The moment I heard about self-driving cars I thought of an issue, but I haven't heard anyone talk about it until recently. The issue is that a car self-drives in good conditions and then hands over control when there is a problem or a situation that the car can't handle. The handover is problematic. First, the driver's attention is questionable at that point. Second, how much time does the driver have to go from monitoring mode to crisis control mode? Even if the driver is vigilant, can the driver make an evasive move in two seconds? Will the driver know how much room there is on either side or behind the car? Third, how good is the self-driving AI at knowing when it's working or not? How much warning will a driver have to take over? If you get a warning beep 2 seconds before an accident would happen, but it would take you 3 seconds to take control and avoid the accident, that's a fail. Moreover, if the self-drive thinks it's right but the human driver is overriding, it's essentially fighting the self-drive.
The Vigilance Problem
The Vigilance Problem
The Vigilance Problem
The moment I heard about self-driving cars I thought of an issue, but I haven't heard anyone talk about it until recently. The issue is that a car self-drives in good conditions and then hands over control when there is a problem or a situation that the car can't handle. The handover is problematic. First, the driver's attention is questionable at that point. Second, how much time does the driver have to go from monitoring mode to crisis control mode? Even if the driver is vigilant, can the driver make an evasive move in two seconds? Will the driver know how much room there is on either side or behind the car? Third, how good is the self-driving AI at knowing when it's working or not? How much warning will a driver have to take over? If you get a warning beep 2 seconds before an accident would happen, but it would take you 3 seconds to take control and avoid the accident, that's a fail. Moreover, if the self-drive thinks it's right but the human driver is overriding, it's essentially fighting the self-drive.