There is a lot of things a driver can do when the car runs on autopilot and it includes sexual activity. This is what one vehicle expert is concerned about when self-driving cars become a common mode of transportation.
A report from BGR says federal officials are worried about drivers engaged in other activity, like sexual activity, in self-driving cars. Vehicle expert, Barrie Kirk of the Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence, is expecting that.
As the cars advance into smart cars and self-driving, Kirk feels that eventually there will be more unusual form of distracted driving -- sexual activity while on autopilot is one of them. "I am predicting that, once computers are doing the driving, there will be a lot more sex in cars," said Kirk.
"That's one of several things people will do which will inhibit their ability to respond quickly when the computer says to the human, 'Take over," he added.
Slashdot reports, federal officials assigned in creating a regulatory framework to manage driverless cars, pointed their concerns in briefing notes collected for Minister of Transport Marc Garneau right after he took on the portfolio last fall.
The report says one note included in a stream of e-mails about Tesla autopilot says the issue of the attentive driver is problematic and that drivers tend to overestimate the performance of self-driving cars and instinctively shift their attention away from the road when in autopilot.
The notes include media reports of online videos depicting Tesla drivers doing questionable in-car practices, such as reading newspaper or teeth brushing. There are also videos showing Tesla owners recording flaws in how the self-driving car responds to change in road signs.
The Canadian government is seeking to develop regulations that would govern self-driving cars. Officials believe that there is a need to emphasize the reality that autonomous vehicles are "still a few years away."
