Slashdot Mirror
Are Tesla Crashes Balanced Out By The Lives That They Save? (eetimes.com)
Friday EE Times shared the story of a Tesla crash that occurred during a test drive. "The salesperson suggested that my friend not brake, letting the system do the work. It didn't..." One Oregon news site even argues autopiloted Tesla's may actually have a higher crash rate.
But there's also been stories about Teslas that have saved lives -- like the grateful driver whose Model S slammed on the brakes to prevent a collision with a pedestrian, and another man whose Tesla drove him 20 miles to a hospital after he'd suddenly experienced a pulmonary embolism. (Slate wrote a story about the incident titled "Code is My Co-Pilot".) Now an anonymous Slashdot reader asks: How many successes has the autopilot had in saving life and reducing damage to property? What is the ratio of these successes to the very public failures?
I'd be curious to hear what Slashdot readers think. If you add it all up, are self-driving cars keeping us safer -- or just making us drive more recklessly?
But there's also been stories about Teslas that have saved lives -- like the grateful driver whose Model S slammed on the brakes to prevent a collision with a pedestrian, and another man whose Tesla drove him 20 miles to a hospital after he'd suddenly experienced a pulmonary embolism. (Slate wrote a story about the incident titled "Code is My Co-Pilot".) Now an anonymous Slashdot reader asks: How many successes has the autopilot had in saving life and reducing damage to property? What is the ratio of these successes to the very public failures?
I'd be curious to hear what Slashdot readers think. If you add it all up, are self-driving cars keeping us safer -- or just making us drive more recklessly?
Who cares what Slashdot readers think? This isn't something where opinions or anecdotes matter. Do (or read) a study, collect data. Then you'll have an answer.
Demand something that's a plus on both sides. Anything else is defective.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
What people think makes no difference. In fact, I think how many lives are saved vs. lost makes no difference. No body, not Tesla, not government regulatory bodies, not programmers, no one is claming the software is perfect. Some people are claiming it saves lives in aggregate vs human miles driven, but only data can tell us that. And even then, it determines on how you look at things. Do they save lives vs the average vehicle? How about lives vs other vehicles in the same price range, or vs other autonomous vehicles. Or even vehicles in similar weather conditions, etc... etc...
What really matters is how much potential there is for improvement. The chips these systems run on will follow a Moore's law trajectory, and the amount of data these vehicles learn from each other with every mile is even more insane. We can not possibly make human drivers 2X, 4X, or 10X better, but we can make these systems that much better. All it takes is learning with data, with next gen sensors, with better networking tech, better algorithms derived from it all, and lastly, better vehicle coordination from infrastructure. In 20 years, the answer to this question will become painfully obvious. We just have to let the technology carry us there, and listen to everyone on the way: be vigilant when the system is in use today. Be aware of what your vehicle is doing. You are still responsible.
Without being subsidized would GM or Chrysler have been viable companies?
A few score may die now to save hundreds of thousands later. Have you driven on the freeways of America lately? People drift into your lane, they don't stay centered in their own lane. Drivers are looking at their phones while they're driving, no matter what the laws say. People are NOT as qualified to drive a car as a computer which checks its sensors hundreds of times per second.
Autonomous cars are the future, and Tesla is pushing that forward. There are going to be mistakes in the beginning, and people will die and be injured.
Driving is dangerous, but we don't outlaw cars because their utility outweighs the risk. Same here.
You don't see a news story every time a Mazda is crashed during a test drive. Stop giving clicks to this drivel.
It would be hard to determine what it prevented when no one is reporting it. Some of the drivers may not have even been aware of the incident the car avoided.