Slashdot Mirror
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."
This "study" is big-time BS for the simple reason that the typical road-going driver has NEVER been able to pilot a vehicle safely through these sorts of dog-n-pony show tests which is why all of these technologies got invented in the first place.
Seriously, the people doing this study actually think that your typical driver facing a panic situation somehow had the foresight to remember some verbal instruction back from a high school driver's ed class about "Cadence Breaking" before ABS was a standard feature? Or that drivers from as little as 10 years ago had the sort of skid-pad training required to drill in the muscle memory and experience necessary to control a car in an understeer/overseer situation? No way; it was the inability for the typical driver to control a vehicle in these circumstances that led to hundreds of millions of dollars of automotive industry investment in these technologies.
I see what the study is getting at and it is a point that any rational person will agree with; drivers need better skill training. Telling people which way to move the wheel in a spin or how to massage the break pedal out of a textbook (or even on a video) is a useless substitute to making a student actually experience car control and build the muscle memory actually required to apply those skills in a high stress situation. At the same time, rational people also realize that nobody will ever invest the billions of dollars necessary in the sort of meaningful driver education on a skidpad and through static exercises.
Given our inability (through unwillingness of lack of funds) to train drivers, I believe that the technologies we've put on the typical passenger car are pretty amazing.
At the same time, the biggest contributing factor to accidents is simply the fact that people don't pay very much attention. Even with all of the idiot drivers on the road and the noted lack of car control skill, the overwhelming majority of accidents are totally avoidable. Unfortunatly, doing so requires the typical driver to have situational awareness above that of a rock...
High-tech planes replacing pilot skills
High-tech seat belts replacing stuntman skills
High-tech calculators replacing math skills
High-tech screwdrivers replacing screwing your freaking wrist to death skills
High-tech phones replacing screaming really loud skills
High-tech shovels replace digging dirt with your fingers skills
High-tech whining replaces err.... wait... no people are as good at that as ever
I need a "get the &#^$ out of my way" button that works on the self-absorbed asshole yapping on his cellphone while driving his enormous SUV 52 in the 65 passing lane and backing up traffic for a mile behind him! I push the button, he moves his ass over and life goes on.
Well, I guess a rocket launcher would do, too.
One of the things that makes a steering wheel a good control input for a car is that in order to make large changes in what your car is doing, you have to make large changes in the control input. Want to floor the car? You have to STOMP the gas peddle. What to stop SUDDENLY? You have to STOMP the brake. Want to make a SHARP turn? You have to turn the wheel at least a half ref, often up to 2 revs for really sharp, and almost a quarter for a turn that will induce a skid at highway speed before you have a chance to correct it.
There's also a reason your acceleration and braking are controlled by your feet - because your leg muscles are stronger than your thumb muscles. You can't have your acceleration/braking controlled by a non-resistive joystick, because it'd just be too easy to sneeze/drop your coffee/knock it with your elbow and have sudden acceleration or braking. You need pretty stiff resistence to prevent accidental input. Now can you imagine driving for an extend period of time using your thumb muscles instead of your leg muscles?
Even on vehicles that have throttle controls (like planes and boats), the throttle is a separate input device, has a large range of motion, and the vehicle being controlled usually experiences INFREQUENT velocity changes.
paintball
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.
I think the driver lost his job because he was the "journalist" taking part in rigging the test.
The test was a fraud in the first place.
Linky
>if the road is dry, the stop time will be much shorter if the wheels lock and you skid.
This is simply not true. Dynamic friction (skidding) is lower than static friction.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/brake4.htm
I think much of what goes wrong in driving is the result of the increasing disconnect from reality that modern drivers face.
When you're riding a bike, the danger of what can happen if you're not cautious is all too real. Same with skiing. Same with walking.
Cars are another story entirely. It goes far beyond gadgetry like ABS, traction control, and the other modern technologies. It's far more fundamental than that.
You're in an enclosed environment. The windows are up. You can't fully hear the sounds outside the car. When you're on the highway going 80 mph, you've got the windows up. You can't feel or hear the loud, howling, fierce, blistering wind, the loud, raw sound of the tires grinding down the pavement. The shrieks of cars and trucks passing you by. You hear and feel maybe 20% of that, with the windows rolled up. These are all danger cues, things to keep you on high alert, but you've blocked them out, enclosed in the false security of your vehicular cockpit, with comfortable reclining bucket seat, music and talk radio, comfort-maximizing air conditioning and heating, zero wind, etc.
And then you've got those nice cars with the great suspension. No longer can you feel the all-too-real road beneath you. Now you don't even realize you just drove over a giant pothole at 40 mph.
The car control schema itself is like a video game. One pressure-sensitive button to stop, another to go. A wheel to steer. Each of these controls, your low-effort movements are amplified 1000x to control the multi-ton vehicle you're sitting in. Tired of pressing the B button? No problem, flip on the cruise control.
And most importantly, of course, is the need for speed! We love going 70, 80, 90 mph -- as fast as we can get away with. Why? Because we love to live in the moment, and that's ALL you feel when you're zooming along at 100 mph down an open road. You're steering a giant death machine at 100 mph...you don't have TIME to think about anything but the present.
And this, "living in the moment," is dangerous for exactly the same reasons it's enjoyable: You're not thinking about the future. Not even the near future. Not even the next few minutes. You've all but completely blocked out all thoughts, all concerns of the potential consequences of your actions.
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.
1950 called. It wants its prediction back.
the problem is that they can't indentify whats saving their life
so when they buy or borrow another car that doesnt have tractional control power steering a fish finder
they will be a danger to themselves and others
That's called a 'taxi' ;-)
However - the article can be paralleled with "Interface controls replacing user skill? Twenty standard computer users were shown to a seat in front of a vintage 22-year old Commodore. While all were competent with their newer systems, not a single one was able to control the early model."
People learn to use the systems they have. Just as with development in computer systems the public - through assistive devices designed by others to reduce the complexity - have absolutely no need to know how to work machine code, or programming languages, or even scripting languages, the modern driver has assistive devices designed by others to reduce the complexity of operation. And, as the parent post puts so well, all the better if it stops them killing us.
Browsing with +2 to insightful posts and a higher threshold makes the average post seen seem a lot more ingenious
I have always thought that modern learner cars allow the pupil to get away with far too much. When I learned the car had ABS, power steering and fuel injection. Now they even come with parking sensors! Being able to drive in a car that does everything for you is great, until it doesn't. Then you're screwed.
My last car was a Citroen AX - carburettor engine, manual choke, no ABS, no power steering, no parking sensors - nothing. Car before that? 1986 VW Polo - that didn't even have servo assisted brakes (PUMP THAT PEDAL!)!. Did I ever crash them? Spin them? Lose control in a skid? No. Why not? Because I learned how to drive, not just how to work the controls. I was well aware of the limits of both the car and myself. If I pushed, it would let me. And I'd be the one suffering.
One of the rules of the driving test in the UK is that the driver MUST be in control of the vehicle at all times. So, let people have their electronics, their gizmos and their gadgets, but don't let them into the toy cupboard until they've proven that can go without.
Totally disagree. It is obvious this post was written by someone who doesn't drive a stick.
Speaking as someone who has driven sticks exclusively for 15 years, I can tell you that once you get used to driving one, operating the clutch and shifter becomes a second order action - concious thought is not involved. Best way I can describe it the way the slashdot crowd would understand is touch typing - you don't have to think about typing every letter; your fingers know where they are and just do it. There is not concious thought involved (you are not thinking "OK, type 'letter'. The 'l' key is home row, third finger on the right hand...). Driving a stick is the same way.
What a stick *does* force me to do is use all four limbs while I drive. I *can't* talk on a cell phone, I need my hands. I don't get my gas pedal and brake confused, because every time I brake, I have to clutch - which (effectively) disables the accelerator. I have to pay attention to the distance between me and all the cars around me, because what gear I am in determines how long it takes to stop (downshifting), and whether or not I will roll into the car behind me. Driving a stick forces you to do little other than *drive*. I know it sounds like I have a lot more work to do, but remember, a lot of it is not concious. I have no doubt that I am a better driver than my wife who drives automatics, if only because I am forced by the mechanics of driving the car to attempt fewer non-driving activities.