Is Time Running Out For Level 2 Driver Assist?30 Sep 2021 18:49
In a recent article, I covered yet another study that showed us the Level 2 attention problem. I know many Tesla owners want to deny this, but in terms of attention and feeling tired, it’s more difficult to monitor a Level 2 system than to manually drive or use cruise control. I’ve experienced this, the IIHS has seen this in studies, and NASA has seen it in its latest study, among others. It’s also something experts predicted decades ago when dealing with automated systems.
On top of this attention problem, there’s the issue of calibrating trust. Responsible owners know that a Level 2 system can’t be left to its own devices, but there’s an issue where Level 2 systems can be “too good.” Obviously, we all want our Level 2 systems in our cars to be their best (which is why I put “too good” in quotes), but inexperienced users or those mislead by idiots (IOW, autonowashing) can see how good a system is and start to have too much faith in it. This leads to situations where increasingly better systems go through a “valley” of miscalibrated trust before they get good enough to deserve the trust.
Whatever the motivations are, the people pushing to heavily regulate Tesla’s (and possibly other manufacturers’) L2 systems do seem to be gaining headway. It’s well known that Biden has it out for Tesla because Tesla’s workforce isn’t unionized, and Democrats already tend to be a lot less hesitant to bring the regulation hammer down than Republicans.
On top of that, the automotive industry (and the unions for the Big 3 automakers) really, really doesn’t want to transition to electric too quickly. Large bureaucracies don’t change easily. Complex, outdated supply chains are even harder. Unions fear that jobs will be lost because the cars have far fewer moving parts. So, these entities do what every slow, inflexible corporate monster does: bring the regulators in. After all, they can afford the armies of blood-sucking lawyers and soulless bean counters it takes to deal with complex and contradictory regulation, while smaller competitors struggle under the weight.
https://cleantechnica.com/2021/09/30/is-time-running-out-for-level-2-driver-assist/
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