An important difference is that cruise control is simpler to understand. It’s a basic mechanic dressed up as a driver aid. A smaller slice of the population will incorrectly use cruise control.
FSD is a driver aid dressed up as… well, “Full Self-Driving.” It’s not Full, and it’s not Self-Driving. It’s mostly functional in limited circumstances and even then requires driver attention.
I think another good example is how people would never allow a Stasi agent to live in their house, unless the Stasi agent was redefined as a slew of websites, a collection of disparate laws, and multiple steps involving technology.
Buffalox@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Difference is that Elon Musk has claimed since 2016 that this technology will be ready next year. And it will drive safer than a human. And Tesla calls it things like autonomous driving and autopilot. Which clearly indicates the car can drive itself safely, when it’s not even close.
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 6 months ago
You’re absolutely right, but I want to add that there are meaningful, practical differences as well.
The reality is that cruise control doesn’t tend to create accidents because by its very nature it still requires an almost constant level of engagement from the driver. There are very few places where you can run a vehicle on cruise with literally zero user input for more than a few minutes without starting to veer off the road. It assists the driver, but it doesn’t replace their role.
FSD does replace the driver, right up until the moment where the driver needs to step in and correct it. Psychologically, this is a very different interaction. Automation blindness kicks in. If we spend 99% of our time trusting the actions of the machine it becomes very, very difficult to maintain enough focus and attentiveness to recognise the 1% of times when we need to override the machine (this happens in all instances of human oversight over automated processes).