First Tesla Autopilot Death

[Bee]

Electric hand brake? WTF is wrong with the good old handbrake lever?

And automatic gear selectors that don't indicate whether it's in "park" or "drive" or whatever?

Is there no sense in any of this?

It's not as if sticking a microcontroller and electronics in the damn thing makes it any safer, just more crap to go wrong.

Exactly.
The bug exists for "ages" in almost all cars and they are taking ages to fix this crap.

[rapid]

I'm a bit of a fan of Tesla, and so far I've been impressed with their transparency on issues etc.. they don't shy away from releasing statements with supporting data etc.. their cars are so connected they can understand what went wrong and learn lessons.

The air filter post was pretty interesting:

https://www.teslamotors.com/en_GB/bl...de-to-the-test

[MrMarkyMark]

Oh dear

Tesla has said it informed Nhtsa immediately about the crash that killed Brown but the regulator only announced that it had happened on 30 June.

The electric car company offloaded $2bn worth of stock between the crash and its announcement nearly two months later, a move the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly looking into.

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...on-fatal-crash

[vetran]

not sure why they can't sense the drivers absence by measuring the seat weight (with multiple sensors) and put the parking brake on if they get out of the car. Maybe have a one time override (until the next time its started) if it needs pushing or towing.

[MrMarkyMark]

not sure why they can't sense the drivers absence by measuring the seat weight (with multiple sensors) and put the parking brake on if they get out of the car. Maybe have a one time override (until the next time its started) if it needs pushing or towing.

Seems very sensible.
One problem I could see is the overweight <who shall remain nameless> causing the sensor to stick

[OwlHoot]

Why have a large lever for the handbrake when you can have a button? ..

I'd love to disagree, but TBH I've never used the hand brake "flap" on my Jag, as it seems to know when to apply the handbrake.

(I _presume_ - Does putting an automatic vehicle in park automatically apply the hand brake?!)

The other reason for never touching the flap is that I wouldn't want to accidently pull it on the motorway and do a few handbrake turns or even emergency stops at 95 MPH!

I rather hope the handbrake flap is actually disabled when going above a certain speed, because suppose something was caught in it and pulled it, or I accidently pulled it while scrabbling around for a cigarette lighter or something.

[OwlHoot]

not sure why they can't sense the drivers absence by measuring the seat weight (with multiple sensors) and put the parking brake on if they get out of the car. ..

Maybe, but what happens if they park in a 1 in 2 hill to enjoy the view and want to sit in the car munching a sandwich or something?

Actuallty, the more I think about these flap hand brakes, the less I like them.

It would be interesting to know when it is (a) Safe and actually desirable to use them, if ever, and (b) When is it dangerous to use them!

I mean does one _ever_ have to use them, or are they there only for show and reassurance, or some bizarre situation one would never face in practice.

[MrMarkyMark]

Maybe, but what happens if they park in a 1 in 2 hill to enjoy the view and want to sit in the car munching a sandwich or something?

Are you saying that while they were enjoying the view, or something, that switching seats could be a problem

[OwlHoot]

Are you saying that while they were enjoying the view, or something, that switching seats could be a problem

No, I understood vetran's idea of a seat weight sensor was that the handbrake would be applied only when there was no human sitting on the seat.

My point was that it might also need to be applied when people stayed in the car while it was parked, especially if it was on a slope. Also, what about a toddler left in the seat, or a dog jumping about, or a large potted plant bought from a garden centre?

For reference, here is part of his post, on the previous page:

not sure why they can't sense the drivers absence by measuring the seat weight .. and put the parking brake on if they get out of the car.

[MrMarkyMark]

No, I understood vetran's idea of a seat weight sensor was that the handbrake would be applied only when there was no human sitting on the seat.

My point was that it might need to be applied when people stayed in the car while it was parked, especially if it was on a slope. Also, what about a toddler left in the seat, or a dog jumping about, or a large potted plant bought from a garden centre?

For reference, here is part of his post, on the previous page:

Indeed.

My angle on your point was slightly different, two people enjoying the view, or something, may not provide constant supply of weight on the seats.
It would depend on what they were up to

Therefore Vetrans system could fail.