BMW eye contact lane change feature - GIF

[Frank S]

Brakes automatically applying if you take one hand off the steering wheel won't work in a manual transmission car, but then, there are fewer of those made every year (sadly!), and it would have to be disabled on any emergency vehicle with an automatic, can't operate the radio mic otherwise, and a VOX switch on the radio in an emergency vehicle doesn't work too well, especially when running code with lights and siren.

I think the previous post stated the brakes should apply if at least one hand were holding the wheel. But I see that as yet another bit of added technology to eventually fail. as far as brakes automatically applying on vehicles with manual transmissions would not be a big step. I've owned trucks with manual transmissions which had cruise controls step on the brake the cruise disconnected, or step on the clutch the cruise would disconnect. Easy enough to configure one with automatic braking to disconnect the clutch
A lot of vehicles are equipped with crash avoidance braking already, which is increasingly becoming standard as a combat against inattentive drivers.
Not that my opinion matters but I think everyone should have to experience the same thing my kids experienced before they got their learners permits back in the 80s. They rode around Dallas several times with me in a truck pulling a 2+2+2 lowboy trailer sometimes bigger trailers and sometimes just a regular flatbed They were exposed firsthand to what it is like in the cab of a rig that was sometimes 90 feet long, and what truckers had to put up with in traffic. My youngest will be 50 next year neither of them have ever been involved in an accident that they caused.