Blue Cruise observations

[Meeker]

Takes just one moron who's on their phone or playing with their radio to cause an accident. A whole lot more of those going around than "glitches" in redundant systems.

Also, from a programming perspective, these systems have fail-safes so they avoid exactly what you're saying.
If the inputs are outside defined bounds, fails to driver
if the outputs are beyond defined bounds, fails to driver
if a solar flair happens and the computer goes down, fails to driver.
if the system tries to fail to driver and does not allow it, it disables the system, and defaults to driver.

So the better these systems get, the less actual driving the driver does. Which means, when it does fail back to the driver, who is likely doing something else, their skills have degraded / atrophied and they'll be less capable of dealing with the situation.
If you worked from home for months straight in 2020 like a large number of people did, you would likely have noticed how your first day back on the road your skills weren't up to their usual standard.
Self driving is going to increase the number of low-skill drivers on the roads by orders of magnitude. But hey, they "reverted control to the driver" just before they died so no liability...
Sorry for the rant - this is one "convenience" feature I am happy to do without.

 

[nationalgallery]

So the better these systems get, the less actual driving the driver does. Which means, when it does fail back to the driver, who is likely doing something else,

The driver can't be 'doing something else' during BlueCruise hands free: the system will very quickly give you an audible and dash-message warning, then will start slowing down and brake-checking you, and then disengage; so you can't get habituated to doing other things and/or not paying attention while using BlueCruise.

BlueCruise also seems to employ some degree of learning: the more frequently it has to warn you to 'pay attention' the less tolerant it becomes to non-attention and the quicker it will react to it.

 

[Wayfun]

For BlueCruise, especially in hands free mode, the 2 cameras trained on your eyes watch you very carefully to make sure you're paying attention to what's ahead of you — the dash is deliberately not busy or flashy, which would distract your attention from the road.

That is for sure. I have tested their function by closing my eyes momentarily, looking at the radio a bit too long, and nodding my head. In all cases, the alarm went off within a couple of seconds and told me to be alert and take over. It nags me more than my wife.

 

[Old Dog]

So far I’m enjoying the Blue Cruise on my 2022 Platinum. I have experienced no problems and with updates over Wi Fi. Had 2 updates in last 30 days. Currently on version 5.2.1 updated on 10/16/2023

Update yesterday another update downloaded. Now 5.3.1

 

[The Chairman]

So the better these systems get, the less actual driving the driver does. Which means, when it does fail back to the driver, who is likely doing something else, their skills have degraded / atrophied and they'll be less capable of dealing with the situation.
If you worked from home for months straight in 2020 like a large number of people did, you would likely have noticed how your first day back on the road your skills weren't up to their usual standard.
Self driving is going to increase the number of low-skill drivers on the roads by orders of magnitude. But hey, they "reverted control to the driver" just before they died so no liability...
Sorry for the rant - this is one "convenience" feature I am happy to do without.

So when autopilots were added to aircraft, it made flying more dangerous?

 

[Meeker]

So when autopilots were added to aircraft, it made flying more dangerous?

Fair enough - if autopilot (and we're talking more advanced that Blue Cruise, I'm thinking full hands-off autopilot) is only used occasionally or for parts of the voyage you're probably right. I believe that pilots constantly train for manual control and are evaluated on it. Not so for drivers (yet).

 

[Tuebor]

So when autopilots were added to aircraft, it made flying more dangerous?

An autopilot isn't there to necessarily make it safer - it's to relieve the workload and fatigue, which can help make flying safer. Unfortunately, it's created its own set of hazards.

 

[Ugh_J]

Aside from both bluecruise and lane-keeping not knowing how to deal with anything other than clearly marked lane paint in the same consistent color (yes, we've seen very bright, smooth, visible lines that changed from a almost yellow to a darker, orange color cause it to drop lane-keeping), the biggest complaint I have is that it really, REALLY wants to hug either the center-line in a two-lane or whichever lane edge (usually the right edge) is nearest to the 18-wheeler that we're passing on a multi-lane interstate. It fights us for lane position a lot, especially in curves, which is more tiring than turning off lane-keeping and just driving. I can't think of anything more adrenaline-inducing than going around a curve and having the steering decide to yank you in a direction you weren't anticipating.

Honestly, the 22 and 23 I've driven are so much worse about all this twitchy behavior than my 20 that just nudges me a little if I drift too far to one side.

 

[rd618]

Fair enough - if autopilot (and we're talking more advanced that Blue Cruise, I'm thinking full hands-off autopilot) is only used occasionally or for parts of the voyage you're probably right. I believe that pilots constantly train for manual control and are evaluated on it. Not so for drivers (yet).

Autopilot and various forms of it can do everything from cruising to unassisted landing. Fully hands-off. There is very little negative to these systems on improving safety. The only major disadvantage of these systems is situational awareness and adapted responses to untrained events. Of which tests prove humans are way worse in both of those situations anyway.
From a practical standpoint the radar in planes know how far and where an object is moving. The best a human can do is guess how far something is and where it's going. Same thing with the ground. They use more sophisticated "lane markers" embedded in the runway.

Same as stability control or collision avoidance, nearly all people will benefit from these systems. Can people find a use case for turning them off, sure, but that's the exception.