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Citizen-T
Active Member
When the time comes, I wonder if we could help Tesla out with lobbying for this change. I mean, obviously we can all call our senator if we wanted to, but there are a pretty good number of us...maybe if we could concentrate our efforts on a particular day. Some kind of coordinated effort might be productive? Maybe once the Model X tally gets to be a few thousand.
shark2k
Member
I don't know about that. I use them to look backwards in peoples mirrors to determine how well they are paying attention. Then I can figure out if they are going to camp in the left lane, and I should pass on the right. Whether they see me and will look to move over. Whether they see me and think I am an idiot and attempt to piss me off by staying in the lane. Or if they are an idiot and I see the side of their car because their mirrors are not even close to being set properly.
I guess having cameras would solve the last and probably most common, and most dangerous problem I seem to encounter.
I guess having cameras would solve the last and probably most common, and most dangerous problem I seem to encounter.
If google has the weight to legalize driverless cars (Nevada at least) for the sake of technology in ~20+ years , I sure hope there is legal room for something as slight as rear view cameras for the sake of a 5% reduced COD as quickly as they can be adopted. I imagine these laws were more to require a "rearward looking device" than a piece of reflective glass...
Also, did they say 5% energy savings or 5% reduction in COD? Power is CUBED (^3) that of the reduction in frontal area which I guess goes against my case...
Also, did they say 5% energy savings or 5% reduction in COD? Power is CUBED (^3) that of the reduction in frontal area which I guess goes against my case...
tdelta1000
Active Member
The idea is cool but I think that TM is biting off more then it can chew when it comes to moving the Fed on the camera mirrors. The Fed considers that type of system a distraction to a driver so how would Tesla Motors lobby or petition the Fed on this view?? And if TM can achieve success in this area it will cement Tesla Motors' place in the industry and history. Good Luck.
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Thumper
Active Member
I don't really think camera mirrors should be mandated it is just such a good concept that I said that to emphasize it. There is just not enough voice nuance here. Darn. Most specific technology mandates are way bad ideas. Sealed beam headlight mandates held back halogen bulbs for years.
Mycroft
Life happens
I have very strong doubts that they'll be able to get approval for side cameras. Safety stuff like that is difficult to change unless there's a very strong safety reason for the change. There will be more than a few experts who will be against it.
Think about how we use the mirror. By moving our head and body around, we automatically expand the range of vision by at least 6X the surface area of the mirror. So the cameras would have to have at least that amount of area covered.
It's a huge change just to save a few miles in range.
Think about how we use the mirror. By moving our head and body around, we automatically expand the range of vision by at least 6X the surface area of the mirror. So the cameras would have to have at least that amount of area covered.
It's a huge change just to save a few miles in range.
Problematically, regulators don't have any "$ versus life" benchmark to work to. Suppose Tesla could demonstrate that this camera option, if adopted on 5% of all production vehicles, would save $XX per year and reduce various pollutants by Q%, R%, and S%, but an opposing expert introduces evidence that there would be an expected increase of Y highway deaths annually. How should the regulator weigh these numbers?
I think we all could agree that if X=$1 and Y=100 lives, we should reject the change. Most people would agree that if X=$1 billion and Y=1 life, we should accept the change. But what about intermediate values? And how should Q, R, and S figure in?
The world of regulatory economics is not cut-and-dried.
Any improvement in range due to reduced drag is amplified at higher speeds.
A 5% improvement at 55mph could be a 7 or 8% improvement at 75mph.
You could eliminate the side pods and put multiple cameras on the side of the car. With 2 or 3 cameras, you could stitch the images together and have no blindspot at all.
That's what I would do.
Head tracking software could pan the image, I think the software could make it feel just like a mirror - but better by amplifying the movements to give you a better view with smaller motions. I'd be happy to come write it for them.
A 5% improvement at 55mph could be a 7 or 8% improvement at 75mph.
You could eliminate the side pods and put multiple cameras on the side of the car. With 2 or 3 cameras, you could stitch the images together and have no blindspot at all.
That's what I would do.
Head tracking software could pan the image, I think the software could make it feel just like a mirror - but better by amplifying the movements to give you a better view with smaller motions. I'd be happy to come write it for them.
The opposing expert would be an idiot. But you could placate those idiots with the physical mirror that deploys if the camera fails.
Easier yet Just have a manual one that you store in the Frunk that clips on in the event o a failure!
People merge all the time without signaling or using their mirrors although that's not something they could argue of course. I think multiple cameras covering especially what would normally be the blind spot would be great. Hopefully the Tesla lobbyist has some luck.
This comment made me realize that it's more and more common to have turn signals on mirrors. Wonder if that will affect things?
In all though, I won't be upset if the mirrors make a return. They look fine on the S, and they'll look fine on a bigger vehicle. We'll take the range hit, but at the end of the day, it won't kill the vehicle.
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