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1 man dies with Tesla Autopilot turned on and there'south talk of scaling back democratic driving. Google is said to have jumped straight to work on Level four cocky-driving, the highest level (where cars wouldn't even need a steering wheel), because drivers at lower levels of autonomous have shown their inability to stay attentive. Information technology's possible safe zealots and regulators seek to reign in self-driving cars. That's unnecessary.

Hither are 5 things automakers, regulators, car dealers, and drivers can do to make self-driving safer. Otherwise, we adventure losing the very real advantages of partial self-driving, such equally adaptive cruise command (ACC) and lane centering assistance (LCA) that tin can be soothing on big urban center highway commutes and brain amplifiers on long, tiring vacation trips.

one. Make the time-out x-xv seconds, not ii-3 minutes

Cars today with adaptive cruise command and lane centering assistance, possibly with blind spot detection and forward emergency braking, are finer self-driving on interstates, until they encounter a state of affairs they tin can't handle. They require the commuter to take his or her hands lightly on the cycle. Have them off, the car senses it, sounds a warning beep after x-15 seconds, and disables lane centering assist about 5 seconds later. Some automakers set the timeout to a minute or more, enough time to crawl in the back seat and make a YouTube video, or for the boilerplate driver to actually lose attention and possibly nod off.

If the timeout is fifteen seconds, that's enough. It'southward enough to plug in your smartphone, plough effectually, and grab a bag from the back seat (not that y'all should) or blazon a quick text (not that you should).

2. Brainwash owners on what self-drive cars can't do

"Tesla Autopilot" is a bang-up marketing phrase, but it promises more than that information technology delivers (for now), even if Tesla appends the word "beta." What's needed is non an owner lawsuit charging false promises, just a serious automaker / auto dealer training program for buyers, and their families, that explains all engineering features of their new cars: the cockpit controllers (BMW iDrive, Audi MMI, Mercedes-Benz Comand), the LCDs and navigation systems, and the alphabet soup that makes up assisted driving: ACC, AEB, BSD, and LDA/LKA/LCA.

Hither's the problem: Motorcar dealer sales forces have no clue, generally speaking, what they're selling when it comes to technology. If they understood engineering, they'd be employed somewhere else that didn't require working 60-60 minutes weeks to earn $l,000. Some automakers have created regional geek squads to educate the sales forces who educate the consumers; some dealers designate one or two smart guys to explain tech (until they get hired away elsewhere). Give the buyer a $50 accessories department gift carte du jour for sitting through the training (carrot, non stick). Back that up with online videos and embedded videos that play in the automobile (when it's stopped) for standing instruction. It'south a start.

General Motors

Blend camera and radar to runway cutting-in cars

When the driver in an side by side lane cuts into your lane, it takes adaptive prowl control most a second to lock in on the intruder and slow your automobile. This tin can exist a scary moment for commuter and passengers, and it'south hard to drive l miles on the highway without information technology happening.

The photographic camera in the windshield that handles lane go along assistance besides equally (some cars) auto loftier beams and forwards collision alert could rails cars ahead of y'all in next lanes. It could work with a centralized controller and ACC to get the car braking a couple fractions of a second earlier. This would raise a auto from Level one autonomous driving, meaning one or more driver assists working on their own, to Level 2, which calls for multiple driver assists — especially ACC and LCA — that work together. For the next couple years, that'south what drivers really want and volition detect useful for highway commuting (handling stop and go traffic while staying in lane) and the occasional all-day trips where information technology's hard to pay attention.

Add drowsy driver warnings

It's normal for your attention to wander if the car helps with driving. But until cars get to the side by side level, where y'all get plenty time to resume decision-making the car (say 10 seconds to a infinitesimal), you have to stay more than-or-less alert. Drowsy driver monitors can help. Originally conceived as a complex system with cameras and eye move tracking, sometimes too measuring breathing and heartbeat, automakers have found they tin can rails driver attention by tracking micro-adjustments people make when driving, equally long every bit their hands are on the cycle. The car also tracks events such as globe-trotting out of lane, which lane centering assist will catch.

With i engineering science or the other, the auto should be able to catch a commuter on the verge of globe-trotting off. And so the car sounds an alert and suggests a coffee pause. Researchers accept besides experimented with Allow'due south Play a Game, where the auto voice module asks the driver questions and listens for response via speech-to-text conversion. That can proceed the driver going for another hour or so. It'southward a possible antidote to inattention.

Inattentive drivers is 1 reason Google back in 2022 went straight to working on driver-free cars: Drivers don't remain vigilant and lack the "situational sensation" to rapidly return to total attention.

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Fix the infrastructure

In the 1990s plan, self-driving cars and trucks would follow embedded transponders in a limited access roadway. Now the car orients itself on any roadway based on visual recognition of nearby cars, traffic signs, and well-nigh of all, roadway markings. They all need to be kept in practiced condition, especially the lane markings. What's marginal on a clear day can't be read in the pelting at nighttime by the automobile'southward lane centering assist camera (or by almost drivers, for that thing). Some cars become speed limit cues from road signs, just only if they're readable. Potholes force drivers to swerve, and that endangers a self-driving auto nearby. Potholes too cost private drivers more in tire, wheel, and intermission damage than information technology costs the country to fix the potholes for everyone.

The money is there, in the grade of auto registration fees and state and federal gasoline taxes. Problem is, much of it has been siphoned off to other parts of authorities budgets, and at present needs to be recaptured.