Transportation head says drivers must pay attention at all times after clips emerge of some using what looks like Apple’s Vision Pro

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.

  • MagicShel
    1227·
    10 months ago

    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.

    • FenrirIII@lemmy.world
      303·
      10 months ago

      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.

      • MagicShel
        633·
        10 months ago

        Texting and full immersion headsets aren’t even remotely the same thing.

        • Cheradenine@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          253·
          10 months ago

          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.

          • RaoulDook@lemmy.worldEnglish
            57·
            10 months ago

            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.

          • MagicShel
            410·
            10 months ago

            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.

        • mars296@kbin.social
          82·
          10 months ago

          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.

          • MagicShel
            59·
            10 months ago

            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.

    • GONADS125@feddit.de
      8·
      10 months ago

      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.

      • mx_smith@lemmy.world
        1·
        10 months ago

        When I was in Az I saw a guy driving down the freeway playing a slide trombone, with his window down in 115 degree heat.

      • MagicShel
        38·
        10 months ago

        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.