Tesla footage of braking before crash ahead [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: Tesla footage of braking before crash ahead [video]

#201

Post by sqeaky » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 5:26 PM UTC

glbrew wrote: post #178

pipio21 wrote: post #124

One of the main causes of accidents are vehicles left on the road and other vehicles impacting them or the people as they take for granted that traffic will be fluid and are distracted or whatever. You should never leave your children and family on a car on the left lane while you leave, never. I have a neighbor that is paraplegic because of that. His entire family went to the hospital after a vehicle crashed from be…

This is just incorrect. The NHTSA recommends to stay in normal riding position in the vehicle if you need to stop your car on the highway. Yes, you can still get hurt in some circumstances but your neighbor could be dead instead.

I think he meant you shouldn't stop in the fast lanes to begin with. Clearly if you have stopped and cannot go then stay in the car with all of its safety gear and crumple zones, but don't stop if you don't have to.

Re: Tesla footage of braking before crash ahead [video]

#202

Post by swasheck » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 5:31 PM UTC

euroclydon wrote: post #80

pmontra wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SUVs are not as stable as cars with a lower height. Think about the typical race car which is designed for turning fast, something that requires stability: light, low and wide. SUVs? Heavy, high and narrow relative to their height. Electronics can do marvels, but with the same electronics physics wins. I remember I could easily outperform a couple of BMW SUVs on a highway in a descent from a mountain pass. They had p…

I came down I-70 into Denver one time in a rented Ford Expedition. Wasn't going that fast, but when I hit the first curve, the body and frame started to really lean onto the outside suspension. I was scared to hit the brakes and cause it to pitch more, so I just barely touched them and had to let it drift into the next lane a bit. The turn went on forever!! Did I mention I was surrounded by motorcycles?

Hitting the brakes hard is typically the first instinct, but is rarely the correct course of action. Ice is also something that afflicts drivers in Colorado.

Re: Tesla footage of braking before crash ahead [video]

#203

Post by devy » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 5:32 PM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #2

I thought this an interesting video when Elon retweeted it. Basically the car is responding faster than the people do and keeping things from escalating. That said, having been on 101 when the cars in front start dancing like that I have to say my biggest worry isn't stopping in time its having someone behind me not stop.

You can't control cars other than yours. On the bright side, if the car behind you is also a Tesla with AutoPilot 8.0+ with latest radar sensors, then you should be just fine :)

Re: Tesla footage of braking before crash ahead [video]

#204

Post by devy » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 5:33 PM UTC

pmontra wrote: post #75

Offtopic: 30 brake vs 12 break in this thread so far. Common typo on the way to become an accepted alternative?

Thanks. Fixed mine :-)

Re: Tesla footage of braking before crash ahead [video]

#205

Post by Infernal » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 5:36 PM UTC

I think this accident could've been entirely avoided had the small pink hatchback been a Tesla.

My read on what happened here is that the pink car was making a passing maneuver, and just as the pink car driver checked their right-side mirror/blind-spot and hit the right turn signal to get out of the passing lane, the car ahead abruptly stopped. That explains why the pink car drifted so slowly to the right - it wasn't an avoidance maneuver, it was a simple lane change while unaware of the stopped car ahead. Presumably an autopilot in the pink car would've been able to see the stopped traffic ahead and hit the brakes even while the driver was looking to the right to change lanes.

Re: Tesla footage of braking before crash ahead [video]

#206

Post by swasheck » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 5:38 PM UTC

unclebucknasty wrote: post #183

avar wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you even mean by "devaluing"? Of course a more error prone, dangerous and expensive driver has less value. Is pointing this out somehow wrong? I think not pointing it out devalues human life. The road of getting rid of fallible humans from boring automatable jobs leads to Utopia, and I reject your notion that this is somehow inherently different from e.g automation in agriculture or computing

> What do you even mean by "devaluing"? I've been clear about my meaning. Can't simplify it any further. > Because certain types of technical advancement requires an element of devaluing people That's your quote. What did you mean? > Of course a more error prone, dangerous and expensive driver has less value. There's a difference between preferring tech to do the driving and saying the human has "less value". You don…

A nice sci-fi trope is that the unpredictability of humanity, and when/how it will "fail" when something better would "succeed", results in the preservation of humanity itself. It's nice to consider in the wake of the elitism.

Re: Tesla footage of braking before crash ahead [video]

#207

Post by Infernal » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 5:40 PM UTC

sytelus wrote: post #67

This is great video to study on many levels beyond self-driving car. Some observations: * The car behind didn't show turn signal so probably driver wasn't paying attention. * A small car escaping with not too much damage while SUV rolls over many times * From physics point of view, the car behind produced almost perfect torque that started horizontal spin on SUV * Collisions with barrier at high speed can produce lot…

I'm not sure what you mean by "the car behind didn't show turn signal".

If you're referring to the pink hatchback that ultimately rear-ended the SUV - the pink hatchback seems to be making a lane change to the right after passing. The driver seems to have signaled and looked to the right to clear his/her blindspot at the same moment the SUV ahead slams on the brakes. It really seems like bad luck, that traffic would suddenly stop at the exact moment the driver of the pink hatchback looks to the right to change lanes.

Re: Tesla footage of braking before crash ahead [video]

#208

Post by Infernal » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 5:42 PM UTC

brodie78382 wrote: post #140

sytelus wrote: post #67

This is great video to study on many levels beyond self-driving car. Some observations: * The car behind didn't show turn signal so probably driver wasn't paying attention. * A small car escaping with not too much damage while SUV rolls over many times * From physics point of view, the car behind produced almost perfect torque that started horizontal spin on SUV * Collisions with barrier at high speed can produce lot…

> The car behind didn't show turn signal Watch the video again; the little red car turns on their blinker and does a very slow shift to the right before clipping that stopped SUV. You're right that he wasn't paying attention, but his reaction time is incredibly slow - it looks like that car had just enough time to slam on their brakes or swerve to the right, yet they did neither.

I disagree that the pink car driver was not paying attention - he or she was likely turning to look over their right shoulder before making the lane change. The drift to the right isn't an avoidance maneuver executed lazily, but just a normal lane change. Bad luck that the SUV ahead slammed on the brakes at the exact moment the pink car driver checked his or her blind spot.

Re: Tesla footage of braking before crash ahead [video]

#209

Post by aidenn0 » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 5:45 PM UTC

Etheryte wrote: post #68

merraksh wrote: post #66

What puzzles me here is that the SUV flips over after being hit in the right-rear corner by a relatively small car and bumping into the side barrier. Flipping over in a case like this looks more likely to happen to an SUV than a lower-centered car, and makes me question the safety of SUVs.

This is a commonly known problem of SUVs, their center of gravity is a lot higher so they're a lot easier to flip over. That's why I'm puzzled by people who buy urban SUVs, that is, jeep-like cars that they never intend to use off-road.

1: Station wagons that seat more than 5 people basically don't exist anymore (last I checked only the Mercedes Benz could do so in the US).

2: Minivans have an image problem (still associated with the "soccer mom" stereotype for Gen X; millenials appear to be less averse to them). In addition, most minivans are elevated so that they can have a flat floor, so they similarly have an elevated center of gravity.

Re: Tesla footage of braking before crash ahead [video]

#210

Post by beat » Wed, Dec 28, 2016, 5:47 PM UTC

Yesterday, I was saying that autopiloted trucks would take over the long-haul trucking industries.

This is why.

Driver errors with semis on the highway kill thousands every year. This kind of technology will save lives - not just of the Tesla drivers (or other autopiloted drivers), but of the vehicles they don't hit.