Mike said:
I'd kind of make the point that a big part of the reason so many drivers are so poor at it these days is because the cars are so good. Power everything, automatic everything, infotainment systems, drivers are more and more insulated / isolated from both the physical and mental driving environment.
But, I guess the only thing to do is go all the way and let the machines do it all.
As a pilot I see that argument often that automation or information overload causes accidents or makes us worse pilots. Overall, the conclusion I've drawn (and I believe this is supported by studies) is that it's not automation nor excessive use of computers that drives these accidents; rather it's our lack of preparedness to identify and take control when things do go wrong.
In the case of this fatal car crash, this does expose a flaw in that how is a driver supposed to be able to tell when the automation isn't working? Many "famous" crashes in aviation occurred when the autopilot turned off and the pilot wasn't aware it was no longer in control and allowed the plane slowly fly itself into a crash. This is about my only concern with the systems in self-driving cars from an engineering standpoint; we need to see what the car is reacting to before or while it's reacting (or not reacting). Perhaps the driver saw the truck and expected the car to brake for him and then wasn't ready to intervene when it didn't.
In aviation we follow strict procedures to ensure the autopilot functions properly on the ground, can be overridden, and presents the proper warnings when it is disabled. In addition, it's always emphasized during training to be aware of what mode the autopilot is in and be prepared to take control at any moment.
In my educated opinion, autopilots definitely make flying a safer and more comfortable experience. While I was trained on a simple trainer aircraft I currently fly a modern cockpit aircraft with multifunction displays and a full autopilot. I will "hand fly" the vast majority of the time but when workload is high it definitely improves safety if I do not need to strictly monitor my altitude and heading while I focus on reading an approach chart or focus on preparing to land.
But, with this convenience/safety feature comes another skill that becomes the crux of the issue. You must be mentally prepared to respond to an abnormal situation. Many aviation crashes occur due to automation failing to perform as expected and pilots getting fixated on getting the automation to perform the action they want, rather than just revert to manually flying and deal with the problem when reestablished on their appropriate course. Still, the vast majority of pilots understand this and practice this skill regularly.
Of course you will have people who use this feature as a crutch. Some general aviation pilots are chided as simply "following the magenta line" (in reference to the purple colors used to indicate information provided from a GPS source) in reference to their lack of non-automated flying skills. You see this in drivers today as well; such as people who drive into lakes because their GPS told them to. Of course these people will abuse self-driving features but they will exist regardless of the technology given them. I'd rather a computer system which has software that can be updated driving towards me than a person looking down to read that important text they just got.
Overall the best example of this is to remind yourselves that we used to need two pilots
and a flight engineer to safely operate an airline. Does anyone lament the loss of the flight engineer position as a safety issue? In fact, many modern charter aircraft are flown with a single pilot these days. This is only made possible with increased automation and yet flight safety continues to improve while simultaneously the cost of flights continue to decrease. While this is a little "apples and oranges" the assertion that automation = worse pilots/drivers isn't quite that black and white if you ask me.
Professional and Structural Engineer (ME, NH, MA)
American Concrete Industries
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