Tailgater bait?

That mistake started about 50 years ago.......when the Government decided to stop subsidizing train and air service to small communities.
Tactical mistakes like that are really HARD to un-do, almost to the point of being impossible.

 

I can see the value in PCS -- and ABS, which I first experienced in the early 1980s, in a rental car in Germany, on the Autobahn in a flash snowstorm, that quite literally saved me from having to write a check for a new Mercedes 230 Wagon.

It's the rest of the creeping autopilot that -- the way it is implemented, used and abused -- produces outcomes that are no better than a priori, just composed of different unintended consequences.

 

I distinctly remember people deriding ABS as a pathetic crutch - maybe because I bought the first "Toyota" model that had it as standard equipment shortly after it was introduced in the U.S. - a 1990 Lexus LS400 which people made a lot of fun of calling it an expensive Corolla. I got the last laugh on that one. We bought a new Camry as soon as ABS became available although it was an expensive and rare option for the 1998 model year.

In 20 years people will be wondering how they ever lived without autonomous vehicles. My father quit driving last summer shortly after his 95th birthday due to physical issues. Living in a small town without public transportation, my now 96 year old father and 93 year old mother are stuck at home unless friends or relatives drive them. An autonomous vehicle would change their lives. If I live as long as they have, I'm confident that I won't be in their situation. I'll probably be saying something like: "Vehicle, take me to the nearest grocery store."

 

Sure... ...so long as they limit it to tasks that don't involve other moving vehicles.

Once you put an unpredictable human being behind the wheels of the other vehicle, that's when the AI starts having problems. This is why it works with aircraft, but doesn't work with cars. Human air controllers take care of the "other vehicle" problem so the auto-pilot doesn't have to contend with it, except in rare cases of emergency.

Right now, all we lowly flatlanders have, is this:

Driverless Tesla Model 3 Pulled Over By Police For Failure To Stop


Picture what this would be like in a busy parking lot... ...You would have one autonomous vehicle pissing-off a whole bunch of Walmart shoppers.

 

Exactly.

Above 18,000 feet (up to 60,000 feet), there is essentially 100% compliance. Below 18,000 feet to the Surface in Terminal Areas (near the largest controlled airports), there is essentially 100% compliance.

That’s why flight and traffic management systems work, at contrast to what we would see on public roadways.

 

The incident in the video showing the use of the Tesla beta Smart Summon feature, which seems to be longer available for viewing, was staged: That Video Of A Cop Pulling Over A Tesla In Smart Summon Mode Is Totally Staged UPDATED

I have to wonder about whether the Pembroke Pines Florida police department approves of it's officers being actors in staged videos.

 

Well, Tesla is not intended to be a means of transportation like Camrys or Colorado work trucks; it's an automotive experience. Which of course blurs the lines between imagination, optical illusions and outright fakery

 

I figured you would appreciate that.

Many of today's new technology advocates don't. They tend to believe that computers can solve all the world's problems and tend to lose sight of the realities that often limit design. All to often, these start-ups wind up marketing sensationalism devoid of a viable product. Colonizing/terraforming Mars is a good example of this. Autonomous vehicles less so, but the product still over-reaches a bit. Yes, it sure would be cool if it could be done, but just because the product is highly sought after doesn't make it a done deal.

 

Maybe, to ease the transition, we could try to emulate autonomous vehicles a bit. Do stuff like:

1. Come to full stops when turning right at red lights.
2. Stay under speed limits, well under, in adverse conditions.
3. Come to full stops at stop signs, behind the white line.
4. Maintain safe following distance.
5. Be gracious.
6. Signal. Always.

 

Are you kidding? At some point the remaining human-operated vehicles will have a “coach” app on the smartphone telling the driver exactly what to do, and forwarding warnings to other cars if when the human makes a mistake.

 

You obviously didn't watch the whole video "Driverless Tesla Model 3 Pulled Over By Police For Failure To Stop"

 

And you obviously didn't see my post about the video being staged with an actual police officer being a member of the cast.

 

OK, now THAT is new technology that I could warm up to.

But wait.......the din of overlapping messages might be deafening.

 

Oh, I expect it to be an airplane-style b######g betty multiplied by Manhattanite backseat driver interspersed with Safe Advertising™ sponsored messages and realtime color commentary by Statler & Waldorf.

 

As the barely-monitoring passenger in the left seat works the Non-Normal Checklist that populates the 17" Multi-Function Display from the stored Quick Reference Handbook.

What's it doing now?
Why is it doing that again?
Turn that sh*t off!

My steering wheel!

 

The ABS discussion reminds me of my first experience with ABS brakes. I don't remember what year but it was a Mazda 626. It was one of the early models using anti-lock brakes. We live on quite a steep hill and we had a snowstorm with maybe 4-5" of snow. The road was clean beforehand. I drove the car downhill out of the driveway and around the block and stopped at the stop sign on our corner lot. I knew that I could easily creep down the hill and before turning in the driveway lock the brakes to build a wedge of snow under the tires, stop, then turn in.
Was I surprised when the car made grinding sounds while each wheel braked quickly and released. The car never stopped at all and by then I was moving too fast to attempt turning into the driveway. This continued all the way to the bottom of the hill! Wth? I couldn't believe it. I think they have improved ABS considerably since those days!