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Re:Tesla Autopilot by bjelkeman-again on Saturday June 17, 2017 @02:31AM (#14574593)
In my experience, having driven or been driven by the autopilot v1 hardware and software for thousands of kilometers, it is not ridiculous to use this safely. You configure how you use it once, you don't have to remember the state of every feature.

There are moments when you have to think about what state the car is in. But in opinion it is by far offset by how much less tiring it is to drive a long way.

Re:Tesla Autopilot by coredog64 on Saturday June 17, 2017 @10:00AM (#14575925)
"Mode confusion" is a major cause of CFIT accidents in aviation. And these are trained operators with partners and checklists.
Re:Tesla Autopilot by nitrogen on Saturday June 17, 2017 @02:40AM (#14574611)
Having driven a long distance in the vicinity of a Tesla that was presumably on autopilot, I found it very unsafe-seeming, darting around within its lane, sometimes drifting onto the lane line. You may not realize if you aren't paying attention, but your car might not drive as well as you expect.
Re:Tesla Autopilot by PeterStuer on Saturday June 17, 2017 @02:47AM (#14574631)
Having driven for years in the vicinity of human drivers, I'd say they do far worse than that. And that is before you add the DUI.
Re:Tesla Autopilot by abrichr on Saturday June 17, 2017 @03:18AM (#14574715)
> presumably on autopilot

I don't know, that sounds like lots of human drivers I've encountered!

Re:Tesla Autopilot by NicoJuicy on Saturday June 17, 2017 @03:50AM (#14574793)
Side sitted at a Tesla car, it's not.
Re:Tesla Autopilot by prostoalex on Saturday June 17, 2017 @02:48AM (#14574634)
Agree that lane weaving is annoying and frequently has no good explanation - there are no tight curves, the road markings are in perfect condition, there are no obstacles ahead and no one is changing lanes in front of the car.

I also wish that left-most and right-most lanes were special-cased, with a bit of preference towards left and right side respectively, instead of sticking to the center of the lane no matter what. Just seems safer overall, and with fairly large number of US roads not exceeding 2 lanes in one direction, seems like a pretty good rule of thumb.

Re:Tesla Autopilot by ljf on Saturday June 17, 2017 @03:02AM (#14574664)
In the USA are there not rules about which lanes you use? Various dash cam videos from the US seem to show drivers choosing any lane, though I could viewing then wrong.

In the UK you use the outside lane if you are a slower vehicle and use the inside lane(s) as overtaking lanes, with the inside for the fastest speeds (within the limit) . If you are using one of the inside lane and are travelling slower that traffic in the outside lane you can get stopped by the police and fined, and will certainly feel the ire of of other drivers.

Re:Tesla Autopilot by prostoalex on Saturday June 17, 2017 @03:38AM (#14574758)
The dash cam videos would be correct, outside of high-occupancy lane (2+ people) there are no lane speed restrictions, and if someone feels like getting into the left-most lane and driving 5 miles below the speed limit, they most certainly act on that impulse.

As you can imagine, anybody intending to use the left-most lane for high-speed driving is now forced to use the brakes, execute a [rarely safe] lane merge to the right, pass the slower vehicle on the right, and then aggressively execute a merge back to the left.

Roughly 100 people die in car accidents on a daily basis https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths... For further context, the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001 resulted in 3,000 deaths and has led to a brief but complete shutdown of air traffic, complete overhaul of homeland security, passage of PATRIOT Act, at least one major war and countless "military operations" that don't count as wars.

Re:Tesla Autopilot by factsaresacred on Saturday June 17, 2017 @04:20AM (#14574874)
I only recently discovered that in the US many people driving in the left lane will not move to the middle lane to allow cars approaching from behind overtake them.

That's incredibly selfish, not least because it's incredibly dangerous for the driver that has to weave into the middle lane and back again.

Seems bizarre. Then again, you Yanks also don't have kettles, so nothing surprises me ;)

Re:Tesla Autopilot by andybak on Saturday June 17, 2017 @10:54AM (#14576140)
> you Yanks also don't have kettles

Mind blown. What on earth do they boil water with?

Re:Tesla Autopilot by pault on Saturday June 17, 2017 @11:24AM (#14576259)
We typically don't drink beverages that require boiling water, aside from coffee which is brewed in machines. Everyone that I know that drinks tea or uses a french press has an electric kettle, though.
Re:Tesla Autopilot by slededit on Monday June 19, 2017 @07:14PM (#14591114)
> The dash cam videos would be correct, outside of high-occupancy lane (2+ people) there are no lane speed restrictions, and if someone feels like getting into the left-most lane and driving 5 miles below the speed limit, they most certainly act on that impulse.

Depending on state there are laws about using left lanes only for passing, which implies you must be travelling faster than the lane to your right. Those laws are rarely enforced though.

Re:Tesla Autopilot by Tentakill on Saturday June 17, 2017 @06:52PM (#14578083)
My driving instructor and parents all told me that driving in the left lane when not passing is illegal and that people who do it are dickheads. I see signs reminding people to stay in the right lane when not passing on a regular basis.

Is it just the state I live in (WA) or is the rule not as solid as I thought?

Re:Tesla Autopilot by prostoalex on Sunday June 18, 2017 @04:17PM (#14582670)
It seems like even in WA the "Slow Traffic Keep Right" is more of a suggestion than a hard rule. There's also subjective interpretation of the rule - someone driving 71 in a 70-mph speed limit zone might not qualify themselves as slow, while someone behind who's okay with going 80 mph might disagree.
Re:Tesla Autopilot by bjelkeman-again on Saturday June 17, 2017 @06:53AM (#14575261)
I have no experience with Autopilot v2, but v1 is better than I am at lane keeping on a motorway except for special circumstances, like when there are no lane markers.
Re:Tesla Autopilot by bjelkeman-again on Saturday June 17, 2017 @12:07PM (#14576436)
I supervise the car and pay attention. I am very aware of what the car is doing. It may be a big difference between v1 and v2 though.