> but Tesla went even further by eliminating the turn-signal and gear-selector stalks. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the car will simply "guess" which way the driver wants to go based on sensor data and navigation maps.
That's impossible. Maybe an AI could guess left/right turns, but signals are also used to signal merges; if I need or want to merge, how could the car possibly know, and know which direction? In a normal vehicle being operated responsibly, the only indication that a merge is going to occur is the driver engaging the signal.
(Though I admit, many a driver doesn't start to signal their merge until their car has half left the lane. A signal then is often useless: I already know they're merging because the car is drifting recklessly into another lane.)
I’m not even sure about the turns. If I suddenly decide I want to stop at a shop on my route home where I’ve never gone the car wouldn’t begin to signal until I’ve slowed, which is better than nothing.
Unless the car is intended to be completely autonomous, it presumably supports non-autonomous driving, and therefore should have a freaking physical turn signal control.
If it's intended to be totally autonomous, why does it even have a steering wheel?
That's impossible. Maybe an AI could guess left/right turns, but signals are also used to signal merges; if I need or want to merge, how could the car possibly know, and know which direction? In a normal vehicle being operated responsibly, the only indication that a merge is going to occur is the driver engaging the signal.
(Though I admit, many a driver doesn't start to signal their merge until their car has half left the lane. A signal then is often useless: I already know they're merging because the car is drifting recklessly into another lane.)