[pd1108]

I read an article in Guardian that due to a technical issue with the App, hundreds of Tesla users were locked out of their cars!. This led me to thinking - to what extent should we give up control over our cars?. Here is the link to the news item:
https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...usk-apologises

Here is a list of things we have/are giving up:
1. Automatic gear shift - or control over which gear to use
2. Cruise Control - or control over speed
3. ADAS system - or control over driving
4. App-based utilities - or managing the car remotely
The list goes on. and this is what is already where we have seconded the control over to technology

So my question to my friends is when should we say - This much and no more!!

[TorqueMonster]

I don't think that there should be a total limit to technology, just ensuring that technology becomes advanced and more usable in nature.

For automatic cars, they have essentially made driving easier for everyone. Gone are the days of primitive 3 - 4 gear automatics (Except Maruti who are still stuck on 4), now we have fuel-efficient, and even fun to drive automatic gearboxes, all of these are a total boon on the city and for daily use. Automatics have allowed thousands of people to learn how to drive, made people use cars when they would have not bought it otherwise. It has provided relief to all those who want to drive cars, but do not like the constant shifting of gears, the ease which AT's provide is excellent.

Same with Cruise Control. Even though it is not useful in most Indian highways, it is useful to just munch highway miles when it can be applied.

As for ADAS, why would humans actually oppose technology that would make their travel safer? ADAS will make driving safer for humans. Even if technology is taking over driving, it is for a good cause of safe driving.

App-Based systems are in their infancy and Manufacturers putting them in cars is disadvantageous, as customers are stuck with Pre - Mature Technology. But, in the future, as the world continues to be in control of our phones, it will be very useful in the future.

I do agree that Tesla's app-based system is not the best, and certainly an inconvenience. But generally, the automotive sphere has only benefitted with the growth of technology, and for me, any limits placed on technology is akin to purposefully ignoring what the future could be.

I just hope that companies spend more time actually perfecting their technology, instead of throwing half baked tech on the consumers, to prevent incidents as the Tesla incident mentioned here

[aargee]

Here's the list of things that we've given up:
1.

2.

3.

Due to hillhold assist features, we could soon miss the hand brakes as well

Point is, as evolution progresses, humans adapt towards greater benefit of mankind; the only limit is our imagination & as long as there're dreams, there's progress, there's evolution, there's no limitation to technology

[highwaypatrol]

There shouldn't be any limit on technology, but should have a control over the quality of technology used in an automobile. Moreover, driving is all about life and death...

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[landcruiser123]

With capitalism, there is always going to be more 'new and exciting.'

I have no problem with technology, but I certainly have a gripe with technology that is poorly implemented or isn't fully tested.

Originally Posted by aargee

Due to hillhold assist features, we could soon miss the hand brakes as well

Never! Hand-brakes are also called emergency brakes. They are a fail-safe system if your main brakes fail.

Also, in the unfortunate event of a driver being incapacitated (due to a heart attack or some other medical condition,) passengers can use the handbrake to slow down the vehicle.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by pd1108

I read an article in Guardian that due to a technical issue with the App, hundreds of Tesla users were locked out of their cars!. This led me to thinking - to what extent should we give up control over our cars?. Here is the link to the news item:
https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...usk-apologises

Here is a list of things we have/are giving up:
1. Automatic gear shift - or control over which gear to use
2. Cruise Control - or control over speed
3. ADAS system - or control over driving
4. App-based utilities - or managing the car remotely
The list goes on. and this is what is already where we have seconded the control over to technology

So my question to my friends is when should we say - This much and no more!!

A crucial one -

Rear view camera - or craning the neck over your shoulder to see if its safe to reverse.

Any tech which makes driving a car safer should be welcome. All these assistive tech were a fantasy just a decade back and now you have mass market cars with 360 cameras.

Tech is going to be an indistinguishable part of our lives and it’s not just with cars. Take a look around you and try to find products which don’t have some sort of tech built into them. It’s natural progression, and I don’t think you can really stop it. Forget tech features, the day is not too far for complete autonomous cars!

[railfanwithk750]

No amount of technology would hurt, as long as there is a human 'override'. An AI-based algorthm or a cloud based app should not have 100% control over any aspect of our life, be it our cars or our TV or phone.

If technology is here for 'assistance', I should have full control on whether to seek full assistance, partial assistance or to entirely turn it off without impacting any other functionality of the gadget or device.

[arpanjha]

Technology should certainly not be limited, but controlled & governed. Technology as rightly pointed out by many has brought enormous advancements to the way we travel now compared to even 10-15 years back. While getting locked out of a car and scarier thing like cruise control not able to unlock itself is absolutely disastrous, I feel such technologies if cultured better will polish and make such things much safer.
For example, aircraft’s these days are so technically advanced compared to 30 years ago, but still a 737 max happens, but because it happened, now aircraft’s have become even safer. Same way, if we use these early days incidents better and open up more, we will see better technology coming through. But yes, they must be governed and monitored strictly at their nascent phase.

[windrider]

I'm all for progress in technology, but auto manufacturers need to stop this nonsense of adding bigger and bigger screens on our dashboard. I find them to be a huge distraction. Some of these displays are now bigger than tablets and those in Teslas are bigger than laptops A physical button or knob is way more easier to find and control while driving than taking your eyes off the road and scrolling through a menu to increase volume or change AC settings. Systems like radar guided cruise control are great but unfortunately give us a false sense of security that we can look away from the road for a few seconds and nothing can happen, but no technology is a 100% reliable. Being a EE engineer, I can assure you all electronics eventually fail, and god forbid it doesn't happen while driving on a busy highway. Coming back to those huge displays, does anyone have any idea how long those screens will last in indian conditions? The temperature inside parked cars can go over 60 degrees and that cant be good for screens if it happens on a regular basis. Vibrations from the horrible roads like those in my home state Kerala wont do much good either

[playingpossum]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

Never! Hand-brakes are also called emergency brakes. They are a fail-safe system if your main brakes fail.

Also, in the unfortunate event of a driver being incapacitated (due to a heart attack or some other medical condition,) passengers can use the handbrake to slow down the vehicle.

Do modern e-brakes, i.e electronic ones without the lever - work as well for emergency stops? Do they gently ease the rear brakes on? or does the electronics prevent you from using it when the vehicle in moving fast?

I want a handbrake lever on all cars, but more and more new cars have a button instead. I am not sure if they would work, if the electronics fail.

[ampere]

In my opinion there are three aspects to this:

1. As long as technology remains a good servant and does not become the master we are good. And we need to let it stay that way
   
2. The reliability of technology is the biggest threat to its adoption. Dependence and reliability are two sides of the same coin.
   
3. Last but not least is the rate of its adoption. In confluence with the previous its also inevitable that some sections will move to the newer technology earlier to others. So as long these technology is made for self consumption there is no problem. But the moment one also has to depend on others for the success of a technology its a larger problem pertaining to community (ADAS is a good example of that).

[Rajeevraj]

There should never be a limit to technology. The rapid evolution in automobiles over the last 20-30 is due to the continuously evolving technology and there is no point where we can say-'lets stop now we have enough technology'. It will continue to evolve whether it is mechanical, comfort, features, automation improvements.

[aneesh2M]

Technology should not be limited. Any new advancement which leads to betterment of user experience should be introduced in the vehicle. But on the other side there should be some common man’s thought given behind the incorporation of the technology.

For example, the functions of the car controlled by the infotainment screen should have a backup control. Imagine an infotainment crashing due to some issue and you are stuck with no a/c controls or not able to lower the music volume in the middle of a road trip, in this case it won’t be an ideal situation. Also a software going out dated after say 12-15 years and the said car/few functions standing unusable or asking for expensive updates or replacements of entire system due to it. So basically IMO too much cutting edge technology is lowering the vehicles life span.

[anandmv]

I feel any technology that moves the control away from the driver should be critically evaluated. And any technology that moves the control away from the driver and the car itself should be a strict no-no.