Why am I seeing ads from other auto makers that encourage no monitoring of vehicle while driving?

[dcfas]

I’m watching the Masters Tournament right now and they keep showing commercials of a guy driving a Mercedes while watching tv and gazing out the window. Chevy has commercials with similar non-monitoring driving taking place.

Why is no government agency clamping down on this? Seems completely irresponsible and dangerous.

 

[E90alex]

Mercedes Drive Pilot is the first and only federally approved SAE Level 3 system available in the US.

SAE Level 3 means no driver attention is required and Mercedes will assume liability if it is found that the system caused an accident.

It is very narrow in its operating requirements. Only certain limited access highways in CA and NV and only under 40mph in heavy traffic.

GM Super Cruise and Ford Blue Cruise are both still SAE Level 2 and still require drivers attention. Both systems allow hands free driving in certain situations but still require eyes on the road. They use IR sensors to detect eye position to determine driver attention which is far more robust than Teslas cabin camera.

 

[Daniel in SD]

I’m watching the Masters Tournament right now and they keep showing commercials of a guy driving a Mercedes while watching tv and gazing out the window. Chevy has commercials with similar non-monitoring driving taking place.

Why is no government agency clamping down on this? Seems completely irresponsible and dangerous.

Was it this commercial? Read the fine print!
The Mercedes system is approved for eyes off use (in very limited circumstances.)
It is deceptive as the exterior shots of the car don't show it in a traffic jam.
Would be interested to see the Chevy commercial you saw.

 

[dcfas]

Hard to believe “no driver attention” is considered legally safe.

 

[dcfas]

Was it this commercial? Read the fine print!
The Mercedes system is approved for eyes off use (in very limited circumstances.)
It is deceptive as the exterior shots of the car don't show it in a traffic jam.
Would be interested to see the Chevy commercial you saw.

Yes. That’s the one.

 

[diplomat33]

Hard to believe “no driver attention” is considered legally safe.

It is legally safe if the system is level 3. That's because level 3 means that the system is good enough to handle driving without driver attention in a limited ODD and with the human receptive to take over with sufficient notice.

 

[Daniel in SD]

Hard to believe “no driver attention” is considered legally safe.

Welcome to the future. I've see Waymo cars in Los Angeles with no driver in them at all.

I have my doubts about the safety of Mercedes system. Time will tell.

 

[E90alex]

Hard to believe “no driver attention” is considered legally safe.

That’s what SAE Level 3 is defined as.

 

[beatle]

Hard to believe “no driver attention” is considered legally safe.

It's only hard to believe if one believed Tesla was the only company who could be first to do it.

 

[dcfas]

It is legally safe if the system is level 3. That's because level 3 means that the system is good enough to handle driving without driver attention in a limited ODD and with the human receptive to take over with sufficient notice.

In the commercial the guy is watching tv. Just seems bizarre they would advertise in this way.

 

[JulienW]

........It is very narrow in its operating requirements. Only certain limited access highways in CA and NV and only under 40mph in heavy traffic......

And even this is understated of how limited the ODD is. You must have a lead vehicle, it must be daylight and not inclement weather and the on certain highways is actually only sections of them. This is so limited that only a few people will benefit.

EDIT: Seems odd they didn't do this in ATL also since MB NA HQ is here.

 

[beatle]

In the commercial the guy is watching tv. Just seems bizarre they would advertise in this way.

They should have had him watching the commercial he was in.

 

[JulienW]

In the commercial the guy is watching tv. Just seems bizarre they would advertise in this way.

It is L3 and in L3 you are NOT driving. So you can do anything you want as long as when the request you take over in a timely manner you do.

 

[E90alex]

In the commercial the guy is watching tv. Just seems bizarre they would advertise in this way.

Yes, that is the selling point of Level 3 and up. No drivers attention required so you’re free to do anything and let the car drive.

 

[diplomat33]

In the commercial the guy is watching tv. Just seems bizarre they would advertise in this way.

Not bizarre at all. With level 3, the human driver is legally allowed to watch tv, play a game, check their phone, read a book, etc while the car drives. If the level 3 system needs the human to pay attention, it can emit sound alerts and visual alerts on the dash in advance to give the human driver enough time to stop watching tv and resume paying attention.

 

[dcfas]

Okay. I get it. Didn’t realize passenger cars are available with this in the market. And hopefully this never happens, but if a person is injured or worse by a car in Level 3 self driving mode, does this mean the law will not come after the “driver” even if that driver is watching tv, etc rather than paying attention?

 

[E90alex]

The automaker is supposed to assume liability while in autonomous mode because the car is driving. The person in the drivers seat is essentially just a passenger while the car is in autonomous mode.

The issue becomes how to tell when the car is in autonomous mode so law enforcement won’t pull the driver over for distracted driving. Mercedes received approval for a turquoise indicator light at all 4 corners to signify the car is driving itself. But I suspect there will be a lot of confusion until all jurisdictions know what it means.

 

[diplomat33]

But I suspect there will be a lot of confusion until all jurisdictions know what it means.

Yeah, adding the turquoise lights is an interesting idea. But there will need to be a lot of education so that law enforcement and the public know what the color means.

 

[Supcom]

Okay. I get it. Didn’t realize passenger cars are available with this in the market. And hopefully this never happens, but if a person is injured or worse by a car in Level 3 self driving mode, does this mean the law will not come after the “driver” even if that driver is watching tv, etc rather than paying attention?

While the MB system is available, it is extremely limited. It only works on certain highways in slow traffic with a car ahead of the MB and, as I recall, it makes no lane changes.

It's basically a system to get you through a traffic jam. But, under those conditions where it can be enabled, it should be pretty nice to have.

 

[CyberGus]

In the commercial the guy is watching tv.

Was the guy in the commercial watching his own commercial on the TV? I think that would destroy the universe