For the first case, pass a law saying that if you're in the car, it is your responsibility. If the car is not occupied then the manufacturer is liable.GRA said:johnlocke said:While I agree that ACC when combined with lane keeping isn't a good idea, that wasn't what i was suggesting. Just ACC or even just anti-collision braking. While avoiding a stopped vehicle after the car in front swerves out of the way is a problem, at least ACC would reduce the impact if not avoiding it entirely. I suspect that ACC would have better reaction times than a human driver. A far more likely scenario is stop and go freeway driving where ACC is a real boon and even anti-collision braking would help.
While DAS equipped cars have hit stationary objects, it's also true for ordinary drivers. Whenever a Tesla hits something it seems to be a big deal. Police, firemen, and ambulance drivers regularly get sideswiped by ordinary drivers who ought to watching out for them but don't. While it has been said that Good is the enemy of Perfection, it's also true that good is better than nothing.
Yes, humans have hit stopped vehicles, the issue is two-fold. When a human hits a stopped vehicle, there's no question where the responsibility lies absent mechanical failure, but throw in automated systems that suggest but don't ensure that the human remains in control and the responsibility is muddied. Tesla, for one exploits this with a 'heads we win' ("AP prevented a collision"), 'tails you lose' ("if the car collides with something while on A/P, it's solely the driver's fault") attitude.
The other issue is does ACC/AEB actually reduce the number of collisions of this particular type? I' not aware of any statistics either way. More important to me is that we establish responsibility on both sides, which is why I'm against the use of any DAS system until such time as the manufacturer is willing to accept full legal responsibility for any accident caused while the car is driving itself.
I'm not sure how you would go about proving AEB is actually safer without a lot more cars equipped with the feature, Hard to prove a negative result (no accident) without reams of data. The IIHS estimates that if all manufacturers installed AEB, it could prevent 42,000 crashes and 20,000 injuries by 2025 so they must have some data to back that up. 12 major auto manufacturers are now equipping their cars with AEB or ACC so someone thinks it works.
It is clear that some Teslas have prevented an accident with AEB. You can see the U-tube videos. It's also clear that Tesla's system isn't perfect. If you are worried about assigning responsibility, pass a law to make one party or the other responsible as you see fit. Nothing improves without some trial and error. Some prodding along the way doesn't hurt either. I bet that if you made owners 100% responsible under all conditions, you could hear them screaming at the manufacturers quite clearly.