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I mean he's clearly in bumper to bumper traffic, there's little danger in the event of an accident and I doubt the Tesla would actually hit anybody either..
Was "hoping" for a response like yours; it's that the general public will have shock reaction to this technology + situation. At some point it will reach normalcy..
I can't wait until this is completely commonplace on the 405.
just need to install a bed, bathroom and breakfast table and commuting won't be so bad afterall!

In the UK you could sell the house and live on the M25

You can't be talking about programming because we can already telecommute. And bathing? What's that ...
Change up some config files and this could be a marketed as feature. Plug in you destination and once you merge onto the highway it cruises at the speed limit or less (in the right most lane) following traffic until you're 1/4mi from the exit and then it plays some alarm clock tone on the speakers...
Honestly, this was inevitable given that the car can apparently steer, accelerate, and brake itself. How long could you stay alert in a traffic jam if you didn't have to control anything at all?
And this is probably still significantly safer than your typical commuter.
You could certainly make a strong devil's advocate case for that. That guy came out of that traffic jam rested, instead of annoyed and fatigued.
Not only that, but I doubt his car was particularly tired. Something that probably isn't true about most of the people driving in the traffic jam.
Semi-related question: how much extra battery would you save by letting autopilot drive? Is it less likely than a human to speed, to accelerate and brake suddenly?

I don't think this is part of the Tesla sales pitch. Is that because there's no saving? Or does no one care?

Alternate headline: Driver Falls Asleep, Car Refuses to Crash
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Typical car companies will find out that adding all these "lane assist" and "auto-stop" features will actually make us less safe.. That's why Google is going for 100% self-driving, even removing the steering wheel.
A good number of people fall asleep while driving anyways. This guy was lucky that his car didn't crash when it happened...