You must have noticed that mentioning colleagues from the industry is not done at all in motoring journalism. Many of us know each other, but we kind of ignore each other when writing. But now I will break this rule and name Jakub Rejlek , who some time ago wrote an article about the redundancy of electronic assistants in cars. I completely identified with him at the time and I still remember his lyrics to this day because it was definitely the first one I recorded. Since then, the bag has been torn with this topic and most blogs end with the same groundbreaking discovery that all safety systems are useless and just make us worse drivers … But is that really the case?
That whole idea is worth a deeper thought. Much deeper than I can cover in these few characters, so I hope to at least provoke you to think. That you try to make up your own mind. Yes, it's a fact that driving modern cars is pretty foolproof . It's the same with every new test car. I sit down, buckle up, turn the key and then I really only care about the surrounding traffic. The high beams are dimmed automatically, the wipers have their own sensor to start, and the sensors monitor whether I'm changing lanes. Fortunately, I am not constantly spoiled by these assistants, because the cars I use regularly are less advanced in this respect. That's why I'm not fixated on electronic assistants and I can use them to a reasonable extent. Yes, it's great that there is no danger of dazzling the oncoming car, but if the new Infiniti refused to turn on the high beam in an unlit village because a person there had a lamp ten meters from the road in the garden, I preferred to deactivate the system and rely on myself. It's also nice that the Honda Civic 's rain sensor turns on the wipers even if the car in front is washing the window, but I absolutely hate it if it starts dry when a fly hits my windshield. And I would also sometimes like to talk to the responsible designer about whether he sets the most appropriate wiping intensity. But I always have the option to turn everything off and take care of it myself. You know, it's like Facebook . My peers, or older people, use it quite sensibly. We never had the opportunity to communicate with each other so easily, we only got our first cell phone at a later age, we chatted on ICQ for a few nights. We now have a tool that allows us to share more than just a few words with our friends. Send a photo more easily, share common interests better, and promote yourself better. And, of course, you can better arrange an event for more people. The social network is great for helping us stay in touch even when one is far away abroad or simply doesn't have time, except for ten minutes before going to sleep. But we are coming up with a generation that got all this from the beginning. They don't realize that they can share something useful, rather they think that they have to share everything with everyone. And instead of a helper, Facebook is rather the proverbial evil master .
All the most destructive inventions were created with the best of intentions. And that's exactly how it is with helpers in cars . The fault is once again in those people behind the wheel. When I get into the car, I know that behind the wheel I am responsible for myself, but I also bear responsibility for other road users and, of course, for my fellow passengers. If I take a wrong turn, it's my fault and no one else's. If I'm sitting in a modern car with a million electronic assistants, I can only hope that they will help me. That he brakes the car a bit more effectively or that the airbag deploys a hundredth earlier. It is quite possible that they will help the driver and sometimes they will even manage to completely eliminate his mistake. Now tell me what the hell is wrong with that? When you skid, you fly into the pangate and your brain yells at you " you moron, you should have taken off!" "but you stop at the last minute, I think you've learned enough. You will definitely try to avoid a similar situation. But maybe I, you (you're probably a bit of a petrolhead when you go to a motoring server, at least I hope) and a few hundred other people think like that. But the vast majority of the population simply does not have cars as their main hobby and simply does not think like that. And that, in my opinion, is the main fault – in them! They stop right before an already certain accident and say to themselves: " hmm, that car can handle it, so it's cool." "And the next time they crash at a much higher speed. It is not the fault of those electronic assistants in cars, it is clearly the fault of the driver who relies on them. If someone who has also probably seen The Terminator (we wanted to write that he read Čapek, but I doubt that these days) relies on electronics as much as possible, then he is, pardon the pun, stupid. Think back to biology where you learned that nature makes regular selections and discards the weaker species and individuals. This is actually proof of Darwin's theory , and perhaps we should be glad that man, relying on the help of an erratic product, will no longer expand his genes. It's quite cynical, but that's life itself.
All these systems are called electronic assistants. Yes, they help us if we drive to the best of our ability, but we accidentally make a bot. So don't confuse them with the electronic saviors who always get you out of any trouble. Driving a car is a complex activity that requires some effort from a person. You can't learn to play a musical instrument in a day, you can't run a marathon without training, so how the hell can anyone think that a couple of processors can alone drive a one and a half ton thing in traffic. Yes, today there are great computers that flawlessly park in a small space, but driving in traffic is an equation with a million unknowns and ten times more variables, where you still cannot do without the most powerful computer, i.e. the human brain . It's nice when you sit behind the wheel with the feeling that in case of hard braking, something in the car will engage and the car will brake even more. It is also nice if a novice driver knows that the sensor will tell him better how much space he has behind him when backing up, because he himself does not yet have an estimate. In-car systems don't make you an incompetent idiot, but if you rely on them, you're an idiot before you even get in the car.
The world is simply changing, nothing will be the same. We can share a photo with hundreds of friends around the world in a second. I'm glad my fridge beeps when I don't close the door. I'm glad they put out my grandmother's cigarettes, because she once burned the chair several times. Living on this planet has probably never been easier than it is today. And just like that, it has probably never been easier to drive a car and enjoy the joy it brings to some of us. I wouldn't want to steer an old Ford Model T down the road on a regular basis, and neither would you. In addition, I know that if someone drives past me who is not interested in driving and is more likely to make a mistake, then quite possibly, thanks to the helpers , he will not crash into me. So if he uses his head to think. If I'm just going from point A to B, I'm also happy to relax and let a few senozors make the driving easier, but I'll keep my eyes focused on what's going on around me and I'll always have my foot ready on the brake. And if I catch the completely puritanical mood of damning all chips, which other motoring journalists are so fond of brandishing, I can always pull the old baking dish out of the garage without booster and ABS and drive "like a man". There are plenty of driver's cars without assistants among the used cars. And you can always buy something new, such as the recently tested Mégane RS . When you really want to drive, you turn off everything and drive like an old-school car. But if you're not in the mood, you can make life a little easier , I don't see anything wrong with that. Maybe a few poser car fanatics will argue that such benevolence over compromises is wrong and that this was not the case once upon a time. But come on, you had to make a lot of concessions to all those old driving icons. Datsun's old Zetko is prized today, but imagine driving at the limit on narrow tall tires with rear drum brakes . It doesn't even arouse a motoring erection in me, but rather nerves about whether I will destroy such a gem… Okay, I'm kidding, that car is exciting, but you don't want to drive it every day. And that's the point.
So the next time you see an article about how all the systems in cars are useless and make us incompetent monkeys, smile and think if they are really there just to make your driving enthusiasm dull. Perhaps you will come to the same opinion as me, namely that you can survive with them if you use them wisely . Just as it is possible to exist on Facebook, if you don't publish your phone and add someone to your friends who " papins sirloin from grandma " or who regularly shares impressions of a soggy night every Saturday. All you have to do is use your wits and learn to use the possibilities of the modern world and never let yourself be bound by them. Gasoline success!
