Agree, it didn’t do anything to avoid the obstacle. A human could probably see it as an obstacle and try to swerve to the side, albeit not knowing what it is. Not saying it’s possible to avoid, but some reaction would be made.
Comment on Elon's Death Machine (aka Tesla) Mows Down Deer at Full Speed , Keeps Going on "Autopilot"
Windex007@lemmy.world 2 weeks agoIf you watch the video, the deer was standing on a strip of off coloured pavement, and also had about the same length as the dotted line. Not sure how much colour information comes through at night on those cameras.
The point here isn’t actually “should it have stopped for the deer” , it’s “if the system can’t even see the deer, how could it be expected to distinguish between a deer and a child?”
The calculus changes incredibly between a deer and a child.
fluxx@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Buelldozer@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
A human could probably see it as an obstacle and try to swerve to the side, albeit not knowing what it is.
Attempting to swerve aside at that speed results in over correction, followed by loss of control and then a rollover crash. Happens all the time to people who aren’t aware / don’t remember that you’re supposed to hit deer head on.
deranger@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Happens all the time to people who aren’t aware / don’t remember that you’re supposed to hit deer head on.
This isn’t true. You shouldn’t jerk the wheel and swerve to avoid an animal, but if you can do it safely you absolutely should. Not only to avoid damage, but to prevent it coming through the windshield. I’ve seen this same idea in a few different comments here, but growing up in deer infested upstate NY, “hit it head on” is something I’ve never heard. Not from parents/relatives, not from driver’s ed, not from the internet until today. Keep it out of the ditch but absolutely avoid hitting the deer if you can. You don’t need to jerk the wheel to move 4-6 feet to the right, into the shoulder.
Buelldozer@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
I’d imagine there’s a few reasons for the variation in driver training between upstate NY and Wyoming.
- Road Speed. Here in Wyoming our highways are 65-70MPH (posted) and most of the Interstate is posted at 80MPH. You can generally figure that everyone is doing at least 5MPH over that. The higher the speed the less time you have to react and the harder it is to lightly twitch a vehicle to one side or the other.
- Road layout. You commented about swerving into the shoulder but most of our highways have a shoulder width of 48" or less and on the other side of the shoulder there’s commonly a ditch. It has to do with the wind and snow we get here but if you twitch onto the shoulder here you are likely to encounter a very unwelcome surprise.
- Animal differences. In upstate New York you’re dodging Whitetail deer, here you’re trying to dodge Antelope (which are nearly as fast your car) Mule deer, Elk, Black bear, Brown Bear, and the occasional Moose. The bigger the animal the harder it is to dodge.
The way you describe upstate NY is how it was taught to me when I grew up in Nebraska but it’s not what they advise in Wyoming.
NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The idea of don’t swerve for deer is very common and is taught in driving schools. If you’ve never heard it until today, well, today you learn. You don’t know dismiss it because you haven’t heard it.
Swerving is dangerous and even if you think you can do it safely, having a deer at night appear while travelling at high speeds is risky.
You’re supposed to slow down but stay in lane.
The reason you’re supposed to swerve for things like Moose is because moose are big as fuck and tall, and if you hit one head on, you will cut the legs out from under it, and it’s massive body will roll through the windshield and crush you, killing you or causing massive bodily harm.
NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Hit the deer head on, but swerve for moose and elk.
Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
At the same time, it would have located it if it was using radar, but Musk decided that cameras are the future (contrary to all other brands)
Windex007@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yeah. I mean, I understand the premise, I just think it’s flawed. Like, you and I as vehicle operators use two cameras when we drive (our two eyes). It’s hypothetically sufficient in terms of raw data input.
Where it falls apart is that we also have brains which have evolved in ways we don’t even understand to consume those inputs effectively.
But most importantly, why aim for parity at all? Why NOT give our cars the tools to “see” better than a human? I want that!
Turbonics@lemmy.sdf.org 2 weeks ago
No human could have avoided that deer without swerving their car.
A lidar provides superhuman vision which works in the dark and through fog. Elon is making a human car and ignores all the limits we have that can be solved in other ways.
A human is a general purpose organism. We are not designed as specialized driving machines.
Windex007@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I completely agree that if there are tools that can allow a vehicle to “see” better than a human it’s absurd not to implement them. Even if musk could make a car exactly as good as a human, that’s a low bar. It isn’t good enough.
As for humans: if you are operating a vehicle such that you could not avoid killing an unexpected person on the road, you are not safely operating the vehicle. In this case, it’s known as “over driving your headlights”, you are driving at a speed that precludes you from reacting appropriately by the time you can perceive an issue.
Imagine if it wasn’t a deer but a chunk of concrete that would kill you if struck at speed. Perhaps a bolder on a mountain pass. A vehicle that has broken down.
Does Musk’s system operate safely? No. The fact that it was a deer is completely irrelevant.