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Self-Driving Tesla Crashes into Wall Painted to Look Like a Road… Just Months Before Planned Robotaxi Launch (fuelarc.com)

submitted 1 day ago by KayLeadfoot@fedia.io to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

326 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Mark Rober just set up one of the most interesting self-driving tests of 2025, and he did it by imitating Looney Tunes. The former NASA engineer and current YouTube mad scientist recreated the classic gag where Wile E. Coyote paints a tunnel onto a wall to fool the Road Runner.

Only this time, the test subject wasn’t a cartoon bird… it was a self-driving Tesla Model Y.

The result? A full-speed, 40 MPH impact straight into the wall. Watch the video and tell us what you think!

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[–] laurelraven@lemmy.zip 6 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I will point out that if you (or your camera-only driver assist) can't stop without hitting the car in front of you when they slam on the breaks, then you're driving too close to them... You really shouldn't ever put yourself in a position where the person in front of you could cause you to unavoidably hit them.

That said... Yeah, radar/lidar are far better than camera alone and there's no good reason not to include them in the sensor suite unless you value profits over lives.

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 3 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

And I will point out that if the car in front of you isn't paying attention and rams a stopped car in the middle of the road, you are fucked no matter what.

[–] laurelraven@lemmy.zip 0 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Not if you have the following distance to stop, but point taken: a crash decelerates you faster than breaks can and typical following distances are assuming breaking distance, not hard sudden halts.

So increase your following distance. It also has the benefit that it makes it easier to see what's ahead of the car in front of you.

There's pretty much no accident that's unavoidable (barring someone else plowing into you) if you drive defensively enough (assuming good traction and good breaks, but obviously you should increase your following or decrease your speed to compensate for that as well)

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Not if you have the following distance to stop

Maintaining a stopping distance like that is nigh impossible in a dense urban area. You'd be constantly cut off and causing tons of traffic.

[–] laurelraven@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Really? I do it pretty frequently without issue...

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 40 minutes ago

You definitely do not.