Tesla’s latest Model X update has a new autopilot mode called assertive. Yes, that’s correct. You can press a button, and your car will let you sit back whilst it drives in a more aggressive nature. With the change, social media became ablaze and even renamed it, ‘road rage mode’.
When you place the car into the assertive mode, it will begin to follow cars closer, change lanes more frequently, stay in the overtaking lane and perform rolling stops. These behaviours are generally marked as dangerous by various safety groups due to the increased risk of accidents.
The new feature has divided opinions online. However, it is safer for an automated system to be assertive as it is more like a human driver – minus the human error.
Matthew Avery from the UK’s Thatcham Research believes that well designed driverless cars are technically safer than human drivers due to the lack of human error.
“If we want widespread adoption of automation, drivers are going to expect the vehicle to do and make the decisions that you would do as a human driver, not some very benign and very safe algorithm”, he explained.
Human drivers regularly need to make decisions when meeting other cars, such as when one has to pull over in a single-lane country road or at a four-way intersection, and one driver must make the first move, a situation where two cautious automated cars might both wait for the other to act. This is why companies like Tesla introduce modes like assertiveness as it is closer to how people drive.
Whilst driverless cars are set to be the future of driving, you still need to make sure you can control the vehicle. Many Tesla drivers have gained widespread notoriety for several incidents, including falling asleep behind the wheel.
If you are driving a Tesla in self-driving mode, you need to make sure that you are still in control of the car if you need to take over.
Tesla is coming up with technology to prevent a driver from falling asleep in autopilot mode. At the moment, it’s considered considerably dangerous to fall asleep on autopilot and illegal in all countries to do so. However, Tesla believes they are close to creating software that detects if the driver is sleeping, and if ignored, the computer-driven car will pull you up in a layby rather than the vehicle staying in motion.
Whilst Tesla’s self driver mode is more of an assistance than a reliable way of driving, people have gone for extended periods having their Tesla drive for them. Youtuber Ryan Trahan spent 24 hours being driven by his Tesla Model X and would only stop when it needed to be charged.
Self-driving cars won’t be part of your driving lessons in Kettering, driving lessons in Manchester or driving lessons in Northampton, but you may drive in one of our electric cars, especially if you are taking driving lessons in London.
You can read more on Tesla’s Model X assertive mode via the BBC here.
