Lorraine Complains: Are automakers saving bad drivers, or encouraging them?

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You no doubt heard the recent story about the driver caught driving his Tesla near Edmonton – reclined and asleep – while going 150 km/h down the highway.

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While police still aren’t sure how he pulled it off (technically, a driver’s hands have to retake the wheel after a few seconds and a few warnings, or the system shuts off) the Internet is full of ready hacks for those determined to try something similar.

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Lorraine Complains: Are automakers saving bad drivers, or encouraging them? Back to video

A radio announcer I spoke with out there heard the driver had rigged up a sock to trick the system; others have wedged an orange in the wheel to mimic a human hand; two years ago, U.S. authorities had to shut down a retailer manufacturing magnets designed just to get around the technology’s safeguards.

The thing is, ten seconds after any new technology is unveiled, someone is abusing it. That’s not just an auto industry problem, though the stakes are considerably higher when the abuse is taking place on public roads at ridiculous speeds.

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It’s about breaking laws, but it’s also about breaking trust. I’ve always considered that any person behind the wheel could prove to be a fool. Incidents like this make me wonder if I now have to question the vehicle itself, and whether I can have as much faith in its abilities as its driver might.

Because, sure, drivers have always been able to speed, weave, tailgate, and drive impaired. But that Tesla sped up when police tried to pull it over. From all reports, the car sped up, not the sleeping driver. So now I have to be leery of not just what a driver might do, but what a car might do? My colleagues and I have spent many years yelling into the abyss about blame-shifting headlines that read “the car accelerated into oncoming traffic.” It was the driver who accelerated, of course, the vehicle didn’t do it itself. Can we say as much so confidently these days?

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Jason Torchinsky over at Jalopnik kicks open the door and stomps over more than just brats behind the wheel. He goes after manufacturers who are advertising safety features in cutesy or questionable ways. If you’re going to create an ad – like Hyundai’s American arm did over a year ago for its Kona – that shows a young driver ignoring the road to take selfies with her friends, you have to consider the message you’re sending. Is this a safety feature, or a licence to be distracted?

According to Torchinsky, “it’s not really different, because the message is the same: you can f*ck up at driving, and the car will take care of it.” He compares it to a Subaru ad which highlights a momentary lapse (Dad glancing toward the rear seat at his kid) resulting in the car braking to avoid a truck that pulls out. These moments, unfortunately, are common and realistic. Who hasn’t glanced down to pick up a coffee, change a radio station or looked in the rearview to tell the kids to settle down? 

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When lane-departure warning systems first became prevalent, I described them as “text assist.” I wasn’t being snarky; I knew too many people who, before handheld devices had been outlawed, were grateful they could text without fear of drifting into another lane. If manufacturers got miffed at me for saying that back then, how is it any different from them now marketing similar safety features in similar ways? How is taking a selfie any different from texting?

Are we making drivers less careful, making them poorer drivers, as Torchinsky suggests? Well, we’re certainly saving them the cost of screwing up, up to and including saving their lives. That is a good thing. It’s a very good thing. Our cars have never been safer, and more people are walking away from collisions that once would have been fatal. 

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I’m old enough to remember a time when you had to time a load of laundry to get the fabric softener in. With the advent of machines that do it all, it’s a job you can very quickly forget ever existed. With the safety features embedded in our cars, it’s similar. When a traction control warning goes off, people ignore it because the car can save itself. If your traction control kicks in, you just outdrove your abilities. But you’ll keep doing it, because you can. Darwin’s theories are harsh, but they’re true.

With the advent of advanced systems that keep a car from colliding into the one ahead of it, that keep it centered in its lane, that seamlessly adapt your speed to traffic conditions, that use cameras to show you every single thing taking place around your vehicle, we have to push out the next big question: are we making lousy drivers? 

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Much of the technology being rolled out is to compensate for distracted drivers. Good drivers are constantly scanning the road around them, including far ahead. They catch the kid playing basketball in the driveway. They see a line of brake lights up ahead, not just on the car ahead of them when it lights up. They’re not on their phone.

For good drivers, these systems are excellent backups. For bad drivers, however, they’re requirements. Can you really call yourself a bowler if you bowl with the bumper guards up?

It’s one thing when consumers misuse or abuse technology. It’s another when the lines surrounding proper use are getting obliterated by the manufacturers themselves.