Now that the Prius has so many sensors and radar and voice recognition GPS navigation system, parking and lane assists, I wonder how far out is the notion of the Prius incorporating all those technologies together and able to drive one home completely on autopilot without any "driver" intervention except for the initial "Go Home" command?
Howard Hefner had a real bad day with a Highway Median. That's all I see here. Now if it was Hugh Hefner, and a few Bunnies, I'd want pictures. But as it is. I conclude safety features generally are designed to make vehicles safer, and in general most people do not try to hit either blind pedestarians or highway medians, and one event happening, and the other not....means little to me.
The only people that need radar sensors on the side of their cars are the people that shouldn't be driving. Seriously, think about it. .... ..... I've been driving for a long time, and whenever I make a lane change, I look in my mirror and over my shoulder. As a result of using my eyeballs (which by the way, are HIGHLY evolved / advanced features that have allowed humans to survive for millions of years in the wild), I have NEVER run into anyone (and I have dodged hundreds(thousands?) of drivers that have come into my lane without bothering to look over their shoulder to see if there was another car next to them. Radar sensors only benefit the people that shouldn't be on the road in the first place. I have a feeling people are going to stop looking in their mirrors now and just depend on these sensors when making a lane change. Now, they will be able to talknon the cell phone, hold their Starbucks, and not even worry about looking in their mirrors or over their shoulders. True statistic: more people get killed in crosswalks than jaywalking in America. The reason? They don't look both ways - they just walk out. The same will happen with cars - just watch. And, it will probably be the same people. This is a disaster waiting to happen.
+1 Unless we have all cars fully automated, or special lanes reserved for automated vehicles, we'll still need to use our own senses to drive. Rolling out one more feature at a time really doesn't solve the problem. I would have a hard time believing lane assist would 100% reliable, and would only lead to more complacency in the driver. The only way to get 100% reliability (really, 99.999999% should be enough to stave off enough lawsuits for any company involved to stay solvent) is to build something into the road that the vehicles can sense, and they know that all the vehicles around them will also sense, along with accurate collision prediction for any large animals and pedestrians in the vicinity of the road. For any system less than that, you need an alert driver.
I look at it from two points of view. First this technology is young, 1st generation. It needs the power of the market to mature and numbers . . . lots of units on the road. This is the kind of reality training that allows the next generation to be better and the one behind it, better still. It is the 'lab' of 'reality testing' that teaches us what to do next. Second, it is like the old joke of the two boys who went lion hunting. They were out the first day but breakfast didn't agree with them and they both had to 'step behind the bushes.' Just as they got down, a lion jumped out and started chasing them. They were running as hard as they could trying to get their pants back up and one boy said to the other, "Why are we running so hard? Man can not outrun a lion." His friend replied, "I'm outrunning you." Those who have these vehicle aids are going to have a lower risk (especially their kids who borrow the car.) These devices are going to prevent or minimize accidents so some will be more likely to survive. This will show up in the NHTSA 'Insurance Cost' booklet and accident statistics. These in turn will give us insurance savings so again, we will get a higher return on our Prius investment. Now I don't mind if others prefer to live in a manual world or ignore even these first generation systems. We live in a free country and people have to make choices. I would prefer to choose automated, safety assistance systems no matter how primitive they are today knowing I'm paving the way for those that come behind us. Bob Wilson
Only if you ignore their potential victims. It is clearly safer to be near a multitasker with Lane Assist than a multitasker without it.
As the UA fiascos have shown, people fail. If there were a perfect method of keeping less than perfect drivers off the road then I'd agree - we wouldn't need any safety automation. But in reality if we can build a system that helps us avoid stupid and potentially costly mistakes - great! I didn't think the reverse camera on this little car would be all that necessary, but now I use it all the time. - D
