His family had said in the press that he previously complained to Tesla that the Autopilot did not function correctly on the exact spot where he hit the median. If so, why did he continue to use it? I've already stopped using my Clarity's lane keep assist because I'm not sure it will work properly under every situation and I don't see the point if I have to keep my hands on the steering wheel and pay special attention in case it fails. That seems more stressful than just steering the car myself. I do like the lane departure warning though. It works very well and will probably prevent an accident for me some day.

 

And yet you trust yourself to never be distracted, never driving aggressively, to always be fully rested, and never, never, ever driving under the influence.