Even as someone avid about automotive safety, there is no way I could trust an automated system that’s in charge of doing something like inhibiting a trigger discharge, actuating the car brakes, controlling steering, etc. It’s extremely damaging in the case where there is a bug, for instance consider what happens if you’re on the highway in front of a 16 wheeler and the brakes slam themselves on.
This is all about reduction of complexity. Humans like having things simple and understandable; things like cars have already grown to stretch the limits of what we can represent with a mental model. There are still times when my car does something that makes me think, “man, how many lines of code are running in this thing?” or, to formulate it another way, “oh, this car really is magic after all.” And it’s a 2012 Focus, not even a newer or particularly featureful car. That’s not a healthy situation for an item that is life vs. death.
Big problem with new cars is the airbag in the A Pillar creates a blind spot that hides pedestrians. That said the safest car is one that isn't driven. Meaning better public transportation is a better solution.
This is all about reduction of complexity. Humans like having things simple and understandable; things like cars have already grown to stretch the limits of what we can represent with a mental model. There are still times when my car does something that makes me think, “man, how many lines of code are running in this thing?” or, to formulate it another way, “oh, this car really is magic after all.” And it’s a 2012 Focus, not even a newer or particularly featureful car. That’s not a healthy situation for an item that is life vs. death.