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Tesla Driver Banned From Driving For 18 Months For Sitting in Passenger Seat (theguardian.com)
A 39-year-old motorist pointed his Tesla S60 down a highway at 40 mph -- while sitting in its passenger seat, leaning back with his hands behind his head. Another motorist spotted the empty driver's seat and filmed the car. Now (nearly a year later) the Tesla's owner "has been banned from driving for 18 months," the Guardian reports.
The driver, from Nottingham, pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous driving after admitting he switched seats when he turned on the car's autopilot mode, leaving the car's brakes and steering wheel unmanned. The driver admitted that the stunt in May last year had been silly, but insisted that he was simply "the unlucky one who got caught" trying out the "amazing" feature on the car.
As well as the 18-month driving ban he was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work. He was also put on a 10-day rehabilitation programme and will have to pay £1,800 in costs.
A police officer called the behavior "reckless," adding that autopilot controls like the ones on Teslas "are in no way a substitute for a competent motorist in the driving seat who can react appropriately to the road ahead."
As well as the 18-month driving ban he was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work. He was also put on a 10-day rehabilitation programme and will have to pay £1,800 in costs.
A police officer called the behavior "reckless," adding that autopilot controls like the ones on Teslas "are in no way a substitute for a competent motorist in the driving seat who can react appropriately to the road ahead."
In this modern age of hold your hand safety features, why exactly doesn't this thing have a seat weight sensor? Or are they just in the passenger seats and the designers simply assumed their would be a driver? Even lawn mowers have them.
Most of the readers of this site understand how well, that is, not well, such a feature works in reality when it comes to dealing with the infinite complexities of driving. The average person though, after hearing "auto-pilot" and drinking the Kool-Aid of the media repeating how great autonomous vehicles are going to be (Slashdot is not an exception to this) will not think twice about putting human lives completely in such a feature's digital hands.
Even so, I wonder when autopilot, or any such software will ever be "good enough". If this guy has stated, that statistically speaking, the car is safer than him, a claim Tesla themselves state, then why should this be a problem? Every time someone gets hurt in a Tesla crash, we call for them to ban this tech, but thousands and thousands of people die every day from driving people. Some of the best drivers still have a one-and-only fatal accident. When will it be enough for us to say "let's transition now, since it's safer, to not requiring the person"?
If this guy has stated, that statistically speaking, the car is safer than him, a claim Tesla themselves state, then why should this be a problem?
Because both are lying?
When you decide to drive you not only put yourself at risk but others too. If it was only a thing between Tesla and the driver we wouldn't care and they would be allowed to bullshit all they like and take whatever risks they want.
If they are going to try it on public roads we need a bit more than just their claims. It should at least pass an independent driving test.
Well, here's a thing. If the car is safer than him as a driver, and he's competent to drive, then both together is... wait for it .... SAFER THAN EITHER ALONE!
Engineers and most adults know this as "belt and braces". Both keep your pants up, but both together is more secure in the case one fails. But, hey, if you're ignorant, you're ignorant. The point is: have you learned better?
Oh, and for the incurable morons who complain that the term "autopilot" is wrong, we already have a meaning for this word and the car's driving system meets that standard, so, no, we're not changing the meaning of words just because you're a fucking moron. Cheers, the world.