“The turquoise color for Level 3 driving was chosen by SAE, so other brands beyond just Mercedes will use it for their own cars.”I'm genuinely curious - what are you thinking when you say this?
I don't know what I'd do with that information. It shouldn't make me drive differently - e.g. not be aggressive to see if I can invoke reaction(s) in the autonomous system, and I should already be driving w/ due care.
I.E. If you're watching a TV show on the center screen it could be illegal if you don't have the system (not like that stops anyone today anyways -_-).
Like the article hints at, a true self driving car lets the driver behave in ways that would normally be reckless and illegal. Best to avoid ambiguity.
> if you see the teal lights, you know the car is using automated driving, so it’s less likely for other motorists to be shocked and concerned when they see the occupants looking away from the road, plus emergency services have a better understanding of what to do if medical assistance is needed. It will also be super helpful for law enforcement, so cops hopefully won’t pull you over for watching TikToks on your infotainment screen when it’s perfectly allowed by law.
I can’t clearly articulate what it was I was seeing, but doing it two or three times a day, I got very good at it.
As a pedestrian, I always try to make eye contact with drivers before crossing in front of them. It would be nice to know that the car is doing the driving.
Being able to distinguish between a mercedes driven by a mercedes driver and one driven by a mercedes automation is going to help predict behavior of the car. Of course, one needs to be ready for anything, but when I can predict behavior of other cars, it increases my planning window.
It's quite the opposite... if there's a tiny gap between two cars in the other lane, you usually don't squeeze in between them, becaus the rear driver in that lane could be distracted and wont brake and let you in in time, or might intentionally not widen the gap, to net let you squeeze inbetween. With automated cars, you can slowly swerve into the too-narrow gap, and the safety mechanisms on the self-driving car will automatically make room for you :) There are many dangerous maneuvers that agressive drivers can't do now, because there will be a crash if the other drivers don't notice them and brake in time, and the self-driving cars will always notice and make room for the either bad or intentionally agressive driver.
As for the colour, clearly Mercedes requested Turquoise for brand reasons. I wonder if there is a better colour to be adopted as a standard? External indicator lights of any kind seem like something that needs to be standardised before we end up with a whole mess of different colours on the roads causing confusion.