[cjensen]

"Mostly self-driving" just seems crazy to me. As soon as the car is able to drive on a major highway, you're going to have "asleep at the wheel" issues, and the car cannot simply hand back control to the driver.

There have been times when I've misjudged my level of tiredness. Drifting out of lane is a good marker that you've screwed up and need to pull over immediately and sleep.

Does Tesla have some way to determine wakefulness or to safely pull over if the driver fails to respond?

[metric10]

If you're so tired that you drift out of your lane then you are beyond the point of when you should have stopped. In such a case, I would rather share the road with Tesla's auto-pilot.

I'm sure the press is going to sensationalize the first accident caused by the auto-pilot, but seeing as it doesn't get tired or drink I bet the accident rate will be far lower then human drivers.

[heyheyhey]

> Does Tesla have some way to determine wakefulness or to safely pull over if the driver fails to respond?

Not sure about Tesla but the technology DOES exist and some cars do currently have it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver_drowsiness_detection

[cjensen]

Yes, but those ALL work by observing the driver's driving, so that won't work.

[hkmurakami]

Toyota definitely has technology to detect whether the driver is asleep and wake up the driver. (I am not sure if this technology has hit the market yet so I can't comment on what the implementation is)

You can then wake up the driver by actuating the seat or sounding an alarm.

[dakrisht]

Mercedes-Benz has had this technology for maybe 5 years now.

The car will audibly, visually and via haptic feedback through the steering wheel alert a driver if the vehicle detects they are getting drowsy. Nothing new here.

[jccooper]

Trains (which are mostly self driving) have a button the operator must push once in a while to prove he's awake.)

[mblakele]

If it's working: http://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/PR20150206.asp... describes a head-on collision between two trains. Apparently a handy new automation feature on one train fooled the vigilance device.

Then there are all the jokes about using a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_bird in situations like that. And then there's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv9JYqhFV-M to hack the Mercedes ALA.

[stdgy]

A co-worker and I were just talking about this. My take on the situation is that this could be partially alleviated if the car were to refuse to get off of the highway until after the driver manually took it out of autopilot. If the driver doesn't respond, skip the exit and stay on the highway sending out alerts until the driver responds.

Not exactly optimal, but I feel it may be the safest route. It would be interesting to see what other strategies people come up with.

[metric10]

It could also just pull over on to the shoulder and activate the hazard lights. It'll probably also sound an alarm in the cabin.

[cookingrobot]

Stopped on a shoulder is quite dangerous. Just staying driving seems better.

[metric10]

With an unconscious and unresponsive driver? Are you nuts?

EDIT: I have seen cars stopped on shoulders all the time. It may be dangerous compared to a parking lot, but this is an emergency situation. The driver is incapacitated and may need medical attention. I'll add that it should do more then run the hazard lights, it should dial 911. To keep driving means the car will run unattended for 200+ miles until the battery runs out.

[cookingrobot]

Not really an unresponsive driver - more like an unresponsive passenger. I bet a lot of people will fall asleep while being driven around.

[tfe]

And if the highway ends?

[ewindisch]

I envision a not-so-distant future where sleepy drivers wake up 5 states and hundreds of miles away from home. At least with Tesla, drivers might find themselves waking up at a Supercharger.

[JulianMorrison]

Turbo boost. As is traditional in self driving cars.