US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg on Monday said human drivers must pay attention at all times after videos emerged of people wearing what appeared to be Apple’s recently released Vision Pro headset while driving Teslas.
Buttigieg responded on Twitter/X to a video that had more than 24m views of a Tesla driver who appeared to be gesturing with his hands to manipulate a virtual reality field.
Despite their names, Tesla’s assisted driving features – Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self-Driving – do not mean the vehicles are fully autonomous, Buttigieg said Monday on social media.
“Reminder – ALL advanced driver assistance systems available today require the human driver to be in control and fully engaged in the driving task at all times,” Buttigieg said.
There’s no way that isn’t satire or similar commentary. Problem is I suspect way too many people are too dumb to get it. People who don’t realize it’s a faked scenario and are dumb enough to try it.
I want to say I’m surprised by how many downvotes you have. But then I remember what the average internet user is like, they love a common enemy and will ralley at any opportunity to follow the masses.
Why contribute to satire when it’s just as likely someone is really that dumb and has that level of disposable income?
It’s not just as likely at all. The fuck is wrong with people?
People on this site will shoehorn in a chance to hate on Tesla whenever they can. I got called a fanboy once for speculating why the cybertruck had such bad range. All I said was basically “I wonder if it’s a software bug,” and it was followed by 8 hours of being insulted by various people.
At 1:10 in the video I can see some FPS and latency issues which is exactly what makes folks sick in the first place. Dude says he’s had it for an hour at that point. I wonder how long he’d actually been wearing it. But absent any sort of evidence that this is a misrepresentation, I’ll take it at face value.
If this guy actually used pass-thru for an hour straight without getting sick, he’s certainly the first one I’ve seen. It’s an impressive feat and kudos for finding it.
You have too much faith in the average commuter.
That’s not an average commuter. It’s utterly ridiculous which is why were even taking about it. This is tide pods all over again.
Given how many people I see texting and playing on their phones during my commute, VR headsets scare the crap out of me. Too many people cannot unplug.
Texting and full immersion headsets aren’t even remotely the same thing.
They are when you are driving. It’s really hard to believe this needs to be said but, you need to pay the fuck attention when you drive.
It really is not a problem that’s actually happening though. Not worth worrying about at all.
Smartphones are the actual danger, that is actually happening and they are ubiquitous. Most distracted drivers will be on phones, some will be eating, cops might be looking at their car-laptop… and nobody you ever encounter will likely be driving with a VR/AR headset on.
I’m not telling people to text and drive, I’m saying being completely blind to the world around you is a whole other thing.
Gotcha. I haven’t seen the actual video.
I know with the Apple headset you can be in a “world” where you can still see you surroundings. Its a video feed of your surroundings so obviously you would not want to drive while doing it and I don’t know the range. But maybe what they were trying to do is have a small screen with a video or to be charitable, Apple maps open in a corner of their vision while still having a full view of the world.
Again, I’m not saying I trust the technology for this purpose but having your GPS directions, semi transparent on a HUD would be really cool.
The video is staged and that’s the beginning and end of my point. I’m not trying to argue about whether the technology is cool or terrible. I’m saying the video is staged.
Man I’ve seen so many other ridiculous things over the years. One was a guy reading a damn paperback book while driving down a busy highway. He was holding it up head level with his head tilted back like he was reading thru bifocals.
I’ve seen so many idiots texting and driving, stuffing their faces with hands full of food, doing makeup, drinking and driving…
Then with Teslas, there’s notorious examples of people putting trust in self-driving while they watch movies, play games, jerk off, or have sex.
It sounds like you’re just lacking life experience on the road and oblivious to irresponsible ‘self-driving’ car owners.
I’ve got over thirty five years of driving experience, and I’ve had a fair bit of VR/AR experience as well. I don’t care how stupid people are, the video is an obvious fake and the fact that people actually think it’s real is the actual problem. Because idiots who can’t tell will try to repeat it and it will go really poorly.
The new headsets show you the world around you and add an interface layer, like a HUD except the whole thing is on screen. You can walk around and still see in front of you, while your email interface floats off to the left. You interact with the interface through eye and hand motions.
I haven’t used it, but that’s what they claim it can do. It would not be impossible to do the things people are doing in the video.
Existing headsets also do this (not with integrated email but that’s not the point). I know because trying it walking around my house made me the sickest I’ve ever been using VR. It shocks me the number of people who insist this is real and either haven’t seen the video or haven’t used VR.
This was staged. Will some idiots do it for real? Probably, if they can (sometime else said apple headsets shut down while in motion, so that would be another reason this was staged).
But the number of people downvoting me for saying the video everyone is talking about is faked honestly has me flummoxed. It’s fucking obviously fake, just like the tide pod challenge.
You keep insisting that it was staged, and nobody is disputing that it may have been staged. But your argument is that nobody could possibly do this, when “this” is precisely the function the headset was designed for.
I’m with you, VR and AR always makes me motion sick, too. But that’s not what happens for everyone. The reason you’re being downvoted is that you’re certain it was staged, but your reasoning doesn’t make sense.
You can walk and drive with one on (you should absolutely not drive with one on). What doesn’t work when you’re moving is the apps. You have to stop walking to interact with an app. There’s the one video of the guy in the crosswalk who stops in the road to click something. Plenty of videos show what you see while walking around wearing the headset.
There’s also Travel Mode for when you’re on a bus or airplane, or in a car (again, DON’T DRIVE WHILE WEARING A HEADSET) that ignores your motion and keeps the interface near you, but I don’t know how well it works.
So to sum up, yes it is possible that these videos are legitimate users being stupid. It’s also possible that they are staged ragebait. Either way, don’t wear one when you should be paying attention to your surroundings.
I appreciate your perspective. Have you seen the video? Because it was fucking ridiculous. Perhaps the reasoning I’m able to articulate doesn’t hold water but I’m like just waving my arms at the video and saying, “just fucking look at it - it’s staged.” The way that guy gets out of the car like he’s dual wielding pistols in the parking lot? Come on. The video is self-aware that it is absolutely ridiculous.
Wait, no, which video are you talking about? I’m talking about (and I assume everyone else is talking about) the guy in the link above who is behind the wheel of a tesla truck cruising along and using his headset. What video are you talking about?
Yeah the one I saw was like 2 seconds of the guy cruising along and then it cuts to him getting out of the truck in a parking lot waving his arms about like he’s living out a John Woo movie.
You know with VR you get less motion sick eventually, they call it your “VR Legs” kind of like being on a boat or something like that.
That doesn’t mean this wasn’t staged.
I didn’t say it doesn’t, but your anecdotal experience with VR isn’t specifically proof either.
It could be fake, but it’s just as, if not more likely real. The video is clearly a public road with other traffic around (waiting at the lights).
Also Tesla are having enough difficulty getting their autopilot features signed off, and Apple definitely wouldn’t want to advertise their Vision as a tool you can use while driving.
Agreed.
Lemmy users: “I’m not a social media sheep! I don’t fall for gimmicks and ad-revenue-pushed content!”
Also Lemmy users: (well… do I need to generalize? just scroll around lmao)
Like sure, it’s pretty damn obvious we need stronger driving laws, but reporting on a tweet from Pete Buttigeg is hilarious, especially since it’s the absolute bare minimum he could be doing for improving safety of people on/near roads.
I don’t understand what you mean by “faked scenario”. This person is definitely driving and they definitely have the headset on. What do you mean is “faked” about this? Can you clarify?
I’ve clarified in other responses. “Faked” in that it was staged. The dude doesn’t actually drive around wearing a VR headset except, you know, just long enough to film it to present the ridiculous idea that someone might do this. I don’t have the time or energy to go in depth on every single response that says [DOUBT] but you can get a sense of my thought process and I guess either agree or not.
So you’re just implying that the person filming wasn’t a random passenger on the road that saw this? The whole issue is that the person recording was “in” on it? That’s what you’re getting worked up over?
Because the person is driving and they are wearing the headset while doing so. Even if it was only for the duration of the video and then stopped immediately after recording ended, it is still a monumentally stupid thing to do.
If you think it was only done to elicit a reaction then it’s not a trend, right? As in we don’t need an act of Congress over one dipshit looking for attention.
Idk. Attention whore gets attention. News at eleven I guess.
Considering that there have now been multiple videos of people driving while wearing the Vision Pro, the reason people are doing it is irrelevant. They’re still idiots for doing it.
Check out Casey neistats video of the vision pro. He just walks around and rides his boosted board in nyc without getting sick. By his own words, the pass through seems to be so amazing and fast that he forgot it isn’t reality.
Someone linked his video. It’s pretty impressive, especially if unedited. Around 1:10 in the video I can see the low FPS and high latency which most folks say makes them sick when using VR, so that guy must have a hell of a stomach because I’ve got a pretty strong one and pass-through gave me intense nausea and headache in very short order and that has been the case for every single experience with pass-through I’ve read about before.
Dude, are you for real?
What you have been seeing is a screen recording that was cut into a video, which was compressed by YouTube. That’s nowhere close to the high resolution 90hz display that’s actually in front of his eyes.
Just accept that you overreacted and don’t be such a sucker for being right.
It’s not the resolution, it’s the latency. I also never overreacted except possibly in disbelief over how many people accept this as real - as in something this person actually does and not simply staged for a reaction. Well, guess he got it. But yeah I’m about done with all this. Not like anyone is going to remember me if and when we all find out it was staged.
Yea and guess what, you can’t see latency in a YouTube video either.
It’s the first device that keeps the latency sub 12ms. Frankly, I never tried it, but it’s something no other VR device achieved. I doubt it’s fake until proven otherwise, 12ms is almost instant.
Your only argument is “I get sick from VR pass-through”. Well, this is a new device that may have solved it, yet you continue to be set on your opinion based on past experiences with other, worse devices.
If he was in pass thru he’d be vommiting because there’s no faster way to make yourself sick.
The issue I have with your comment is this. You’re asserting that the experience you had with nausea and VR is the experience everyone has or will have with nausea and VR.
Some people can’t read a book in the car without getting motion sickness. Some people can read hundreds. Some can read a few pages.
Some people can read a book but not play a video game. Some people have the opposite problem.
There’s no way this was “fake” maybe staged, but this person was clearly in the driver’s seat driving down a public 4-lane highway. Staged video or not, that’s dangerous.
If you can find one person who has used pass-through while walking around for like 15 minutes and hasn’t gotten sick, you’ve found one more person than me. I’ve never heard anyone mention pass-thru that didn’t immediately follow up that it made them extremely sick.
I’m not a person prone to motion sickness. I’m on boats all the time. I drive hundreds of miles at a stretch without a problem. I started feeling queasy in pass-thru within about 5 minutes. But I stuck with it and within 20 minutes I was on the verge of vomiting. This is not a subtle thing or something that only affects those with a weak constitution.
So I don’t know. Maybe there are folks out there who are completely unaffected by it.
Then there is the claim someone made that a user experience video showed that the headset just shut down at high speeds and couldn’t even be used on a train. I can’t verify that quickly with Google.
I’m not sure where your line is between “fake” and “staged” but if they are only putting the headset on for the purpose of the video and they don’t actually drive around that way, I’m calling that fake. Because they aren’t actually using the headset except to draw attention to the fact that they are wearing the headset. People aren’t actually doing this. They created a fake controversy.
Hi, it’s me, I’ve done it. With my old quest 2 I walked all around my house for a good half hour through pass through no problem.
Your anecdote is not evidence.
With regards to the video being fake or staged, I’m not entering that ring today.
Yup me too. Meta has seen me take a piss more than my wife.
Add me to the list. Have never gotten sick from VR. Ever. Passthrough on the Vision Pro doesn’t make me sick. Cooked a meal with the it on. Ran upstairs and down with it on. Refuse to drive with it on.
I walk around my apartment in pass-thru all the fucking time during weekend long vr sessions with friends. I never get vr sick at all.
I think the other comments have touched on the motion sickness point enough…
I’m not sure where your line is between “fake” and “staged” but if they are only putting the headset on for the purpose of the video and they don’t actually drive around that way, I’m calling that fake. Because they aren’t actually using the headset except to draw attention to the fact that they are wearing the headset. People aren’t actually doing this. They created a fake controversy.
As for this, I only use fake if what appears to have happened didn’t actually happen, e.g. it looks like somebody got stabbed but they definitely didn’t (be it CGI, camera angles, fake knives, etc).
Where as staged is more “that’s what actually happened” but it happened intentionally to make a video. “Here’s your sign” and influencer videos can definitely qualify lol
Okay. I’m not saying the guy wasn’t actually wearing the googles. I’m saying the guy doesn’t actually wear the goggles except when he’s wearing them to poke fun at how ridiculous it would be to wear them. They are being worn ironically, not because the dude actually goes around wearing VR googles in his car.
For one, if a cop ever saw him, he’d be pulled over and cited, and he’d wind up in a fucking car chase and never even know it. Does autopilot automatically pull over for emergency vehicles? I can’t believe anyone is treating this with an ounce of seriousness except for the fact that morons that can’t tell the whole thing is a joke will actually go and do it.
If I understand those headsets correctly it shuts down if it detects movement. Either walking, driving etc. The review I was watching a dude couldn’t use it in a subway. So there is no way this dude is using it while driving down the road. But still obstructs your vision too much.
This is not entirely true. You can be moving but the headset needs tracking information to keep things stationary. There’s specifically a travel mode for the Vision Pro for using it on subways and planes and things. I’m assuming you’re talking about Casey’s video on the subway. He didn’t know about the travel mode.
I don’t think that’s the case. I’ve seen videos of them being used on the subway. I also know somebody that has one and it definitely doesn’t mind if you walk around.
A lot of the people that drive these things are acting like children in adult bodies. I have seen some wildly dumb shit happen. It’s like the car company created by the Darwin Awards…
I literally once saw someone eating on a little folding table/desk of some sort in their Tesla (driver seat, of course) with the dash screen playing some sort of media.
Another time, the person was playing a handheld gaming console of some sort, in the driver seat.
An the automatic lane switching doesn’t adjust for people speeding up in the passing lane well. I’ve seen a couple near accidents there.
acting? I’m gonna need to see some evidence of that.
I mean the table thing and the gaming sounds cool… The issue is them doing it while “”“driving”“”.
As someone who gets both car sick and VR sick, this seems like my worst nightmare.
I used to get both, but when I eat ginger mints it helps
Have you tried eating a ginger? May also help.
That sounds fishy…
I wouldn’t last more than 15 seconds before projectile vomiting.
Cybertrucks, VR headsets, and projectile vomiting…
Ahh the future!
This seems like something you could take advantage of.
Those days when clearly something wants to come out of you and you feel like shit but it takes forever to want to go up… Some people does the fingers thing… but I have never ever got it to work tbh.
Nah I just had a long visit with the MIL and there were some times I wished I could have projectile vomited at her to get her to shut up. Really anything to get her to shut up. The topic of the day was how much she hates her sister.
Hahaha ok that too 😅
I guess they are related no? Like it makes sense to have both.
The issue is seeing movement but you are not physically moving…although the car you are technically moving but… I guess confused the brain as the movement is not caused by you.
In my case I don’t get sick on car ever… And in VR the same, the only exception is on VR I might lose a little bit the orientation and lose my equilibrium for sec but very very rarely and not enough to fall thankfully.
It’s a mismatch between what the eyes see and the ears feel. In nature, this generally only happens when you’ve been poisoned (think drunk). The obvious solution to being poisoned is to empty the stomach, to limit how much more gets absorbed.
The effect is processed at a fairly high level, mentally. This means you can influence it. E.g. if you focus on the difference, in an accepting manner, and your subconscious will stop reacting to it as badly.
It’s Fred. Don’t worry about him at all, he’s really good on speed runs up and down the 5fwy. He always gets home with extra tokens and a good 5000 points.
I wish my Toyota gave me points for driving it!
“Reminder – ALL advanced driver assistance systems available today require the human driver to be in control and fully engaged in the driving task at all times,” Buttigieg said.
This is not entirely true anymore. If you’re in a 2024 Mercedes EQS Sedan driving through Nevada at less than 40 mph, you are allowed to take your hands off the wheel and your eyes of the road.
Wow, is Mercedes advertising that at all?
Engadget tried it in LA in September ‘23. (Piped)
Interestingly, still can’t use your phone due to CA law - but can watch videos, browse the web, as long as you stay <=40 MPH (65 km/h).
And it’s Mercedes’ fault if it crashes!
Lol that’s oddly specific.
Test road?
No, Mercedes is the first one to market with a level 3 (fully self driving) system, which is available with their top of the line sedan.
They applied for certification and got it from the state of Nevada. (Edit: And California)The system itself is limited to 40mph.
If I recall correctly the big difference being that Mercedes is the first manufacturer to take legal liability for an accident while their software is driving (under the specific circumstances), which is pretty big IMO.
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Let’s leave the systems definitions to the actual engineers, thanks.
I suggest you go educate yourself about the levels of vehicle autonomy before you erroneously label systems you don’t understand.
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Full autonomy would include all roads and speed limits.
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Normal roads, just only in traffic jams.
Same in parts of Germany.
It’s actually more specific than that. It also only works if there’s a car directly in front of you.
Same for the Waymo cars. You can actually sit in the back seat and let it take you to your destination.
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If you want a “self driving vehicle,” buy a horse.
Look at Mr Fancy pants with horse money over here.
or just take a train.
That’s great if there’s a train that goes where you need to go. For most people in the US that happens approximately never.
Emphasis on “in the U.S.” :(
Also the only place that stupid fucking Tesla truck is legal.
Technicality! Its available in canada so your statement is factually false.
If only something could be done about it but it seems for some reason the laws of physics don’t allow trains in north America
It’s a tragedy, really.
That’s actually true in a way. Shit here is really far apart.
That’s why the first intercontinental travel was trains. Over distance trains a substantially more efficient than car because of rolling resistance and differentials.
That’s why I say the laws of physics don’t apply because we do the objectively worse thing because the government hates building infrastructure.
The US for instance is about the same size as China yet China has lots of rail because the government will focus on infrastructure.
Yes, trains are great for long distances. Where they suck is trying to get people from point to point in a sprawling city designed around the assumption that everyone has a car. Cities are so spread out that getting within walking distance of most destinations by train would require an unreasonably large rail system.
Let’s be honest, cars suck at that too and that’s why we’re perpetually dealing with traffic and widening roads.
But let’s take Phoenix AZ, the premium suburb sprawl. The light rail is pretty damn good and with a bike it’s pretty painless evern if you need to get a mile or two from the light rail.
The main issue with using bikes like this is all the big ass cars and drivers who will not share the road. If we had dedicated bike infrastructure leading to rail it would work just fine even with suburban sprawl.
I know this because I did this on the light rail in Phoenix.
That’s exactly the Environment Trains were designed for?
I always wondered were there less accidents back then? Horses probably actively try not to run into things right? But they can also get scared and go crazy so who knows
There are stories from horses bringing home their drunk, sleeping ‘drivers’ because they knew their way home.
I’d guess there were less alcohol related accidents…?
Horses also leave horseshit wherever they go.
Not a plus.
You know, so do Tesla and Musk fanboys. What a curious coincidence.
Riding horses or in horse drawn carriages was banned in the city of Rome multiple times in antiquity, because of accidents involving two horses.
Cars will come to a stop, eventually, on their own. Horses get spooked and run, causing a much bigger problem.
Mary Todd Lincoln once jumped from a carriage after her driver was thrown from the seat and the horse began to speed away. The resulting injury left her with migraines for the rest of her life.
How about a pig with a saddle?
A Mountie?
Ayyy 🤌🏼
People have always been idiots behind the wheel. I started driving before personal electronics and touchscreens were a thing. You still saw people bracing books or newspapers against the steering wheel with their thumbs so they could read as they drove down the highway. Now it’s watching movies, texting or other social media, video conversations, reading…
Just seems that there are way more people doing it. The social contract gets more broken every day.
Or fiddling with the radio / tape player / CD player, or putting on makeup / shaving. People have always done this.
This is one of the top reasons wfh is better. You don’t need to hurry to get ready.
It was amazing what I saw people doing when commuting in L.A. traffic. Yes, it was very slow. You still could hit the person in front of you!
Aren’t these new Apple things AR devices you can see through, though? You could have a HUD that assists with driving.
They’re not true AR devices, they’re VR headsets masquerading as AR, you’re still just watching a video of the world around you. As good as the Vision Pro’s passthrough video, it’s still passthrough video and doesn’t have the same resolution as our eyes would have, plus it probably blocks out at least some of your peripheral vision. I do think having a HUD while driving would be nice, but it would need to be able to restrict any sort of extraneous content out (like youtube videos or whatever) and ONLY show information needed for driving (maybe have music/audio controls at most).
the only “HUD” I want while driving is one that dynamically dims LED headlights while leaving the rest of my view unaltered.
Speedo and tach projected in the bottom edge of the windscreen is really nice tho.
Yeah and what would you do if the device malfunctions or runs put of battery? You’d literally be blind.
You take it off… It’s not bolted to your head. What do people who wear glasses do if they fog up while driving?
Yeah, sure. You just “take it off” while driving a +2000kg metal block that’s circulating at 40 to 160km/h. It’s totally fine to lose control over your friggin eyes while operating a machine like that.
I’m sorry but you’re either a troll or just very dumb.
Oh, you “could.” But I’ll bet you these individuals aren’t. These morons are looking at videos or scrolling the web or some other stupid attention diverting shit.
I’m not sure there even exists any kind of hypothetical “AR driving assistance” app for the Apple Vision. And there probably never will, for the obvious massive liability reasons.
The issue is the government’s biggest concern isn’t safety, it’s being able to legislate those being unsafe. Which can actually be conflicting, because even if a VR headset showing directions on the road itself is less distracting than looking at a separate phone/GPS- a cop doesn’t know if you’re doing that, or if you have YouTube in the corner of your eye.
Obviously that guy is dumb enough to do this, he bought a cyber truck…
This guy definitely has a crypto wallet and a monkey jpeg
I doubt he has a crypto wallet of his own. Probably an account on coinbase though.
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on today’s episode of “humans testing the limits of natural selection”
If this prompts the US government, why is the rising pedestrian deaths not promoting action?
Well, the actual causes of pedestrian deaths (big dumb vehicles, infrastructure that more or less necessitates personal vehicle ownership) are the same things that the auto industry lobbies hard for.
See General Motors and jaywalking
It’s like they’re competing for being the most punchable.
I mean, I’d use partial self driving on I5 to eat my taco bell, but I’m still paying attention to what’s in front of me!
I’m still paying attention to what’s in front of me
Yeah, you’re paying attention to the fast food you’re too impatient to wait to eat safely. You’re not properly paying attention to the road or all of the other people whose lives are now in danger because you’re shoving a chalupa down your pie hole instead of safely operating the two ton missile you’re supposed to be guiding down the highway. Your lane assist isn’t magic, and when you inevitably fuck this up, I hope it’s a single-vehicle accident and you spare other drivers the misfortune.
Jeez, It was a rental I had for a month about 2 years ago.
And for your information, it was a single chicken taco. There were no cars around. I’m not talking LA I5, this is in the middle of nowhere and I had to make an emergency drive up Eureka from Sacramento.
