Photo: Tesla
Do you know which critical feature in a car is the most overlooked by drivers in traffic? Well, it's the turn signal. But Tesla Motors has plans to make overpassing an automated action, and the entire process could revolve around the turn signal.
Autonomous driving is no longer a concept coming from Jules Verne's books. It's a reality now, but the technology still needs time to develop a safe and reliable self-driving system. See Google's autonomous car or Mercedes-Benz's F 015 Luxury in Motion prototype, two vehicles that have just started to test the waters in this new field.
Tesla, however, has way more ambitious plans than that. According to the Wall Street Journal, Elon Musk's brand will soon make available a series of features for its Model S all-electric sedans and guess what? The possibility of overpassing a car without the driver's intervention is on the table.
Simply put, the driver has the option of activating the automatic overpassing sequence by flicking the turn signal. In Tesla's vision, the system would work because 1. it 'instructs' the car to pass and 2. supposedly, the driver evaluated the situation and decided the maneuver is safe.
Sounds good on paper, but current regulations are not yet prepared for such a system. More and more driverless features in a car make it unclear for authorities and insurance entities to establish who is liable in case things go wrong. Therefore, we might have to wait for a while until the legal aspect is sorted out.
At this moment, carmakers are entering a twilight zone where some driving tasks are performed by humans, and other are left to the machine. The question here is: when and how will manufacturers manage to shift all the driving responsibility to computers? Moreover, are we ready for it?
Tesla, however, has way more ambitious plans than that. According to the Wall Street Journal, Elon Musk's brand will soon make available a series of features for its Model S all-electric sedans and guess what? The possibility of overpassing a car without the driver's intervention is on the table.
Simply put, the driver has the option of activating the automatic overpassing sequence by flicking the turn signal. In Tesla's vision, the system would work because 1. it 'instructs' the car to pass and 2. supposedly, the driver evaluated the situation and decided the maneuver is safe.
Sounds good on paper, but current regulations are not yet prepared for such a system. More and more driverless features in a car make it unclear for authorities and insurance entities to establish who is liable in case things go wrong. Therefore, we might have to wait for a while until the legal aspect is sorted out.
At this moment, carmakers are entering a twilight zone where some driving tasks are performed by humans, and other are left to the machine. The question here is: when and how will manufacturers manage to shift all the driving responsibility to computers? Moreover, are we ready for it?
Google News