[slavik81]

I agree entirely. What's the point of an autopilot if I have to spend my entire drive watching it like a hawk to ensure it doesn't steer me into a wall?

You know what I really want? I want a vehicle to save me when I screw up. I love skiing, but it's a dangerous sport, and the most dangerous part is driving home. You're in the mountains in the dark, the road might be icy, and you're tired from a long day of strenuous exercise.

I want to see humans and machines working together. A car that could spot deer on or beside the road would save lives. They can be very difficult to see in the dark, and hitting one could send it through your windshield at highway speed.

Augmenting human ability has a lot of potential. Even just adding sensors that humans don't have would be huge. I bet those deer are way more obvious in infrared.

[kalleboo]

Mercedes has a night vision system like that https://youtu.be/d03SuJ0TVcY

[_ea1k]

Autopilot is a driver assistance feature, not a safety feature.

[kps]

Tesla claims it is. “Tesla Autopilot does not prevent all accidents – such a standard would be impossible – but it makes them much less likely to occur. It unequivocally makes the world safer for the vehicle occupants, pedestrians and cyclists.” — https://www.tesla.com/blog/update-last-week%E2%80%99s-accide...

[_ea1k]

That is a really good point. I hadn't though until now about how that language makes it all so ambiguous. The implication that autopilot is safer than you doing it yourself has to be misleading as it implies that you shouldn't have to monitor it so closely.

Ugh.

[netsharc]

For a non-safety feature they do scream a lot about how many lives it saved...

[shkkmo]

> What's the point of an autopilot if I have to spend my entire drive watching it like a hawk to ensure it doesn't steer me into a wall?

If you fall asleep while driving, it may prevent you from driving into a barrier or on-coming traffic. It's not meant to take over the act of driving from you, but to provide assistance.