Self-Driving Teslas Are Fatally Striking Motorcyclists More Than Any Other Brand: New Analysis

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨KayLeadfoot@fedia.io⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://fuelarc.com/news-and-features/self-driving-teslas-are-fatally-striking-motorcyclists-more-than-any-other-brand-new-analysis/

TL;DR: Self-Driving Teslas Rear-End Motorcyclists, Killing at Least 5

Brevity is the spirit of wit, and I am just not that witty. This is a long article, here is the gist of it:

The NHTSA’s self-driving crash data reveals that Tesla’s self-driving technology is, by far, the most dangerous for motorcyclists, with five fatal crashes that we know of.
This issue is unique to Tesla. Other self-driving manufacturers have logged zero motorcycle fatalities with the NHTSA in the same time frame.
The crashes are overwhelmingly Teslas rear-ending motorcyclists.

Read our full analysis as we go case-by-case and connect the heavily redacted government data to news reports and police documents.

Oh, and read our thoughts about what this means for the robotaxi launch that is slated for Austin in less than 60 days.

source

Comments

Sort:hotnew top

keesrif@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
On a quick read, I didn’t see the struck motorcycles listed. Last I heard, a few years ago, was that this mainly affected motorcycles with two rear lights that are spaced apart and fairly low to the ground. I believe this is mostly true for Harleys.

The theory I recall was that this rear light configuration made the Tesla assume it was looking (remember, only cameras without depth data) at a car that was further down the road - and acceleration was safe as a result. It miscategorised the motorcycle so badly that it misjudged it’s position entirely.

source
- 0x0@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  This video proposes that theory.
  
  source
  - keesrif@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Ah, thanks for jogging my memory
    
    source
- NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Are you saying Harley drivers are fair game?
  
  source
- ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  The ridiculous thing is, it has 3 cameras pointing forward, you only need 2 to get stereoscopic depth perception with cameras…why the fuck are they not using that!?
  
  source
  - amorpheus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    That seems like a spectacular oversight. How is it supposed to replicate human vision without depth perception?
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
- treadful@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Still probably a good idea to keep an eye on that Tesla behind you. Or just let them past.
  
  source
- jonne@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Whatever it is, it’s unacceptable and they should really ban Tesla’s implementation until they fix some fundamental issues.
  
  source
captainastronaut@seattlelunarsociety.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Tesla self driving is never going to work well enough without sensors - cameras are not enough. It’s fundamentally dangerous and should not be driving unsupervised (or maybe at all).

source
- Ledericas@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  they originally had lidar, or radar, but musk had them disabled in the older models.
  
  source
  - NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    They had radar. Tesla has never had lidar, but they do use lidar to ground truth their camera depth / velocity calculations.
    
    source
- scarabic@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  These fatalities are a Tesla business advantage. Every one is a data point they can use to program their self-driving intelligence. No one has killed as many as Tesla, so no one knows more about what kills people than Tesla. We don’t have to turn this into a bad thing just because they’re killing people /s
  
  source
- ascense@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Most frustrating thing is, as far as I can tell, Tesla doesn’t even have binocular vision, which makes all the claims about humans being able to drive with vision only even more blatantly stupid. At least humans have depth perception. And supposedly their goal is to outperform humans?
  
  source
  - TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Tesla’s argument of “well human eyes are like cameras therefore we shouldn’t use LiDAR” is so fucking dumb.
    
    Human eyes have good depth perception and absolutely exceptional dynamic range and focusing ability. They also happen to be linked up to a rapid and highly efficient super computer far outclassing anything that humanity has ever devised, certainly more so than any computer added to a car.
    
    And even with all those advantages humans have, we still crash from time to time and make smaller mistakes regularly.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments