I'll admit that the word "screwing around" was unfair and judgemental, but I'm gonna be honest: I would never want to own a car with this sort of "autopilot with driver fallback" feature because I'd totally fall asleep at the wheel. Completely. So I didn't mean any judgment by it. I could have made the same mistake.
In fact, I'm judging the software, if anything. Any autopilot software that doesn't force the driver to be attentive is effectively taking the responsibility for driving onto themselves, and so cannot blame the driver for being inattentive. You can't say "I got this" and then at the last second say "oh shit, I need you driver!" even if you put warnings that you don't really got this, because you're dealing with human beings who do normal human things.
Yes, I shouldn't have said the driver was screwing around, you're right. But if the driver fell asleep, and a conscious driver would have avoided this accident? I still think it's Tesla's fault, because he'd be awake and alive in a manual car.
And how many times do human drivers fall asleep in cars with no automatic driving features of any kind, and get themselves killed in a situation where Tesla's Autopilot would have saved them?
I'd recommend trying it before you knock it. I had similar reservations, but after using it for nearly a year, I find that I'm more attentive and more awake with it than without it. A couple of weeks ago the system refused to engage (broken sensor somewhere) and I had to drive 80 miles home manually. It was exhausting! The mental effort of staying between the lines and maintaining a safe distance from the next car is pretty significant. Getting rid of that frees up more of your attention for the bigger picture. Now, I'm sure for some people it just frees up more of your attention for texting or sleeping, I'm sure I'm not representative of everybody, but I think it can easily be a net win for many.
I always pay attention while Autopilot is engaged, but I'm able to look farther down the road and take more care when checking out traffic to the rear and sides than I can when I'm doing it all myself.
In fact, I'm judging the software, if anything. Any autopilot software that doesn't force the driver to be attentive is effectively taking the responsibility for driving onto themselves, and so cannot blame the driver for being inattentive. You can't say "I got this" and then at the last second say "oh shit, I need you driver!" even if you put warnings that you don't really got this, because you're dealing with human beings who do normal human things.
Yes, I shouldn't have said the driver was screwing around, you're right. But if the driver fell asleep, and a conscious driver would have avoided this accident? I still think it's Tesla's fault, because he'd be awake and alive in a manual car.