I need a bumper sticker that says 'Nobody on board'.
Tesla has opened up the 'self driving' app on newer Tesla's for a free 30 day trial. It is factory installed on all of them, they just don't turn it on unless you pay, which we didn't.
All of a sudden there is an octogenarian who cannot even manage his cell phone properly letting the car drive itself. All I have to do is keep one hand on the steering wheel. I simply hit the normal cruise control lever and it stays in lane on freeways or city streets, stopping at stop signs and lights, even changing lanes when it decides to.
If I set a destination address, it takes me on and off freeways, city streets and all around the maypole. If there is a traffic blockage on major routes, it automatically reroutes me to the fastest way to get through.
It is not as smooth a ride as a mere human driver would be though. In example the lane changes, which includes turn signaling, are a bit abrupt, and sometimes come at times the driver might not choose. I suspect the driver would be looking at situations ahead, and anticipate things the computer doesn't. It almost changed lanes on me twice when a rush hour Kamikaze was coming up too fast beside me, and it caught itself halfway through my incipient lane change.
The automatic braking also reacts more aggressively than a driver normally would when a car pulls into your lane closely in front of you. It hits the brakes to give you some room ahead, while a driver would realize the car is going fast enough to do nothing and let it drive away.
Altogether it is an amazing system. Tesla has fixed it so if a driver does not keep a hand on the wheel, it will give a warning, which if ignored will cause the system to warn louder and turn off. Then the system will not be engaged until the car is stopped and restarted. I think that means you have to get out and walk away, since the car never actually stops working until you do that. There is no key, just an app.
I think they updated the system this way because so many people who bought the self driving were not paying attention while they let the car make decisions.
PS: I have always wondered what a fully autonomous car would do if I am going straight through a busy intersection, while a big truck is going fast running the light, and there is a troop of Girl Scouts on the opposite sidewalk. Will it sacrifice my car full of Nuns, or the Girl Scouts? I know the manufacturers have thought of this, and I suspect they have addressed it somehow. I also suspect it will remain a dark secret.
Live long and prosper.
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