[TK - 421]

Originally Posted by ifr

Like all autonomy, it's created by humans to remove monotony and improve safety for repetitive tasks.

Driving in the UK during rush hour traffic is nobody's idea of fun. You want to caress your wheel for hours in stop start traffic, fill your boots. I'd rather let the car do the heavy lifting and I'll take over when I can enjoy the open road.

I think BMW are still maintaining a balance between a drivers car while evolving personal transport with the rest of the world. The days of manual stick shifting and wind-up windows are over

You can't jump on a bus, train or plane to nip to the shops, or visit a mate when the need takes. It's about freedom of choice. At my time in life I couldn't care less about my steering wheel. I just want to get from A to B in comfort and safety with my family.

Sounds like you need a chauffeur mate

[ifr]

Originally Posted by TK - 421

Sounds like you need a chauffeur mate

I hope you're not volunteering Not sure I'd trust you and your steering wheel

[TK - 421]

I know who I’d rather have in charge of the wheel with my family on board and it ain’t no computer or tweaked/enabled driver aided 2 ton chunk of metal that’s for sure. The amount of times I’ve had to yank the car back when passing hatched road markings, or other obscure road markings etc.. it’s unreal, and unsafe.

Each to his own. I’m all for progression, I’m a tech, but the human brain (for some) is still a pretty powerful piece of kit, I’d trust it over any computer algorithm, any day of the week.

Stop start Traffic isn’t fun I agree, the issue is the congestion, the solution isn’t autonomous driving. Whole other argument.

I do use the driver aids on my cars, they add that extra layer of safety for sure, but when you talk about hours of driving without the need to touch the wheel/pedals, only the stalk to change lanes this does slightly worry me. I’ve already started to change my driving habits due to these driver aids, which isn’t a good thing. This simply wouldn’t of happened if I didn’t have these driver aids in the first place.

The fact remains that the human should always be in charge. Humans get distracted very easily, especially when you’re lulled into a false sense of safety due to enabled driver aids algorithmically guessing the road ahead.

A lot of this automation has become a pissing contest by the manufacturers, they are adding this because 1, they can, 2, more margin, profit, USP. & 3 because everybody else is doing it.

Would you jump on a pilotless plane?

No right or wrong, just my opinion.

Picture below of Tesla auto parking feature, it’s well within the lines

[ifr]

Originally Posted by TK - 421

The fact remains that the human should always be in charge. Humans get distracted very easily, especially when you’re lulled into a false sense of safety due to enabled driver aids algorithmically guessing the road ahead.

The fact is most humans do get distracted while driving. A few days, months, years without an accident or incident, and the fear subsides. We become bullet proof, until we are not. Hundreds of thousands of accidents in the UK each year are testament to that.

Autonomous driving systems are binary. They work as they are programmed. If the devs don't cater for a specific scenario, such as a stationary white backed truck, then the system won't deal with them as well as a human. The key is understanding of the system limitations.

I wouldn't have trusted my 03/19 G05 to get me around the M60 without trying to become part of the central reservation, but it's improved significantly to the point where it deals with almost everything I can deal with.

As a human I can see issues developing hundreds of metres advanced of the car and react to slow the vehicle. It doesn't have the ability to 'see' around the vehicle in front by moving the camera dynamically. Conversely, when stationary, it uses radar to 'see' under the truck in-front and figure out if the cars are moving, resume from stop/start and get ready to drive.

What does really worry me is as you stated - it works so well on motorways now that no matter how focused the driver is, there is complacency. There's always that new scenario that the developers didn't address yet, and the driver hasn't experienced, just waiting to hit you when you least expect it. That's why the legislation for hands off driving hasn't been approved in the EU/UK, yet!

What I will say is I feel the BMW semi-auto driving systems are working for me and not against me. Takes so much stress out of the transport business

[TK - 421]

This is the problem, I’m sure like me, you’re a competent driver. It also sounds like we come from a similar generation, so we fully understand what cars are all about, and how they work. The issue is for those that don’t and are born into a world of automation, where the norm is so far detached from the reality. Take what’s currently going on globally, the same applies, fk knows what normally is currently.
I genuinely have a love hate relationship with driving, which only happened say in the last 10 years of driving. Before that I loved driving anytime anywhere. Roads are busy, potholed, traffic cameras, speed cameras and awful drivers, it isn’t fun. The reason the fun has gone is because driving has become more stressful, allowing our vehicles to stop start and drive autonomously hasn’t changed that, a traffic jam still causes the same amount of delay, autonomously driven or otherwise. A solution it isn’t.
Remember what the roads were like on lockdown? Like being back in the 70’s. Driving became fun again. I never touched the driver assist button once

[ifr]

Originally Posted by TK - 421

Remember what the roads were like on lockdown? Like being back in the 70’s. Driving became fun again. I never touched the driver assist button once

Indeed, it was like a scene from I am Legend. It so inspired Mr Raab he committed to 2 billion in cycling lane improvements. Then lockdown ended and we are back to square one.

I do think the semi-autonomous driving really helps in monotonous traffic. It's 99.99999% safe at low speeds on highways. As long as the driver camera ensures you are keeping focused I don't see any reason why we can't have hands free driving. It's still annoying, and like you say, its addressing the symptoms not the cause.

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by thereef510

what Tesla's 'mission statement' is. I don't think even they know what it is, Elon certainly doesn't

charging your car from a coal burning power generator isnt either.

Well, Tesla's mission, at least according to their website, is "to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy" and there's also Elon's secret plan.

As for BEVs connecting to a fossil fuel grid (e.g., coal), the strategy (at least for China and Europe) is that the pivot to renewables only has to happen at power plants once transportation infrastructure is electric - thus the rest of the oil infrastructure can be pulled down with minimal impact. That is, once everyone is driving BEVs, a country is free to pick the best energy sources as it only requires infrastructure changes in a few places. The other benefit of BEVs is a microgrid: consumers can produce their own power & fuel. This means better national security and lesser impact during storms and other natural disasters.

And, for example, Tesla's commercial energy business is replacing gas-fired peaker plants for 10% of the cost (e.g., Australia and California). So I'd say renewables are definitely taking over the grid.

Further, Warren Buffett, not known for his speculative investing, is building one of the world's largest solar power plants and the largest in the US with Berkshire Hathaway Energy who's "committed to clean energy".

[nosnoop]

Originally Posted by Pumxee

I've owned the model 3 prior to the x6. I can tell you that Tesla's autopilot is much much more capable, accurate and safe than BMW's version.

Sorry, but I would not trust a system (Tesla) which is so heavily camera and software based. I truly believe LIDAR is a basic safety requirement for full autonomous driving.

Camera and software system would work well in common scenarios. But if you encounter some unusual situation, something that the programmers have not thought of, the system would fail.

[Deja011]

Originally Posted by ifr

I'm on 07/2020.25

If you try and do a remote software upgrade from idrive settings it'll tell you the istep version,

Some of the features I listed are coded but the lane positioning isn't and that's what has improved over time/istep version. The slowing for bends is relatively recent behaviour. Can't be sure if it's using nav data or KAFAS camera to identify chevron signs on tight bends, or maybe both.

I've also coded mostprobablepathbending which is a MY 21 feature

Hi ifr,

What does mostprobablepathbending improves? Does it improves bends when using acc?