Readers Respond (Part 2): Let Your Car Do The Steering?Readers Respond (Part 2): Let Your Car Do The Steering?

DN Staff

May 4, 2007

5 Min Read
Readers Respond (Part 2): Let Your Car Do The Steering?

MORE READER RESPONSES ON AUTONOMOUS STEERING

I rarely respond to editorials in the newspaper or magazines but I couldn't let this one go by without a comment.
Are you nuts???
Given the history of quality in the automobile industry and the difficulty of writing bug-free software, I'd rather take my chances with the "nut behind the wheel".  Yes, there are more and more distractions and there are more and more lousy drivers out there.  But the probability of something going wrong with a system that controls steering is much higher than zero; based on my experience with automobile design and new car quality, I would suggest the probability of something going wrong approaches one.
Over the years I've been exposed to enough automobile design errors and manufacturing defects that I have no confidence that something as complex and as critical as an automatic vehicular controller will work properly.  I've seen new cars with wheels about to fall off due to loose lug nuts, carburetors without any hold-down bolts and hood latches that were falling off. 
I had a 1996 vehicle that lost its brakes because the lines coming out of the ABS unit were hidden from view by a piece of cardboard.  I don't know what was the purpose of this carefully designed and painted cardboard, but it kept these lines from being inspected; yet, it allowed water and winter road salt to coat the lines causing corrosion.
I have a brand-new vehicle that has no dipstick!  To see the oil level, you must start the engine and wait up to 10 minutes, then use the mouse-like joystick and button to select the right function.  Unfortunately, the sensor failed in my car and I got a message on the dash to check the oil level.  When I did, it showed I was a quart down.  After adding a quart, it couldn't measure any level so I put in another quart.  Still no reading and no dipstick as a backup to check.  Since there was no flood of oil under the car, I decided that the problem was probably not really an oil-level problem at all and brought the car in for service.
Sure enough, it was a defective sensor and there was too much oil in the engine.  So the dealer drained all the oil and started over with a fresh batch.  While the car was there, I mentioned that the clock and trip computer has reset itself twice over a 3 month period but now seemed to be performing normally.  The dealer replaced a defective cable.
So you want me to trust my life to such systems?  Knowing how competitive the automobile industry is and how they try to save every penny, I don't trust the quality of the materials or the quality of the assembly.  That's not to mention that there are some lousy engineers out there (as in every profession) and the marketing people continuously distract engineers with their dumb requests so the engineer can't properly concentrate on what he's doing.  Whose smart idea was it to eliminate the dipstick, anyway?
You do say that you know that collision avoidance systems won't be foolproof, especially in the beginning.  How many accidents and deaths will it take to make them foolproof?  Will they ever be foolproof?  I don't think so!
Stuart Michaels
Commack, NY

I'm way past wanting my car to steer itself out of a collision. I'd like the car to do all of the driving so I can be working my e-mails, and surfing the net. I'd like to take notes while I'm on the phone.
I'd like to live in the country and sleep while my car does the commuting. I'd like to eat in peace, and read the paper, while my car inches through traffic. Maybe the car would even pick me up at the airport, park well away from the downtown area, run errands, and report to the recharge/maintenance station while I'm at work! Does it sound like I want a chauffeur, or to commute in my own Pullman car? Yes it does.
Frankly, responsible and attentive driving is a mundane activity better left to the supposed professional, or to a machine. We have learned to let machines make the cars, direct the traffic, and route phone calls through the switchboards. The time is coming that machines will have better judgment than human drivers. Add to this their faster judgment, and unwavering attention to business.
My vision of personal transportation is well past a car that steers itself to avoid a collision. Though it may arrive after my time, I'm looking forward to the reshaping of America that I believe is the ultimate destination of "smart highways", crash avoidance systems, adaptive cruise control, and a host of features that are being developed under the umbrella of “driver's assistance.”
Thanks for opening the discussion,
Robert Murray
Bloomfield, Michigan

I think it is a great concept and will certainly save lives.
Even more so if it is enhanced with vehicle networking so that cars can
communicate with each other and the roadway. That way cars could "sense" other vehicles and stop signs/lights in the area and make the appropriate adjustments to the vehicle's steering and speed should the driver be asleep at the wheel, digging under the seat for their iPod, engrossed in a movie or driving beyond their limitations.
Sean Brady
Jackson, NJ.

Enjoyed your article on the self steering car and how some folks abhor the idea of not being in hands on "control".
What your article did not list is aircraft! Commercial airliners and more sophisticated planes are on automatic pilot most of the time. On a commercial passenger plane, shortly after takeoff the pilot in command puts the plane on "auto" for literally the rest of the flight. In fact, some of the newer planes can be landed automatically, hands off for the pilot. 
Reminds me of the "tongue in cheek" story of the automatic airliner that had a pilot in command and a German Shepherd Dog as a co-pilot in the cockpit. The dog's job was to bite the pilot if he tried to touch any of the controls! 
Bob Charvat
Cleveland, OH

Let my car do the steering? Absolutely.  I look forward to it.
Keith Huss
Southborough, MA

I would be glad to have collision avoidance steering and braking.  How many makeup/cellphone/shaving/eating/radio accidents could be prevented just by radar/ultrasound/infrared forward looking detectors tied to braking?
Kevin Crystal
Chanhassen, MN

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