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High-tech Cars Replacing Driver Skill?
Nick writes "What happens when you take a bunch of average drivers, put them in a car with no high-tech systems like anti-lock brakes and traction control, and ask them to drive on a safety test track? 360-degree spins, of course. And not only do today's drivers need ABS and traction control to keep their cars under control, it also turns out most drivers can't even name the high tech safety systems that are continually saving their butts. And to make matters worse, carmakers plan to install automatic radar-based blind-spot checkers so motorists can avoid looking over their shoulders while changing lanes. Even geeks find some of these technologies scary, including Wired's Bruce Gain, who drove Mercedes' S-Class with automatic braking."
I care. I fully expect cars to drive themselves before I become senile enough to have the keys taken away from me.
I consider myself an excellent driver, but recognize that relatively few people care about improving their driving skills. I would much rather they have access to gadgets that prevent them from smashing into me than not.
It would be even better if I could step into my car with a latte, cell phone, and laptop, ask the car to take me to the airport, and read slashdot along the way. My guess is that it will happen within 20 years.
You guys need to go back to school and research why joystick controls of the first cars were abandoned. It's something called IMMUNITY to G-Forces and vibration from a bumpy and rocky road as well as other situations. The game floor is VERY different from a real road ride. Then there's the aspects of having independent controls such as accelerator and brake. This is the same for bicycles and for them scooters for the handicapped.
There's a reason why some rally cars have independent front/rear braking pedals. Sure that may be not an everyday example, but it's still more representative than trying to reinventing the controls from the unreality of video games.
Unless you are flying/floating like a plane, it is pointless to try to reinvent the wheel with controls of such low resolution and fidelity controlled by sub-par limbs of coordination, the thumbs.
The reason for accidents on the road happens to be more a direct result of poor driver competance than from poor controls. If you eliminate any driver that can't pass the B-license driver's test from Gran Turismo (1-4) at the level most drivers are subjected to in Europe or Japan, THEN can you start thinking about if the controls are an issue.
Sometimes, people are just not meant to drive.
Actually, as a real race car driver, I've used GT4 (and many other driving programs) to help practice for racing. Running a real racecar is very expensive in terms of $ per min of seat time, where a Playstation is pretty cheap.
Part of it is that I have the controls set up to replicate the race car as much as possible - that means a wheel and pedals, similar seating position, etc.
Playstation practice is really good training, especially the license tests. If you can get Gold on everything, you're doing well.
But like the show pointed out (Top Gear rocks BTW) the Playstation doesn't tell the whole story. It is very good for teaching line, hand/eye co-ordination, and agression. It does less well for teaching the sensation of keeping a car balanced right on the limit. With modern race tires, it's not unusual to pull 1.7G transients on concrete without aero. There's just no way for a game console to replicate that. The consoles also have trouble conveying elevation change and road camber (probably because you feel that more than you see it) The Nurburgring in person is *far* more intimidating than in GT4.
But if you understand the limitations, it makes a good training tool.
As far as ABS goes, my racecar has ABS, but its primary purpose is to keep the tires round. In testing, we found that driver modulation beat the ABS in terms of stopping distances (race tires and dry pavement) On wet pavement, same deal, but it was much harder for the driver to walk the line between "I've got it" and "it's got me". Part of the problem is the difficulty in an enclosed car of telling when the wheels are locked. With the ABS on, you could transgress the braking limit and the tires would stay round and the car would still stop.
For me, ABS has been an ass saver, but not a performance increasing device per sae (ie, I don't just mash the brakes and let the ABS do all the work - that's slow)
DG
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
I agree - You need to know the car you drive.
I've had 4 different cars on my life, want to know the easiest way to learn how they react? Snow covered parking lots! Go with a trusted friend in the passenger seat, drive around at 10 mph or so, left right turing, and ask them to pull the e-brake at times, and release to force a skid that you weren't expecting. It doesn't take long to learn how your car reacts. Do it alone even. I've just found that it's the easiest, and SAFEST way to learn what your vehicle will do with lose of traction.
The above comments are not guaranteed to make sense to anyone other than the author...
I think some people tend to consider better than average car control or car recovery control to make them a good driver. Just being able to induce a car into a controlled slide or recover from one, doesn't make one a good driver. Aggression level and overall attentiveness come in to play a lot where driving is concerned. Overly aggressive drivers who may be able to avoid others, can sometimes tend to cause accidents themselves (they swoop in, cut somebody off who slams on their brakes, and unfortunately gets rearended by some dumbass 2 cars back who was tailgating).
I'd like to think I'm slightly above average, but nothing great. I'm one of the few of my generation to actually take Driver's Ed. I've also taken a defensive driving course, as well as a general car control course, an autocross driving school (more of the same really), and I've raced in a fair share of autocrosses. I'm also one of those people who's always interested in improving their driving skills, and make it a habbit to try to pay more attention to what my car is doing -- feel its movements through the controls.
That said, I would still only consider myself slightly better than average. You know what? I kind of like some of these driver aids. I love having ABS now. Yes, I can drive a car without ABS and learned how to brake at the threshold of tire lockup, but I love having it. It has saved me on at least one occasion where I had a driver pull out in front of me on a wet road. I've yet to drive a car with traction and/or yaw control in an environment where I could test the limits of those technologies, but I'm sure they work well too. I wouldn't want to race one of those cars, but that's the point really. These cars are designed for the road, and these technologies help people keep from having accidents.
One last note. I think everybody should be forced to learn to drive stick on an underpowered car. It really forces you to think about your environment more. You have to pay attention to that hill coming up (Do I need to downshift to make it up?). You pay more attention to the vehicles around you at stop lights (Am I going to roll back into the car behind me?). The reason 90% of people give for driving automatics is that they are lazy and/or want to relax. That's just the problem with our driving society here in the US: they aren't paying enough fucking attention.
If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will.
Driving on a skidpad is compulsory in some Europeen countries. This is a actually a very fun excercise where you must try to avoid objects with ABS-breaks and without them. One of the excercises is named the "Elg-manøver" or Elk-maneuver, where you try to avoid hitting a sudden object crossing the road.
How to get your drivers lisence in Norway:
(Part 0. Pass the health requirements, good vision, etc)
Part 1. Attend 17 hours of trafic 101 (TGK) classes at a driving school (includes first aid training in a set up accident and 3 hours of night driving).
Part 2. Car Handeling: 1 hour compulsory driving with a driving school and then as much privat training as you whould like (with a person older then 25, with more then 5 years experience. It is common with 50 hours or more before continuing training).
Part 3. Trafic Handling: 4 hours of training on a closed track with instructor, including driving on a skidpad (2 hours).
Part 4: Final Training: 13 hours compulsory training (8 hours on road) with a driving school.
Part 5: 1.5 hour theory test
Part 6: 1 hour practical driving test.
Note that to be a licenced driving instructor you need 3 years of university level education.
The total price for getting a licence is around 3.000$, more if you need addional training or does not pass the practical test the first time.
This may seem very expensive, but last year there was less then 200 people killed while driving in Norway (around half due to drugs/alcohol), with aprox. 4 mill registered vehicles in the country.
And specially considuring that on most roads they only remove the snow, and not the ice during winter, in a period where there are 5-6 hours or less of daylight during the winter season (the northern part does not see the sun for 2-3 months). You are required to use snow-tiers (with steel-spikes or soft-rubber) for 4-5 months a year even in the southern part.
Most people are pleased with the requirements for getting the licence. No political parties wants to change the driving education significantly, one party wants the training to be a part of the compulsory education at school.
(By the way: Almost all cars have a stick-gear change, since you need the clutch to regain control of car the if/when you skid while driving on ice. The average age of a car in Norway is around 10 years old, petrol cost aprox 1.6$/l (6-7$/gallon), drive 20 miles/hour too fast and you risk a 1000$ ticket, a new Toyota Yaris cost around 30.000$ after paying fees to the state. What the fees of cars, petrol and tickets should be, on the other hand, is heavily debated =)