News NHTSA Opens Probe After Tesla Allows Gaming While Driving

[Admin]

A recent Tesla software up allows passengers to game while the vehicle is in motion. But it doesn't prevent the driver from joining in on the [dangerous] fun.

NHTSA Opens Probe After Tesla Allows Gaming While Driving : Read more

 

[helper800]

This seems silly to me. If you are going to, as a driver, choose to avoid all safety concerns and do this anyways, the ability to do so is the least of that persons issues. In my opinion, this should be fine to allow for its intended purpose. If some idiot decides to play games while they are in, for all intents and purposes, a driverless vehicle, they will pay the consequences. In the future (probably within 50 years) when the majority of cars are driverless and traffic effectively no longer exists, in place of a windshield there will be a 65 inch OLED type screen everyone will be playing games on...

 

[InvalidError]

IMO, integrating distractions into the car's management systems shouldn't be allowed until fully autonomous self-driving is achieved and driver distraction is no longer materially relevant.

I'm not a fan of modern cars where a bunch of functions that used to have dedicated knobs and buttons are now integrated into an all-in-one touch screen and hidden 2-4 levels deep into the UI, feels massively more distracting than reaching for a dedicated physical control. There is also the issue of losing the touch-screen means losing most non-critical functions and also some quite important ones like climate control and defrost.

 

[helper800]

IMO, integrating distractions into the car's management systems shouldn't be allowed until fully autonomous self-driving is achieved and driver distraction is no longer materially relevant.

I'm not a fan of modern cars where a bunch of functions that used to have dedicated knobs and buttons are now integrated into an all-in-one touch screen and hidden 2-4 levels deep into the UI, feels massively more distracting than reaching for a dedicated physical control. There is also the issue of losing the touch-screen means losing most non-critical functions and also some quite important ones like climate control and defrost.

A completely reasonable assessment. We only differ in that I believe that the tesla vehicles that have the driving assist feature are effectively, except by law only, autonomous driving vehicles. The main problem is that not everyone is going to have this feature for many decades to come, and until then they have to be manually correctable because other drivers on the road are not perfect. Not to say that teslas are perfect either, as it is an emergent technology, however, they are certainly better at driving than people are.

 

[USAFRet]

I'm not a fan of modern cars where a bunch of functions that used to have dedicated knobs and buttons are now integrated into an all-in-one touch screen and hidden 2-4 levels deep into the UI, feels massively more distracting than reaching for a dedicated physical control. There is also the issue of losing the touch-screen means losing most non-critical functions and also some quite important ones like climate control and defrost.

Had this conversation with a young dude in our office.

"Oh, the touch screen is NO problem, blah blah."

'oh really? Sit in your truck, with your eyes closed. Now change the radio station.'

"But that's irrelevant...you don't drive with your eyes closed!"

'Dude...the 'eyes closed' thing is just to simulate you having to LOOK at the screen to perform basic functions. Things I can trivially do in any of my vehicles.'

 

[drivinfast247]

Had this conversation with a young dude in our office.

"Oh, the touch screen is NO problem, blah blah."

'oh really? Sit in your truck, with your eyes closed. Now change the radio station.'

"But that's irrelevant...you don't drive with your eyes closed!"

'Dude...the 'eyes closed' thing is just to simulate you having to LOOK at the screen to perform basic functions. Things I can trivially do in any of my vehicles.'

Almost, if not all vehicles sold in the last 15 years have steering wheel mounted radio controls.

I will not argue the fact that there are a lot of distractions in modern vehicles, though.

 

[InvalidError]

Not to say that teslas are perfect either, as it is an emergent technology, however, they are certainly better at driving than people are.

Watch some videos of people testing Tesla's self-driving even after the "plowing into parked emergency vehicles" patch. It often has to be stopped from plowing into closed lanes and streets, has to be rescued while making turns when the lane markers are faded out or obstructed by road curvature because it cannot figure out where the lanes are, has to be given a push because it hesitates to go forward for no apparent reason, brakes for no apparent reason, etc. Tesla's self-driving is likely 10 years away from having all of the major quirks worked out of it.

Tesla's self-driving may be able to do some things well most of the time but it also has a long track record of failing at basic stuff for inexplicable reasons. Just because Tesla's self-driving hasn't failed you yet doesn't make the fact that it has failed other people multiple times.

Almost, if not all vehicles sold in the last 15 years have steering wheel mounted radio controls.

Maybe on the fancier models with cruise control and other extras that already require a bunch of extra stuff to get routed through the clockspring assembly. Even then, steering wheel radio controls only give you access to the most basic stuff like volume and prev/next. Anything beyond that will likely have you reaching for the touch-screen instead of spamming the mode button 20 times to reach whatever input or setting you are after.

 

[Eximo]

The great shift will happen when insurance companies make having a self driving car cheaper than a manual car. Of course there is also the future of true ride sharing. On demand transportation becomes cheap enough, people might not even own cars in non-rural settings.

My car has several navigable menus accessible from the steering wheel. Radio function is decent, lets you run through the presets and do volume. Can't say I am a fan of the touchscreen, but my car is old enough to still have a lot of physical dials and buttons. One of the reasons I like electric versions of standard cars, they come with normal things.