Seeing the tension rising, someone in the comments quickly tried to mediate.

“It’s just a game, everyone. Don’t take it too seriously in relation to reality.”

“How can we not relate it to reality? If this car had a fictional brand, that would be fine. At most, we could say the game incorporated some sci-fi elements beyond current technology. But it’s under the Stefer brand, so isn’t this misleading to people who don’t know the truth?”

“The key issue is that it creates inequality in the game. Won’t everyone in K1 have one of these now?”

“Exactly, why should Stefer be elevated above other brands in the game? The advertising effect can’t be underestimated.”

“Can’t studios now create many wealthy starter accounts? Will there be account login services for grinding soon? I feel like this K1 update is a misstep!”

Most people had similar first impressions—they felt uncomfortable with it.

Since “Safe and Civilized Driving” prided itself on realism, this car seemed to exceed current technological capabilities, making it feel less authentic!

Previously, everyone understood that real-world driver assistance systems could, at most, handle following vehicles and changing lanes. Self-driving vehicles that could successfully complete unprotected left turns were extremely rare.

Yet the K1 not only completed several unprotected left turns with ease but also handled complex road sections that even human drivers found challenging—this seemed incredibly far-fetched!

So what was the purpose of updating such an unrealistic vehicle in the game, especially under the Stefer brand?

It was hard not to speculate, hard not to worry about the studio trying to make money through exploits.

“Come on, everyone, stop arguing. You can’t farm money with this self-driving feature.”

“Don’t just theorize—try it yourselves and you’ll see.”

“Look at this.”

Zhang Yan had been studying the specific mechanics of the self-driving feature since earlier and had finally figured out how it worked.

She demonstrated three different postures:

First, completely removing her hands from the steering wheel and her feet from the brake and accelerator, entirely disengaging from control.

Second, not touching the steering wheel but keeping her palms up on her legs, ready to take control at any moment.

Third, keeping her hands on the steering wheel but not fighting against the vehicle’s autonomous driving.

The viewers then noticed that the car wasn’t completely ignoring the driver during autonomous driving.

During self-driving mode, the vehicle would issue reminders at regular intervals and assess the driver’s state.

The reminder stated: “This vehicle is currently in self-driving mode. Please note that under current laws, only L2 autonomous driving is supported. The driver must continuously monitor surrounding road conditions and vehicle status, and be prepared to take control at any time.”

This notification would repeat periodically.

Meanwhile, the vehicle would evaluate the driver’s condition and conduct appropriate tests.

If the driver’s hands were on the steering wheel, no additional prompts would be triggered, and self-driving would continue normally.

How was this determined? Simple—when the driver’s hands were on the steering wheel during autonomous driving, there would naturally be a very slight resistance. This resistance wouldn’t affect the self-driving function but would let AEEIS know that the driver’s hands were on the steering wheel.

The simulator’s steering wheel used direct drive technology with force feedback, making it highly sensitive to such inputs.

If the system couldn’t determine the driver’s state, or if the driver’s hands weren’t on the wheel, the vehicle would issue a test requirement.

For example, on safe road sections, it would ask the driver to lightly press the accelerator or slightly move the steering wheel, applying a small amount of force.

The requirements varied depending on the road section.

The system would provide different feedback based on how quickly the driver completed these actions.

If the driver completed the action quickly, the system would determine that the driver was highly alert, and self-driving would continue normally.

If the driver was a bit slow, the system would repeat the reminder, warning the driver to pay attention to road conditions and not rely too heavily on autonomous driving.

If the driver responded very slowly or didn’t respond at all, the system would find a safe spot to pull over and stop.

Of course, during this process, the driver could manually intervene to regain control of the vehicle and reactivate self-driving mode.

But if the driver did nothing, the vehicle would remain stopped at the roadside.

If it remained stationary for an extended period, the vehicle would automatically signal an alarm, and a tow truck would come to remove it.

In other words, this autonomous driving wasn’t as many commenters had speculated—it wasn’t something that had no requirements for the driver and could be used to earn money while AFK.

Going AFK was impossible; once the system caught you doing it, the self-driving would stop.

If there happened to be a customer in the car at that time… well, who knows how much money would be deducted from that order. Not only would you not get paid for the ride-hailing fare, but your existing deposit and balance would also be deducted.

For most players, this was clearly very unprofitable.

If during autonomous driving, I have to constantly watch the road and respond to system requirements, why wouldn’t I just drive myself?

Of course, even with required responses, self-driving was still more time and energy efficient, allowing for a slight relaxation of attention, but this advantage clearly wasn’t enough to disrupt the game’s balance.

So, many armchair players who thought this would be a goldmine for ride-hailing services were clearly misunderstanding the mechanics.

Of course, there was one final possibility: using cheats.

Using cheats to transmit false signals to deceive the system and achieve AFK operation.

However, this world had extremely strict measures against cheats. Creating, distributing, or using cheat programs would be severely punished. Official game platforms encrypted game programs, and the continuous online game data constantly monitored abnormal patterns.

Going to all that trouble to create a cheat just to earn a bit more money running a ride-hailing service with autonomous driving in the game… would be pointless and foolish.

With that kind of energy, why fixate on a regular single-player driving game? Go ruin FPS games instead.

Zhang Yan’s test results showed that the best sitting position during self-driving was the second option: palms facing up on the legs, ready to take control at any time.

Constantly holding the steering wheel was tiring, while completely removing hands from the wheel meant reaction time would be insufficient, either potentially causing danger or possibly causing the autonomous driving system to stop.

Clearly, the game’s attitude was very clear: self-driving could indeed save effort for the driver, but one should never rely on it too much. It’s your own life at stake, so you still need to pay attention.

A car could be described as the most powerful lethal weapon that an ordinary person can legally obtain. The slightest mistake could cost a life, so it must be taken extremely seriously.

After Zhang Yan verified the details of the self-driving technology, concerns about the K1’s fairness disappeared, leaving only questions about its realism.

Obviously, the game’s self-driving technology hadn’t become a money-making exploit, but why could Stefer obtain a car with self-driving technology far ahead of its time while other vehicle brands couldn’t?

After all, they must have taken money from Stefer!

Regarding this, Zhang Yan was helpless. She could thoroughly verify the vehicle’s self-driving mechanics, but she couldn’t guess why Shangyang Games had introduced such an autonomous vehicle model for Stefer.

All she could do was wait for the public opinion to develop and see how Tengda would respond.

…

…

February 8th, Friday.

The controversy surrounding the new version of “Safe and Civilized Driving” continued to intensify online.

Many comments accused the game of losing its original vision, sacrificing its fairness and realism, essentially contradicting itself.

These accusations notably increased during Friday daytime.

The reason wasn’t hard to guess—interested parties had definitely gotten involved!

For players, this update to “Safe and Civilized Driving” was actually quite good. Although some players felt that the K1 model’s self-driving capabilities were inappropriate and that the brand should have been blurred rather than placed under Stefer, these emotions weren’t that intense. Most were willing to wait for Shangyang Games to provide a reasonable explanation.

But stakeholders saw things differently.

“Safe and Civilized Driving” had offended many automobile manufacturers, and Stefer had many enemies both domestically and internationally.

Many modified car models had been smashed to pieces in “Safe and Civilized Driving,” triggering internet mockery and creating public relations crises. How could these car manufacturers simply let it go?

Yes, IIAS was also conducting crash tests, smashing their cars to bits and uploading videos and crash results online.

But firstly, IIAS’s influence on ordinary consumers wasn’t as great. Many people only checked the IIAS website before buying a car, and except for some popular key models, these crash results didn’t create much of a stir online.

Secondly, IIAS had strong backing and had always been impartial. Even if these car manufacturers wanted to retaliate, they couldn’t find a weak point.

If one day IIAS conducted a seemingly unfair evaluation, there would certainly be large-scale attacks against it online—this was almost inevitable.

But “Safe and Civilized Driving” was just a game. Who did they think they were, acting high and mighty like IIAS?

The key was that the negative public opinion generated by “Safe and Civilized Driving” was even greater than IIAS because the game’s influence was so widespread!

Now, driving schools across the country were promoting the Safe and Civilized Driving simulator, giving the game many active players. If a manufacturer’s car performed poorly or had poor safety in the game, it would directly affect real-world vehicle sales.

Moreover, “Safe and Civilized Driving” had originally planned to cooperate with some car manufacturers, but these manufacturers had refused.

Later, when these manufacturers actively sought cooperation, “Safe and Civilized Driving” made exorbitant demands, requiring them to pay!

This was clearly intolerable.

Good grief! After being portrayed negatively, they approached to license their cars, but then had to pay money? And they couldn’t have any influence over how their cars performed in the game?

Would a major automotive company be reduced to begging on their knees?

The key was that they weren’t even dealing with Mr. Pei or Tengda Group, but merely Shangyang Games, a subsidiary of Tengda Group.

Many car manufacturers couldn’t tolerate being treated this way by a game company.

Now, they had finally found the perfect opportunity!