Local CBS story, Tesla in autopilot mode hits fire truck

[AmpedRealtor]

Walking or talking are pretty basic functions too. I still see a lot of companies struggling with walking robots and natural language processing.

Keeping a semi-autonomous car, which Tesla claims is the safest in the world, from hitting a brick wall would seem like a basic feature not rising to the level of imbuing talking robots with natural language skills.

I'm in no way defending Tesla. They should be more open about the limitations and stop over selling just about everything.

Agree.

BUT it's easy to armchair quarterback and judge the capability without knowing the obstacles and limitations on the technology.

I don't agree with your premise that this is a limitation of the technology. It is a limitation at Tesla, whatever that happens to be. Other manufacturers are able to do this - stop a car from hitting a wall - so why can't Tesla? I don't think pointing to limitations of the technology is passable at this point in time.

If I had to guess, I'd say Tesla has its AP development priorities mixed up and is not properly focusing on getting the most basic safety features working properly.

 

[Max*]

I don't agree with your premise that this is a limitation of the technology. It is a limitation at Tesla, whatever that happens to be. Other manufacturers are able to do this - stop a car from hitting a wall - so why can't Tesla? I don't think pointing to limitations of the technology is passable at this point in time.

Dunno about that, CR says that vehicles with AEB reduce rear-end accidents by 50% across the board. Not that they work every single time. Plus, plenty of videos of other car manufacturers running into brick walls or parked cars. See upthread or the other thread about AEB.
Guide to Automatic Emergency Braking

Or how about a study that says AEB not guaranteed to stop cars, even though it'll be standard on all cars soon (law)
Study: Automatic brakes not guaranteed to stop cars

If I had to guess, I'd say Tesla has its AP development priorities mixed up and is not properly focusing on getting the most basic safety features working properly.

If by AP priorities you mean digging themselves out of the hole they caused by the MobilEye breakup? Sure, that's plausible.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

If by AP priorities you mean digging themselves out of the hole they caused by the MobilEye breakup? Sure, that's plausible.

Yes, I believe that was the point at which Tesla's real AP problems began.

 

[Shaggy]

Interesting how he was still going 65 MPH right into the fire truck. Did he not notice and not care? Also, so little damage to the fire truck, are we sure he was going that fast?

It's weird that he was able to still able to be going that fast, that close, with all the other traffic around the fire truck.

 

[electracity]

The lesson here is to commute in a fire truck. The only vehicle where a 65mph collision will buff out.

 

[ahkahn]

The lesson here is to commute in a fire truck. The only vehicle where a 65mph collision will buff out.

That would be tough going from free supercharging to a vehicle that only gets about 3 miles per gallon....

 

[Pruitt]

That would be tough going from free supercharging to a vehicle that only gets about 3 miles per gallon....

Yeah, but it's the closest you'll get to driving a tank on the road.

 

[phaduman]

on closer look of this video, it does look like quite a bad collision...

 

[malcolm]

Some software applications feature start-up messages - info about short-cut keys or particular functions/options and some performance Teslas offer the "Bring It On / I want my mommy" message.

So if owners seem unwilling to read the owner manual, then maybe the firmware will have to start posting short reminders at start-up. These would only need to cover newer aspects of the car, and could include a hyperlink to the relevant page in the manual, such as:

"Reminder: Automatic Emergency Braking only reduces your current speed by 25mph. (See page XX)"

The rolling selection of these messages could be changed with OTA updates to reflect the latest incidents:

"Reminder: If you want to cross a creek, please use a bridge (News report)"

 

[Ketchups]

Also, so little damage to the fire truck, are we sure he was going that fast?

The front end is designed to crumple in like that and absorb the impact.

So yes, very little damage to the fire truck due to that and the laws of physics, the larger mass wins.

 

[mongo]

From other thread:

The driver of the Tesla is my dad's friend. He said that he was behind a pickup truck with AP engaged. The pickup truck suddenly swerved into the right lane because of the firetruck parked ahead. Because the pickup truck was too high to see over, he didn't have enough time to react. He hit the firetruck at 65mph and the steering column was pushed 2 feet inwards toward him. Luckily, he wasn't hurt. He fully acknowledges that he should've been paying more attention and isn't blaming Tesla. The whole thing was pretty unfortunate considering he bought the car fairly recently (blacked it out too).
Tesla allegedly on Autopilot hits firetruck with 65mph • r/teslamotors

Sounds to me like he was way too close to the pickup truck at that speed. If AP was engaged is still to be proven as it normally should have reacted.

We heard from a lot of drivers blaming AP at start and later it was proven to not be the case. We'll see.

From the manual :

Warning: Traffic-Aware Cruise Control cannot detect all objects and may not brake/decelerate for stationary vehicles, especially in situations when you are driving over 50 mph (80 km/h) and a vehicle you are following moves out of your driving path and a stationary vehicle or object is in front of you instead. Always pay attention to the road ahead and stay prepared to take immediate corrective action. Depending on Traffic-Aware Cruise Control to avoid a collision can result in serious injury or death.

 

[Ketchups]

From the manual :

Warning: Traffic-Aware Cruise Control cannot detect all objects and may not brake/decelerate for stationary vehicles, especially in situations when you are driving over 50 mph (80 km/h) and a vehicle you are following moves out of your driving path and a stationary vehicle or object is in front of you instead. Always pay attention to the road ahead and stay prepared to take immediate corrective action. Depending on Traffic-Aware Cruise Control to avoid a collision can result in serious injury or death.

That's how accidents happen even without autopilot.

 

[SMAlset]

The front end is designed to crumple in like that and absorb the impact.

So yes, very little damage to the fire truck due to that and the laws of physics, the larger mass wins.

Yep. And on the Tesla, yes designed to minimize force going back into the cabin. You'd much rather sacrifice empty car body during impact time than shove an engine etc into driver's lap. Sort of like how race cars are designed to more or less disintegrate on severe impact to take the force of the crash and thereby protect the driver as much as possible. Also why so many race car drivers these days walk off the field instead of being carried off. Much improved odds of that happening.

Big loss for vehicle but done with design intent of keeping the human occupants more free from severe and potentially life threatening injuries.

 

[jelloslug]

Interesting how he was still going 65 MPH right into the fire truck. Did he not notice and not care? Also, so little damage to the fire truck, are we sure he was going that fast?

It's weird that he was able to still able to be going that fast, that close, with all the other traffic around the fire truck.

It's because he was actually going about 25 MPH or so. Look at the crash tests of a Model S that are done at 45 MPH and compare the damage.

 

[MP3Mike]

It's because he was actually going about 25 MPH or so.

A 25 MPH collision will not collapse a Model S all the way up to the windshield. (35 MPH doesn't even collapse it past the front wheels.)

 

[jelloslug]

A 25 MPH collision will not collapse a Model S all the way up to the windshield. (35 MPH doesn't even collapse it as far as the front wheels.)

It will when you drive under the bumper of a fire truck.

 

[unbelievable]

A 25 MPH collision will not collapse a Model S all the way up to the windshield. (35 MPH doesn't even collapse it past the front wheels.)

You cannot compare crashing square into a solid object as per your linked clip to crashing into a firetruck parked at an angle. Waaaay to many variables at play to compare.

 

[jelloslug]

You cannot compare crashing square into a solid object as per your linked clip to crashing into a firetruck parked at an angle. Waaaay to many variables at play to compare.

I did not link it, I quoted someone else. The simple fact is that there is no way that car was going 65 MPH when it hit that firetruck.

 

[brkaus]

Tesla allegedly on Autopilot hits firetruck with 65mph • r/teslamotors

 

[unbelievable]

I did not link it, I quoted someone else. The simple fact is that there is no way that car was going 65 MPH when it hit that firetruck.

Er, sorry, I quoted the wrong post. Was meant for @MP3Mike.