Tesla owners can now play video games on the car’s centre console while the car is in motion, according to reports this week in The New York Times. Given that legislation does not yet permit Tesla electric cars to operate in full ‘auto-pilot’ mode, the software update that allows gaming while on the move may fall foul of state laws in America. Today’s drivers are bombarded with in-car distractions; satnavs, phones and now TV and games all vie for attention that should be focussed squarely on the road ahead.
A recent software update will also allow Tesla drivers to watch streaming services such as Netflix while on the move – although Elon Musk has said the function will not be enabled until fully-autonomous driving is permitted in law.
We’re losing count of all the benefits being promised of driverless cars. Motorists are being teased with visions of driverless cars as luxurious and relaxing private retreats clever enough to take over menial tasks, but ready to relinquish control at a moment’s notice. At the same time, pedestrians and cyclists marvel at the promise of roads on which all cars are travelling at, or below, the speed limit. As a result, it’s assumed vehicles equipped with automated driver function (ADF) will be involved in fewer crashes.
Desirable or dystopian?
Whatever the driverless car PR machine wants us to believe, it’s not at all certain the claims surrounding autonomous vehicles are anything more than hot air – or even desirable for that matter. We want and desperately need drivers to adhere to traffic law, but who is to say that the technology will function as imagined? If you suspect claims surrounding driverless cars sound too good to be true, you’re not alone. Christian Wolmar is an award-winning writer and broadcaster specialising in transport: “People say we’ve got 1.25m people killed on the world’s roads every year across the world – we will remove that danger – remove it with this technology. I’m not sure these driverless cars will ever be developed in the way that they envisage. There’s no guarantee that they actually will be safer. They will still have software that is programmed by human beings. The cars will still be on the roads in potential collisions.”
Christian Wolmar appears in our crowdfunded documentary Stop Killing our Children, which can be viewed in full on Vimeo
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