Reimer calls for DMS and encourages Tesla for install DMS5 Jan 2020 14:10
Happy NY to all and fingers crossed for a decent 2020. Great DMS article today in Forbes by Reimer from MIT (USA)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanreimer/2020/01/05/should-tesla-take-the-initiative-to-better-monitor-and-manage-driver-behavior-with-autopilot/#4541370c495e
excerpt from the last part of the article
Given this new reality, Senator Marky’s letter to Mr. Musk questioning if Tesla is tracking or monitoring online videos to learn about inappropriate use of the Autopilot, is right on track. Something else to consider is that Tesla Model 3s are equipped with a cabin camera. Might Tesla use this sensor, and a fraction of their technological image processing prowess, to better gauge the state of drivers? Even a rudimentary driver monitoring system might be able to detect an outright inattentive driver asleep at the wheel or head down for seconds on end.
Manufacturers such as GM and BMW have introduced camera-based driver monitoring and management systems with the launch of their collaborative driving systems (i.e., SAE L2). One has to suspect other manufacturers will follow this seemingly reasonable route to market, bridging the time till automated systems that do not depend on attentive human back-up are truly available.
Just as outliers may be responsible for the majority of risky behavior associated with Autopilot, might Tesla be passively accepting undue risk compared to the rest of the market? Growing evidence suggests that Autopilot is placing drivers, and perhaps the automotive industry, in a precarious position. The aviation industry has long known that one airline’s accident impacts trust in all airlines.
With a call to reinvent driving through the greater use of automation, is it time for the automotive industry to collaborate to increase the likelihood that the introduction and refinement of these technological approaches to making driving safer in the years ahead will have the greatest potential to succeed?
Following efforts in Europe, and using a framework similar to the NHTSA-IIHS collaborative industry agreement on AEB, could manufacturers and the government come together to take another step forward in safety by collaboratively agreeing to install camera-based driver monitoring systems to work alongside collaborative driving features?
Some might argue that a detailed, performance-based standard for systems is needed. However, starting with a fairly broad and open concept may be a more realistic starting point, and a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) could be more easily justified as experience is gained and the cost / benefit justification of a standard emerges. Working together to develop guardrails around the deployment and testing of automation on public roads might be the most important step to accelerate the adoption of potentially lifesaving automated vehicle technologies.
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