AP abuse - this is a whole new level of idiot...

[dhanson865]

I wouldn't call this a whole new level of idiot. From the title, I expected him to be riding in the backseat and eating instead of doing something safer than 95% of non-Autopilot drivers have done...eating a burger and driving with their knee.

I didn't see him use his knee, every time the "hold steering wheel" prompt came up he put one of his hands on the wheel and said something about it. In some cases you could see his hand turning the wheel slightly to get the nag to go away.

Given the thread title I'd assumed he had ignored the nag until it stopped the car or disabled the nag somehow.

As was he discussed the "put hands on wheel" request in a reasonable fashion. Even if I wouldn't be confident to sit in the car as his passenger, I'd say any halfway intelligent viewer would have learned something in that he got the put hands on the wheel nag 3 or 4 times in a 13 minute video (only on Autopilot in about half the video).

 

[HX_Guy]

I think he’s saying there’s plenty of drivers eating and steering with their knees, and they have no AP capabilies at all.

As others have have, this is far from outrageous in my opinion. If you’re paying attention to the road, isn’t this sort of the perk of AP?

 

[Yaro]

I've eaten food without autopilot. No big deal. If you can't eat and drive you shouldn't be driving in the first place because you don't have any

Sooner or later your luck will run out and AP will try to randomly kill you just at the very moment when you won't be able to react quickly enough.

Or don't be a retard and stay alert no matter what you're doing.

 

[Economite]

Especially when he's eating the fries (with one hand holding a fry tray and one hand holding a greasy clump of cheese fries) it's pretty clear that it would take a fairly long time for him to get his hands back on the wheel, even if he is paying attention to the road. What he's doing is incredibly far from alway keeping a hand on the wheel and always paying attention to the road. And he seems to be seeing AP as an excuse to drive this way (I.e. like any sane person he wouldn't try this stunt in a car without AP).

What scares me is that a lot of Tesla owners posting on this thread seem to think this is a more or less reasonable way to use autopilot.

 

[MrAustraliaTax]

If you can't eat and drive you shouldn't be driving in the first place...

Or don't be a retard and stay alert no matter what you're doing.

There is a world of difference between eating something single-handed and trying to deal with a burger + fries with two hands at 60mph.

Single-handed food = Your eyes can be on the road. One hand can be ready to immediately act.
Two-handed greasy food = your eyes are on the food, especially when it spills on you. Your hands don't want to let go of this messy food item.

AutoPilot *will* try to kill you at some stage (eg gore point). If both your hands are holding a burger when it happens, you're going to run out of time to react mighty fast.

 

[Economite]

In-n-out actually asks you if you’ll be eating in the car. It’s a standard question in the drive thru. If you say yes they put your food in a cardboard box/tray instead of a bag.

That's not to enable you to eat while driving. They do that because it is much less messy to eat from a box/tray in a parked car than to eat from a bag in a parked car. On the other hand, if you are going to be carrying food to your home or office to eat, a bag works better.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Sooner or later your luck will run out and AP will try to randomly kill you just at the very moment when you won't be able to react quickly enough.

If you're a good driver you can assess the road conditions and monitor AP safely. You get to understand AP's behaviour, and know what sort of road and traffic conditions it can be trusted with.

 

[arubinst]

I'm not criticising people who eat (casually) and drive. Although not ideal, you may use one hand to hold something to eat and another hand on your wheel. And if you want to trust AP and use both hands to hold your meal, at least understand what AP is or isn't capable of.

But If you watch the video, you will see that he uses both hands to eat (sometimes he holds the burger with both hands, sometimes he's holding the burger with one hand and the drink with the other) and he totally looses sight of the road for long periods.

He thinks the car is requesting him to hold the wheel because it "wants to know he's there" but the most dangerous thing here is that he's convinced this is perfectly safe because somehow "he did extensive research".

If people are doing the same kind of research, it is not weird that we see all those autopilot accidents happening. This video just became part of the "research" database that others may use to decide what to do and what not with their autopilot.

All this, and the fact that it isn't even his car, qualifies in my book as being another level of idiot.

 

[MrAustraliaTax]

If you're a good driver you can assess the road conditions and monitor AP safely. You get to understand AP's behaviour, and know what sort of road and traffic conditions it can be trusted with.

I don't accept this assertion I'm afraid.

The problem isn't the 99.99% trustworthiness, it's the unexpected 0.01%, especially if it happens in areas or situations where AP has previously functioned 100% fine.

 

[SSedan]

I do not have an AP car, and am not going to waste the brain cells watching the video.

Far as safety of eating while actually driving, location location location.

I can see the city dwellers in CA being appalled, but those of us who don't see such traffic regularly having a different opinion.

That said, I eat in the car often, but rarely any more than snag a fry or something while driving, eat when parked as others have said, was worse when I was younger but also lived somewhere much less populated. I have downed many a Whopper while driving a manual transmission 1980s pickup truck. Sometimes on snowpacked roads as they tend to be 4 months of the year north of Houghton MI.

This kid is dumb and irresponsible, mostly for doing this in someone else's car, but probably not any more dumb and irresponsible than most of us guys were when we were kids. Far to many die doing dumb things when kids, but most of us survive and realize we were lucky too.

 

[EVDRVN]

In-n-out actually asks you if you’ll be eating in the car. It’s a standard question in the drive thru. If you say yes they put your food in a cardboard box/tray instead of a bag.

"Eating" not "Driving" They do not say will you be eating this while you are driving. Many people park and eat in the lot, etc.

 

[PhatCat]

On the bright side, we now have gender equality for "ditzy blonde."

 

[Yaro]

There is a world of difference between eating something single-handed and trying to deal with a burger + fries with two hands at 60mph.

Single-handed food = Your eyes can be on the road. One hand can be ready to immediately act.
Two-handed greasy food = your eyes are on the food, especially when it spills on you. Your hands don't want to let go of this messy food item.

AutoPilot *will* try to kill you at some stage (eg gore point). If both your hands are holding a burger when it happens, you're going to run out of time to react mighty fast.

You don't have peripheral vision?

 

[K-MTG]

The biggest crime is eating in a Tesla...what if he makes a mess.

 

[xyeahtony]

I love the holier than thou attitude some people have here. is it lonely up there on ya'lls pedestals? Anyone who says they've never eaten and driven before is flat out lying, or just got they license because they're 16 years old.

that being said, recording himself while doing this is a bit extra of a distraction. but still.

 

[Shock-On-T]

I don't accept this assertion I'm afraid.

The problem isn't the 99.99% trustworthiness, it's the unexpected 0.01%, especially if it happens in areas or situations where AP has previously functioned 100% fine.

There’s no such thing as 100% safe driving.

 

[MrAustraliaTax]

You don't have peripheral vision?

The peripheral vision isn't the problem, it's the several seconds required to;

1. appreciate a dangerous situation evolving...via peripheral vision whilst concentrating on something else
2. put down the two-handed food item, and
3. react appropriately to the hazard

 

[Yaro]

The peripheral vision isn't the problem, it's the several seconds required to;

1. appreciate a dangerous situation evolving...via peripheral vision whilst concentrating on something else
2. put down the two-handed food item, and
3. react appropriately to the hazard

1. Driving is dangerous. If you don't scan ahead passed the first car, that's your problem. Most people don't and that's why they're bad drivers. I can be on my phone and

The peripheral vision isn't the problem, it's the several seconds required to;

1. appreciate a dangerous situation evolving...via peripheral vision whilst concentrating on something else
2. put down the two-handed food item, and
3. react appropriately to the hazard

Do you eat with your feet? You can brake before doing any of the things you just listed. If something serious happens, you don't "put down the two-handed food item" you drop that *sugar* and steer.

 

[Kant.Ing]

If I came from the early 1900s, it would be extremely shocking for me to see seemingly every average person can handle such powerful machine and risk lives in transportation on a daily basis, and how well human and the society have been trained by auto industry. The Global Trap, or really a pursuit of personal happiness?

 

[Mediocrates]

Anyone who says they've never eaten and driven before is flat out lying, or just got they license because they're 16 years old.

Your hasty generalization needs but one data point to prove it false. I am one of such data points, as I've been a licensed driver for over 20 years and I've never eaten while driving. It's not something I even consider doing.

Observation of poor behavior performed by others does not remove the "poor" part.