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Mercedes-Benz has a very nice product, but it's not hands-free. There's a huge difference.

That's the point here. Drivers will be tempted into a false feeling that the car is driving itself, just because it accelerates, decelerates and steers. MB has the same functionality, and I actually worry that it would cause even more distracted driving.

I think people probably said that about cruise control when it was introduced, and that turned out okay.

Define "okay." Cruise control has gotten "stuck" at 50mph[0], and electronic throttle control has left the throttle open disregarding user input[1].

So yeah, it's not some apocalyptic, universally-agreed failure that happens every day, but people have actually been killed[2] because the machine did something the driver wouldn't have done if they were in full control. (Maybe it's "compensated" for by deaths that were prevented by having cruise control -- I suppose we can't know for sure.)

[0] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1236020/Horror-ride-...

[1] http://embeddedgurus.com/state-space/2014/02/are-we-shooting...

[2] http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1319903

I believe that's only for legal reasons. When the laws get sorted out MB looks to be in a great position.

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