The idiots you encounter are not all the same people all the time. And sometimes, you're someone else's idiot. You might not even notice when that happens.
All it takes is a moment of confusion, or distraction, or frustration. Or a chemical impairment. Or having a stroke. Or drowsiness.
Braking assistants are good, a self-drive function that has the goal of safely removing the vehicle from traffic--for operators that can suddenly no longer function at speed--would be better. Hitting a panic button and waking up on the shoulder with the hazard lights on is preferable to getting intimate with a pole or guardrail while the cruise control is set to 70 mph.
Our informational machine assistants would also be better with access to vehicle state and sensor data. Your navigation assistant could then tell you, if you are approaching an intersection with your left turn signal on, that left turns are not allowed, before you get there and possibly make a bad snap decision. The nav app on your phone doesn't know that you are signaling left. The GPS signal isn't quite reliable enough to pinpoint which lane you're in. It only knows the positions of vehicles whose operators are currently using the same app.
Obviating snap decisions by drivers should be a goal, because less thinking time means more mistakes. Mobile nav apps have gotten better at this, saying which lane you should be in, and whether destinations are on the left or the right, but they could still do better for in-vehicle improvisation, when the destination changes while enroute, or temporary detours are needed.
All it takes is a moment of confusion, or distraction, or frustration. Or a chemical impairment. Or having a stroke. Or drowsiness.
Braking assistants are good, a self-drive function that has the goal of safely removing the vehicle from traffic--for operators that can suddenly no longer function at speed--would be better. Hitting a panic button and waking up on the shoulder with the hazard lights on is preferable to getting intimate with a pole or guardrail while the cruise control is set to 70 mph.
Our informational machine assistants would also be better with access to vehicle state and sensor data. Your navigation assistant could then tell you, if you are approaching an intersection with your left turn signal on, that left turns are not allowed, before you get there and possibly make a bad snap decision. The nav app on your phone doesn't know that you are signaling left. The GPS signal isn't quite reliable enough to pinpoint which lane you're in. It only knows the positions of vehicles whose operators are currently using the same app.
Obviating snap decisions by drivers should be a goal, because less thinking time means more mistakes. Mobile nav apps have gotten better at this, saying which lane you should be in, and whether destinations are on the left or the right, but they could still do better for in-vehicle improvisation, when the destination changes while enroute, or temporary detours are needed.