The US Just Mandated Automated Emergency Braking Systems By 2029 (caranddriver.com) 286
Come 2029, all cars sold in the U.S. "must be able to stop and avoid contact with a vehicle in front of them at speeds up to 62 mph," reports Car and Driver.
"Additionally, the system must be able to detect pedestrians in both daylight and darkness. As a final parameter, the federal standard will require the system to apply the brakes automatically up to 90 mph when a collision is imminent, and up to 45 mph when a pedestrian is detected." Notably, the federal standardization of automated emergency braking systems includes pedestrian-identifying emergency braking, too. Once implemented, the NHTSA projects that this standard will save at least 360 lives a year and prevent at least 24,000 injuries annually. Specifically, the federal agency claims that rear-end collisions and pedestrian injuries will both go down significantly...
"Automatic emergency braking is proven to save lives and reduce serious injuries from frontal crashes, and this technology is now mature enough to require it in all new cars and light trucks. In fact, this technology is now so advanced that we're requiring these systems to be even more effective at higher speeds and to detect pedestrians," said NHTSA deputy administrator Sophie Shulman.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader sinij for sharing the article.
"Additionally, the system must be able to detect pedestrians in both daylight and darkness. As a final parameter, the federal standard will require the system to apply the brakes automatically up to 90 mph when a collision is imminent, and up to 45 mph when a pedestrian is detected." Notably, the federal standardization of automated emergency braking systems includes pedestrian-identifying emergency braking, too. Once implemented, the NHTSA projects that this standard will save at least 360 lives a year and prevent at least 24,000 injuries annually. Specifically, the federal agency claims that rear-end collisions and pedestrian injuries will both go down significantly...
"Automatic emergency braking is proven to save lives and reduce serious injuries from frontal crashes, and this technology is now mature enough to require it in all new cars and light trucks. In fact, this technology is now so advanced that we're requiring these systems to be even more effective at higher speeds and to detect pedestrians," said NHTSA deputy administrator Sophie Shulman.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader sinij for sharing the article.
It's the "before imminent" that is gonna kill (Score:2)
I'm worried that if it's braking before imminent and the car is already unstable (or you're swerving), the car suddenly braking it self could easily cause you to flip. Or at least, fuck up your steering as you're flung forward unexpectedly and already driving fast! Aren't their test subjects kind of aware and prepared, already?
Re: (Score:2)
I'm worried that if it's braking before imminent and the car is already unstable (or you're swerving), the car suddenly braking it self could easily cause you to flip.
Nope. Firstly, if you're swerving the car won't be able to lock on to the thing in front of you and won't engage AEB. Secondly you can't flip a car by stepping on the brake no matter how hard when your wheels have already lost traction. Thirdly, this has nothing to do with swerving. You're already about to be in an accident.
AEB is a common feature in virtually every mid and high end card sold for the past decade. It's saving far more lives than it is causing accidents. But if you're in a situation where you
Re: (Score:3)
I think you need to clarify for us what scenario you're imagining where you're driving fast and any braking will fling you forward and mess with your ability to steer, yet it's somehow still safe for you to be swerving so hard that you're in imminent danger of the car flipping if the brakes are applied.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm worried that if it's braking before imminent and the car is already unstable (or you're swerving), the car suddenly braking it self could easily cause you to flip.
Active stability control they are mandating will have this feature will therefore also have that. In fact the NHTSA is also looking at mandating it for heavy trucks [federalregister.gov], and in the bargain also mandating stability control. I don't know if our bus actually has stability control or not, but it definitely does have ABS, and the generation of Bendix ABS used in it in 1999 was capable of doing ESC.
Nobody is supposed to be driving on public roads such that such an event would cause an accident anyway. Even my car wit
Re: (Score:2)
Driving fast on the freeway is normal. I'm a good driver, never been in a wreck, but people do often drive like bad drivers without getting into crashes.
It's those people who you may be turning into people who get into crashes and kill others.
This seems like it could be making things worse. I hope the braking is gradual at least.
Re: It's the "before imminent" that is gonna kill (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm a good driver
said every bad driver ever.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, nearly 50 and no adverse events, so, it's a good bet.
Anyway, I haven't been able to drive in 7-8 years. So I'm a great driver!
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
never been in a wreck,
Not yet.
The point isn't to survive each journey, it's to drive calmly & safely & at moderate speed until you reach your destination. It's not a race. It's not a driving skills contest. If that's too boring for you, take up an extreme sport... away from the public.
Re: (Score:3)
never been in a wreck,
Not yet.
The point isn't to survive each journey, it's to drive calmly & safely & at moderate speed until you reach your destination. It's not a race. It's not a driving skills contest. If that's too boring for you, take up an extreme sport... away from the public.
Stop with this bullshit. There are a ton of people out there who can rightfully claim to be a good driver. Four decades of driving and not a single accident. That includes driving around large parts of the country by myself long before gps or any advanced driving features existed. I've been in accidents, but only because the other people were incompetent.
And yes, driving is a skills contest. Can you safely drive at the posted speed without endangering those around you? Can you navigate in inclement wea
Re: (Score:2)
I've been in accidents, but only because the other people were incompetent.
Yeah, of course. Always the other driver's fault, right?
What an idiot for not going fast enough & then not getting out of the way!
Re: (Score:3)
"The point isn't to survive each journey, it's to drive calmly & safely & at moderate speed until you reach your destination."
That's complete bullshit. For most driving, the point is solely to reach the destination.
"It's not a race. It's not a driving skills contest."
False choice. You are not required to drive "calmly", whatever that is, simply because "it's not a race".
Re: It's the "before imminent" that is gonna kill (Score:2)
Itâ(TM)s not. But it does warn you it might happen with a series of beeps.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm a good driver,
It doesn't have to be better than "good" drivers to make sense. It just has to be better than average drivers.
Hopefully it's improved since 2019 (Score:3)
Overall, I like the assist features on my wife's 2019 Subaru Outback. The lane assist can be handy, and the smart cruise control is great. However I've had three different occasions where it suddenly warned me a collision was imminent. In one case it was because a leafy branch was hanging a bit too low in front of the car - that I understand (and I was going really slow anyway). But the other two instances are mysteries... there was nothing there, but it suddenly told me I needed to brake to avoid a collision.
Fortunately on this Subaru you can choose whether to enable the automatic responses, such as auto-braking or lane correction. But I'm guessing that won't be an option on the 2029 cars.
Re: Hopefully it's improved since 2019 (Score:2)
I have figured out that some shadows and road patches can trig the braking system.
A side effect of the lane assist is that a lot of the 'feeling' of the road disappears and it makes it harder to find out ice on the road where just subtle changes in the feel of the car indicates bad conditions.
Re: (Score:2)
I have a 2021 Toyota and have had collision warnings for both stupid reasons (no, I am not about to crash into that parked car on the side of the road) and mysterious reasons. Although there is an option to disable them, it turns itself back on next time you start the car.
Re: (Score:2)
But the other two instances are mysteries... there was nothing there, but it suddenly told me I needed to brake to avoid a collision.
Three or four times now my wife's CRV has behaved in a similar fashion for absolutely NO discernible reason and when there were no other vehicles even remotely close enough to be of concern. In one of the instances there wasn't another vehicle even in sight in front of or beside the car.
I say the behaviour was 'similar' because although your wife's car merely warned you, my wife's car actually braked hard. Under less favourable conditions an accident could easily have occurred. Cruise control and all other
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
States don't have that many highways. 2 deaths per day on them seems like a lot to me. It's way vastly higher than kids killed in school shootings in the U.S., or school stabbings in China.
I am just hoping the implementation doesn't get even more people killed.
Re: (Score:3)
People have rioted and fought wars over less deaths.
Re:Hopefully it's improved since 2019 (Score:4, Insightful)
You realize that is only 2 deaths per state per day?
The number of people who died in my street this year is 0. So we don't need to do anything and everything is safe. It's great when we can write off human life by simply cutting statistics down to the point where it becomes irrelevant.
In other news I've never been in an accident in my car so why should any of my passengers need a seatbelt. The data is clear, it won't make them any safer.
Re: (Score:2)
Or, it's 12 9/11s per year. One a month like clockwork.
Each driver should probably get some kind of medal for high performance when contributing to this amazingly good safety record.
America does not have a good safety record for driving. The number of deaths per mile are twice the UK for example. You can't even claim this is because America is big (as if you are daily driving from Fluffy Landing, FL to Humptulips, WA daily), because it's per mile.
Re: (Score:2)
It's probably due mostly to our higher speed limits and faster vehicles. Yes, your top end vehicles are just as fast as ours, they are the same vehicles, but our average engine displacement is much higher so the torque figures are larger and it's much easier to get into trouble. And speed doesn't so much cause accidents, that's more reckless driving, but it does increase fatalities.
We have great collision testing requirements here, generally the most stringent on the planet in fact, but add enough energy an
No thanks. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't worry, the government will make it expensive to impossible to have an old school car that "just works" without 24/7 GPS monitoring, EV, or taking your ICE engine away so you have to beg and wheedle for access to a charger. With all the fanbois saying there is no choice except to buy an EV or enjoy riding a bicycle.
California has already mandated GPS-linked speed limit governors and mandatory retrofits of those onto existing cars. It is coming.
Re:No thanks. (Score:4, Interesting)
You trust that the components won't break (even thought they fail all the time). Why not a computer program?
Go read that sentence you wrote, and you'll find your answer.
For the impatient Zoomers: Computer programs are notorious for being broken and failing constantly. We have good reason not to trust them. This isn't the Apollo era computer systems we're dealing with, it's the "move fast and break things" era of shit design and unaccountable computer systems (and developers) we're dealing with. You might be willing to trust your life to a computer moving 65+Mph that was pushed out the door last minute with 6 months of constant crunch time development. But I'm not, and there's certainly others who will agree with me on that.
If you are unfortunate enough to get stuck in, and survive the inevitable bug rearing it's head that causes a massive pile up on I-95, I'm sure you'll think twice as well. At the very least you'll be joining the lawsuit which some judge will throw out because "binding arbitration and class action waver" / "government mandated" / "good faith" non-sense.
Re: (Score:2)
Glad I don't live near you. I prefer to live around people who understand that the modern cars are safer (for both occupants as well as people outside of the car) than ever before. We need less dangerous idiots like you out there.
Modern cars are heavier than previous models which means more kinetic energy/danger during a crash.
Re: (Score:2)
Modern cars are heavier than previous models which means more kinetic energy/danger during a crash.
Which is irrelevant since they are clearly shown to be safer on the road and for pedestrians in *EVERY* category. There's more to the equation than weight. The kinetic energy of something weighing 1.5T vs 2T is irrelevant to your survival when your face splits open on the windshield.
Needs to Work Better... (Score:2)
...than the detection in my present car that will, instead of applying the brakes, simply scream at me with some kind of buzzer or horn.
I think it likely that the accident and injury rate will go up. My own car's systems get all hysterical when I'm turning left, and someone is in the right lane when I'm approaching them at normal speed, and it thinks I'm going to hit it. No, I'm about to steer left. If instead it goes jumping on the brakes, and it's a bit slick out from water in either liquid or solid
Not new, and very useful (Score:4, Informative)
These systems have been around for a while [wikipedia.org], and research indicates they reduce rear end accidents by about 50%. [etsc.eu]
I've had these in my cars for a decade, and I've never had the auto-brake trigger - at least not fully. I have occasionally had the car deciding to warn me that I need to take over from the adaptive cruise control when the car in front of me brakes harder than usual but that's not the same - and also appreciated.
Re: (Score:2)
Agreed. They’ve been in my Audis for 15 years, and the one American car (Tesla) thought I bought in that time period also had the feature, albeit that one had a phantom braking problem that the Audis did not, and I never felt quite confident in its ability to stop me in time to prevent an accident the way I did with the German cars. No real data, just feel of the system while driving.
I find that the latest Audi is a little overly aggressive when parking near a bush - it’s come on and slammed me
Older than you, and Wiki, think... (Score:2)
There was a company in San Diego in the late '80s called "Radar Control Systems" that had a very reliable system that would gently warn the driver, then start yelling at him, and finally override him and hit the brakes to avoid rear-ending another vehicle or plowing into a stationary object. The company got patents on their stuff (don't know if the patents belong to the company or to one or more execs). They tried selling it to the auto companies but none wanted it. They, at some point, did a joint project
Re: (Score:2)
Was that RASHID [latimes.com] by chance? I remember a lot of people that had radar detectors whining about people using that system due to false alarms it produced. It did seem to work, and I remember hearing about people modifying systems like that so they could tailgate cars by a matter of feet and even if the car in front does a full stop, it would ensure a collision doesn't happen.
Re: (Score:2)
I've had these in my cars for a decade, and I've never had the auto-brake trigger - at least not fully.
I've had it trigger twice. Once for something minor, reversing I didn't see post sticking out of the ground. The car stopped so suddenly I thought I hit something and when I got out and looked I saw I was just 2cm (that's less than an inch in freedom land) from a post. The other time was on a highway where the car two in front of me drifted to the shoulder and hit a stalled vehicle, and then spun into the car in front of me which ended up sideways and AEB stopped me about 10cm (less than a foot) from the hi
Re: (Score:2)
Anecdotal, but I've witnessed my dad's 2020 Ford Fusion warning system freak out at least three times while riding in his car, with absolutely nothing in front of it. The backup sensor does this literally dozens of times more often as he's backing out of parking spaces, as does my mother's Ford Ecosport (I forget what year it is, but it's newer than my dad's car). Seriously, the backup sensors on both these cars are way, way too sensitive.
People say there's lots of hard evidence that these perimeter detec
Re: (Score:2)
These systems have been around for a while [wikipedia.org], and research indicates they reduce rear end accidents by about 50%. [etsc.eu]
If you are citing benefits, you also need to consider costs. How much does it cost per vehicle to implement such system, including both upfront costs and repairs?
We already have insurance cost increasing across the board because previously trivial accidents, like cracked windshield or damaged bumper now result in thousands of dollars to repair due to sensors and calibration needed.
Insurance cost reduction? (Score:2)
With this additional mandated nanny state software and hardware, will insurance rates go down because of supposed fewer accidents and/or injuries? Nope. Because insurance companies will keep their rates high to pad their bottom line.
Any time something like this is mandated there should be a mandated reduction in insurance rates for anyone who has it. For something big like this, a twenty percent reduction should be standard. After all, if this increases safety insurance companies won't be paying out as
Three false alarms in two years on my car (Score:2)
And it's only an alarm. Threshold to apply brakes is higher than the threshold to sound an audible alarm. The owner's manual is helpfully vague about what those actual thresholds are.
My prediction is that it's even odds if those 360 hypothetical lives saved and 24k injuries prevented per year will be outweighed by lives lost and injuries sustained from poorly designed or malfunctioning systems putting the brakes on for no reason at highway speeds.
Re: (Score:2)
Cost vs. benefit analysis (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
What would be more cost effective? Just curious.
Carjackers and street thugs will love this (Score:2)
If the driver can't override it the bad guys can use this to capture your vehicle.
Does pedestrian include deer? (Score:2)
If it does it could be a good thing.
I hope they test it that way. In Australia they will want to test it on kangaroos.
Tesla's auto brake saved my legs, maybe (Score:4, Interesting)
Maybe - how can you ever be 100% sure?
I was crossing a road in Beijing and a tesla y turning left appeared to be slowing to let pedestrians cross. I was one such pedestrian. I took the hint and continued to cross in front of it, but as I did so, it started to move forward and would surely have hit my legs. I jumped a little and turned to look and saw that the driver was using her phone and was visibly shocked that the car had stopped so suddenly. I suspect she had attempted to accelerate without looking properly (or at all?).
Anyway, the abruptness of the stop and the shock of the driver, made me think that the tesla stopped automatically.
Re:I prefer to be in charge of my vehicle's brakin (Score:5, Informative)
Many new cars already have this feature standard, so they already have enough data.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:I prefer to be in charge of my vehicle's brakin (Score:4, Funny)
The forward looking radar on my wife’s Kia saved us thousands of Dollars on at least two occasions. So, in general, it works.
Sounds like a wife problem
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
because of people like Elon musk
Re:I prefer to be in charge of my vehicle's brakin (Score:5, Insightful)
Government needs to see a large trial with unambiguous benefits *before* approving or mandating the technology.
Would the fact that it’s been a standard feature on pretty much every new car for the last few years and has proven itself unambiguously and demonstrably beneficial do it for you?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
A particularly good benefit would be the safety feature paying itself off in reduced insurance premiums.
Re: (Score:3)
That most definitely will not happen
Re:I prefer to be in charge of my vehicle's brakin (Score:4, Insightful)
If the claimed numbers are accurate, it corresponds to about 1% reduction in total deaths and injuries. Saving 1% on your car insurance should be about $15-20 annually, maybe $400 over 20 years.
Buttigieg said to NBC that the new rule would add an estimated $82 to the cost of a new vehicle, which the Transportation Secretary considered "a price well worth the lives saved."
My limited research found that a driver-assist addon, which includes AEB, cost $500. So it's plausible for AEB to be roughly break-even, and outright save you money if you want other stuff like adaptive cruise control/lane assist/etc. I certainly expected it to cost a lot more.
Vehicles equipped with factory-installed autonomous emergency braking (AEB) are eligible for a 10% discount as AEB has been statistically shown to help prevent crashes.
I guess my estimates are way off. And some other driver-assist features also count as safety features as far insurance companies are concerned.
Re:I prefer to be in charge of my vehicle's brakin (Score:5, Interesting)
Disables itself at the first hint of snow - when I need it the most.
Nags at me when it thinks I'm not slowing down fast enough at the car in front of me.
Nags at me when it thinks I'm too close to the car in front of me.
I can disable it but it re-enables itself every time I start the car.
Another car cuts in front of me - whoops - EBS time!
When I put foil in front of the sensor, it disables the EBS after a while, THEN disables my Cruise Control. Thanks!
I accept this required technology as inevitable. We have become a nation of drivers that needs to be on their cellphones 24/7/365 - even while driving! Or we have to drive monster trucks with high hood lines which blocks the view of pedestrians directly in front of the vehicle. Or we drive asleep in autopilot mode. Yes, this will eventually be a good thing once all the bugs and annoyances have been ironed out. But damn, this EBS is a dumpster fire of technology. We're currently at the Boeing 737 MAX level of functionality as far as I can tell.
And finally, liability. If I disable the EBS permanently and I cause an accident, then I am clearly liable. If the EBS is enabled and it results in an accident, who is liable? Me? The car manufacturer? The software developer?
This [nbcnews.com] is not theoretical.
"Would the fact that it’s
Re: (Score:2)
Everything after word 7 is explained by this one word
Nissan
Re:I prefer to be in charge of my vehicle's brakin (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Tesla's are chalk full of the automated crap and can even sort of drive themselves most of the time and yet they have the worst accident rates of any model vehicle on the road.
Tesla's approach is to move fast and break things. They have NIH syndrome, and "know better" than all their peers who have similar technology and ... as you already stated, don't have such bad accident rates.
Hint: No automaker implements AEB by doing image analysis on cameras, something that Tesla thinks is the singular solution to every problem. There's a reason my car has a forward facing radar, and a reason it works much better than Tesla who "know better".
Don't feed the astroturfers (Score:4, Insightful)
This is of course the hallmark of a rigorous study:
"Editorial Note: The content of this article is based on the author's opinions and recommendations alone. "
Yeeeahhh.
This "study" was of course picked up all over the web and quoted by the likes of Forbes link [forbes.com]. Oh wait, that wasn't actually Forbes--it was a VP of a consultancy who published this through their opinion/editorial pipeline. His clients are of course petroleum industry usual suspects.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I have this in my 2019 vehicle and it has prevented one rear end collision from a driver in front of me suddenly slowing down unexpectedly. Perhaps that driver's automatic braking system also activated and that was why they decelerated so suddenly. If so, that was two collisions that were prevented.
One other time it gave a warning and slight braking when a driver in front of me was turning. I calculated they would complete their turn before I got to that spot but my warning system calculated I would not
Re: I prefer to be in charge of my vehicle's braki (Score:3)
Why are you tailgating at such high speeds?
Re: I prefer to be in charge of my vehicle's braki (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I prefer to be in charge of my vehicle's brakin (Score:5, Interesting)
Pretty much every midrange to upper end car has this. Even fleet vehicles like ProMaster vans, Ford Transits, and Mercedes Sprinters, all have autobraking as a feature.
Teslas all have it, which is why a lot of people swing in front of them because the vehicle will slow down before the driver reacts.
Re: I prefer to be in charge of my vehicle's braki (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
I've always thought that ABS is there to avoid the loss of friction with the road when brake pressure would stop the wheel from turning, and not about reaction time.
Re: I prefer to be in charge of my vehicle's brak (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Modern ABS, that is to say any ABS used in cars sold in the US after the 90's, is superior to humans at braking in any conditions.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
On paved roads... On gravel roads, locking the brakes might result in faster braking [doi.org].
Re: I prefer to be in charge of my vehicle's brak (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
But in any case, it will result in the loss of most of the steering ability. Preventing that is one of the main benefits of ABS.
The best modern ABS systems are smart enough to lock up the brakes just enough to build up a pile of stuff in front of the wheel to aid in braking, then release just enough to let you steer.
In my 1993 Impreza the ABS would not slow the car down AT ALL in icy conditions. I had someone try to turn right while going way too quickly (with no warning, they didn't signal or anything) in front of me in a Toyota pickup going up Cobb in the snow on CA 175. Instead of departing the road for the shoulder like they wer
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, that too but ABS will stop you in a shorter distance if you are not expert in cadence braking which most people won't be.
Perhaps some vehicles it works better than others. On multiple occasions I've had to pop the e-brake to avoid eventually hitting something because ABS decided it was doing me a favor by ignoring my request to stop.
Re: (Score:2)
You will still be in charge, it's for those occasions that you are too late or not concentrating.
There are more possible means to avoid an accident than simply braking. When you take one of those actions while the computer decides to do something else the result is lost traction and you may end up losing control of the vehicle or causing an accident as a result.
Do you feel the same about ABS that helps you come to a stop quicker because you were too slow to react?
ABS prevents skids in exchange for provably INCREASING stopping distance vs an experienced driver. ABS does not work independently on each wheel so you are necessarily exchanging traction for anti-skid.
Re: (Score:2)
Citation needed. Specifically a citation that experienced drivers are better at braking than post 2000 AD ABS systems.
Re: (Score:2)
Citation needed. Specifically a citation that experienced drivers are better at braking than post 2000 AD ABS systems.
From what I remember car and driver did a bunch of testing with and without it.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: I prefer to be in charge of my vehicle's brak (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Can a Human BEAT ABS? [youtube.com]
At least according to this test the answert was no, the ABS system was able to stop better than the human even after practice.
If not, locked up wheels will decelerate you.
The whole idea is that if your wheels are locked you in fact have no stopping power left in the brakes so ABS fluttering the brakes allows the tires to still grip.
At the end of the day if you hit ice and skid you have a little bit of driver skill and a whole lotta luck to help you out, no system can save you from that situation entirely.
Re: (Score:3)
You don't want the wheels to stop (except at the end). The coefficient of sliding friction (i.e. locking the wheels) is *lower* than the coefficient of rolling friction. The best braking happens when the brakes are applying the maximum possible force without causing the wheels to slip on the road. ABS systems are designed to ride that line. That also means you can steer, but it's the least steering control you can have, except for locked wheels.
Re: (Score:3)
Most modern ABS systems (I think all new cars) do work independently for each wheel. No, ABS doesn't exchange stopping distance for preventing skidding, it provides maximum braking force.
Were you the guy skipping highschool physics so he could go screech his tires out in the parking lot?
Re:I prefer to be in charge of my vehicle's brakin (Score:5, Informative)
But that won't protect me from accidents caused by algorithm failure by other auto-braking cars
If you have an accident because the car in front of you makes an emergency braking, blame is not on the algorithm. The safety distance must be such that at any time the car in front can brake and you're able to stop behind it at your current speed.
Re: (Score:3)
But that won't protect me from accidents caused by algorithm failure by other auto-braking cars.
What algorithm failure? AEB has been a common feature of many cars for nearly decade now.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
You could also throw tacks on the road to destroy everyone’s tires, but you presumably don’t. Perhaps, like with your example, the reason one need not worry about such things in their day-to-day life is because we have sufficient mechanisms in place to deter such behavior.
Re: Tailgaters beware (Score:2)
Probably also because people in general are not *quite* the assholes we like to believe, and donâ(TM)t generally actually want to start potentially fatal road crashes.
Re: (Score:2)
Sounds like a great way to win a fully expense paid lifetime stay at your state's luxury penitentiary for attempted murder. Many cars have cameras nowadays btw, so yes you will be caught.
Re: (Score:3)
Nope. The AEB uses distance information from either a radar or sonar system, together with the vehicle's speed and braking ability, to determine if braking is needed. Just unfolding a person shaped cutout attached to your vehicle won't trigger the AEB any faster than the vehicle itself would.
Now, if you dropped the cutout on the road and it stayed upright long enough to trigger the radar system, then yes the following car would attempt to brake to avoid hitting the obstacle. Just be ready for a reckless
Re: (Score:2)
It would be interesting to see what dropping radar reflectors would do.... Or if they might be abused to get cars to stop for robberies...
Re: (Score:3)
Talk is cheap. The reason you would never do this is the exact same reason nobody else is going to do this.
Re: Tailgaters beware (Score:2)
It will probably not work, the camera system will still think it's part of your vehicle.
Re: (Score:2)
I can press a button and a cardboard cutout of a person will unfold at the rear of my car. Which will cause your AEB to activate.
-dk
Why not just throw out nails, or oil, or a missile when you're driving 90 on the highway? It could make some extremely viral Tiktok videos. I won't visit you when you're in prison.
Re: (Score:2)
America just needs to admit they fucked up with cars already. They clearly want someone else to chauffeur them around town, so they should just admit it and make the changes needed for proper public transit.
Re: (Score:2)
Nails are heavy, oil is heavy and messy, and missiles are expensive.
Re: (Score:2)
Somehow whenever new safety tech comes around people wheel out the "but what if everyone started murdering everyone" argument.
It's not that hard to fuck with people in a car. You could shoot them, drop bricks or other obstacles out the back, oil or just nails. You could install Ben-Hur spikes on your wheels. You could just leave a stolen car parked lenghtways across the interstate. You could call the police to report a DWB. The possibilities are already endless.
I'm guessing you don't since you're not a murd
Re: (Score:2)
Granted, North America should be more friendly towards pedestrians, but if we were going to be serious about that, we'd need to either move the buildings first, or make a few trillion pedways. (Most places in NA are so far apart that walking as a pedestrian is impractical even for young phy
Re: (Score:2)
"In North America, being a pedestrian means you yield to motor vehicles."
This is true everywhere, not just in North America. And it's actual law, not merely law of the jungle as you imply. There are laws that apply to right of way, the apply to all users of the road, including pedestrians.
"Granted, North America should be more friendly towards pedestrians..."
Why granted? It is an absurdly broad over-generalization and a subjective observation. Pedestrians are easily the most ill-behaved users of roads,
Re: (Score:2)
You speak as though this is a problem. The average daily experience is pedestrians walking into traffic without regard for vehicle traffic or right of way. A cross walk does not convey a right to violate a vehicle's right of way.
"I've rarely seen it here..but in north America it seems to be the norm."
Sure, you're quite the expert on North America seeing's though you don't live there. Citation please.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"unprotected left turn"+"don't walk", how? Are American drivers psychic?
Re: (Score:3)
"Tell that to the people who know that zebra striped crosswalks mean they have the right of way no matter what..."
I don't know about your scenario, I'm sure it exists. But it is a fact that people largely think that crosswalks grant universal, absolute right-of-way. They do not, right-of-way does not include a privilege of violating the right of way of other vehicles/pedestrians. If it did, right of way would mean nothing.
A cross walk does not grant you the right to step out into the street when a vehicl
Re: (Score:2)
Probably eats meat, too.