Exactly. That's the only part of AP that I really care about - the crash avoidance features. The rest hits me as gimmicks. And I worry Tesla is opening themselves up to a class action suit on the full self driving option, because I do not expect that to come any time soon, if at all. There's just so many factors that go into a human's reading of the road beyond just following white lines. And some are region-specific. Example: around here, if you see a group of sheep on the side of the road, that's a "you should probably slow down" scenario. However, if you see a ewe on one side and a lamb on the other, that's a
should definitely slow down scenario. Because the lamb will always run to its mother, across the road, when you approach. How long do you think it'll be before someone writes a "sheep / ewe / lamb" image recognition algorithm into AP and the rules associated with dealing with them?
There's just so, so much that we do that helps us determine how we should be driving. Here people often drive in the middle of the road in the countryside (aka straight over the lane divider) because the sides are more dangerous - do you think AP knows that? On the road to my land, I adjust my speed based on the frequency of potholes, my assessment of their depth, how close they are to each other relative to my speed, whether they're on a slope or flat land, whether they're on the steep slope that has a canyon and no guard rail on the side vs. an area that would be safe to accidentally slide off the road on, etc. How much of that do you think AP takes into account, or ever will? If I'm driving down the road, and I notice that it's a different colour ahead, I change speed because that might mean a worse road surface or unexpected construction. Do you think AP does that? If I'm driving in rugged terrain and I see plant growth on the road ahead of me, I go ahead and assume the road is turning - while if I see growth suddenly disappear somewhere, I assume there's a canyon there. If I see an unusual shadow on the road, I slow down because it might be debris or the like on the road, or maybe a dead animal. If I'm approaching an area with a concrete wall to the side in an area with high winds, I preemptively angle my steering a bit because I know the winds shift when you approach the wall, and when you pass it. On and on and on. These things take judgement, not just line following. You can easily make software to do 99,9% of self driving, but that last 0,1%, that's an immensely more difficult problem.
Even line following.... if you want to travel around my country in the winter, here's what the roads can look like:
The concept that a less-than-human-level-intelligence is not going to get me killed on a road like that.... sorry, I have no faith in that.
