Quote:
I think the whole idea is a nightmare. Anything that makes drivers need to think less and de-skills them over the long term is bad news.


That's pretty much the standard reaction to any new automotive technology.

I remember back in the '60s, someone I knew saying, "No way would I wear one of those seat belts. If I have an accident I want to be thrown clear."

Anti-lock brakes: "If I start to skid, I'll just pump the brake pedal and turn into the direction of the skid."

Air bags: "No way would I have a car with some damn thing that's going to blow up in my face."

Stability control: "I'm not going to have some electronic gizmo controlling MY car!"

I imagine that if we looked back far enough, we'd find the automotive pundits saying things like "What the hell do we need brakes on all four wheels for?", or "Why would anybody make something so complicated with master cylinders and hydraulic lines when these cables operate the brakes just fine."

Did we really need synchronizers on ALL the gears? Talk about "de-skill" in action, nowadays hardly anybody knows how to double-clutch and match the engine revs to engage a non-synchro gear!

I'm old enough to remember the bad old days of automotive technology, and there's no way I'd go back! Nearly all of the improvements that were initially decried as bad ideas are now things we wouldn't want to be without.

tanstaafl.
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"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"