Friday, June 07, 2019
Fake threat of fake automation 2
Following on fake concern over fake technology:
The Tesla skeptics are featuring this video of an asshole using his "autopilot" on a twisty highway with cliffs and guardrails.
1. I'm pretty sure this is the same road where the "self-driving" car was intentionally steered over the cliff in the 1949 Rocket Man serial. The writers of the serial understood something that we've forgotten: "self-driving" inevitably means SOMEBODY ELSE IS DRIVING.
2. The asshole doesn't keep his hands off all the time. He feels the need to correct the "self-driver" fairly often. When I was a young asshole I sometimes tried hands-off driving in my '59 Chevy or '66 VW. The rhythm was about the same. A simple car without power steering, if the suspension and tires are properly adjusted, will hold a lane for quite a while on a straight road or a well-banked gentle curve.
In this particular situation the "self-driver" is equal to a simple car with zero automation. As soon as you start adding artificial automation, especially power steering, the NATURAL automation disappears.
Admittedly the "self-driver" sometimes hits the brakes to avoid an obstacle, but it's clear from the record that this function doesn't work well enough to trust it. It doesn't understand some of the worst obstacles like semitrailers and median dividers.
2. The asshole doesn't keep his hands off all the time. He feels the need to correct the "self-driver" fairly often. When I was a young asshole I sometimes tried hands-off driving in my '59 Chevy or '66 VW. The rhythm was about the same. A simple car without power steering, if the suspension and tires are properly adjusted, will hold a lane for quite a while on a straight road or a well-banked gentle curve.
In this particular situation the "self-driver" is equal to a simple car with zero automation. As soon as you start adding artificial automation, especially power steering, the NATURAL automation disappears.
Admittedly the "self-driver" sometimes hits the brakes to avoid an obstacle, but it's clear from the record that this function doesn't work well enough to trust it. It doesn't understand some of the worst obstacles like semitrailers and median dividers.Labels: Deadthink
¶ 3:27 PM
