this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023
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Mercedes-Benz debuts turquoise exterior lights to indicate the car is self-driving | A visual indicator for other drivers::undefined

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[–] [email protected] 89 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Eh, it's probably good to have regardless?

It's less about being careful around the car and more about how you might interact with it. For example, honking the horn or flashing your beams wouldn't have the same effect. On that note, it might be nice to have some way of telling a self driving car to temporarily use elevated sensors or something, the same way a horn tells a driver that something is wrong. As long as there's a way to prevent abuse of the system

I don't know much about these lights, but we COULD use some new standards in general with how many things have changed with cars in recent years. Brake lights on electric vehicles being another thing to consider.

That "gentle horn" everyone wants being another

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (2 children)

"Gentle horn" sounds like a 80s romantic pop song.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 10 months ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

A markedly less successful ripoff of Tubular Bells

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (2 children)

You're still the driver in the self-driving car. If someone honks, you have pedals and a wheel in front of you. It always comes down to driver neglect. It's like blaming the cruise control for speeding, but giving cruise control more responsibilities.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

The standard should endure past this stage. It's not necessary now, but it would be good to start getting used to some kind of a symbol now

Eventually when cars move past this stage, then we'll need it

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Today, sure.
But in 20-50 years, switching to manual driving may be a whole process. It may even be illegal in a full self driving car. In an environment of mixed automated and manual driving, having indicator lights for the autos makes a lot of sense.