Posted on 04/18/2021 10:32:23 AM PDT by DFG
Two men died after a Tesla 'on autopilot with no one driving' crashed into a tree in Houston before starting a huge fire that took 32,000 gallons of water to extinguish.
The fully-electric 2019 Tesla Model S slammed into the tree in Carlton Woods at around 11.25pm on Saturday night before bursting into flames with the passengers still inside.
Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman said an investigation had found that 'no one was driving' when the accident happened, with one man sitting in the passenger seat at the front and the second sitting in the back.
Officials told KPRC 2 that the $80,000 vehicle was moving at high speed when it failed to negotiate a cul-de-sac turn, ran off the road and crashed.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
“Welcome to Tesla Hotline, we know you have a choice in cars.....Please listen to our menu options as they have changed, If your Tesla is on fire...Press 1.....”
Please listen to our menu options as they have changed, If your Tesla is on fire and you’re trapped inside...Press 2, then kiss your azz goodbye.
“I have not heard of any pushback against manuals.”
You have not been listening.
One of the ways Tesla will be undercutting the ICE/manual drive competitors is by including insurance for their cars. Buy a “classic” and pay for insurance, or buy a Tesla, and get insurance for free.
There are countless articles comparing cost of ownership, many include.
And you don’t see farm equipment on the roads unless it has, road rated tires, or is writing checks for repairs.
Wow! Didn't think I needed a sarcasm tag for that one.
How about water on a Lithium fire. Not a great idea.
Foam is water based.
LOL, I had considered that, but...with my luck, I would brick my car! I’ll keep that in mind though. I never got around to investigating it..
There are two other developments in cars I really, REALLY like:
1.) GPS
2.) Back up camera
I will say...I force myself not to use the backup camera all the time. I want to remember how to back out without one, but...it is really handy when you are trying to back out of a parking space in a crowded parking lot with limited visiblility. I back out just far enough to pick up traffic in the camera’s wide field of view.
Those things I like.
Argon fortified “Cargo Foam” to the rescue!
Did you have to change your pants (after the unexpected controls from the car)?
If you want to really scare a first responder, tell him that he is going out to extinguish a Lithium fire.
I can NOT BELIEVE that there are people SO STUPID that they let a car drive itself at that rate of speed!! No damn wonder our nation is where it is today!!!
I just bought a used truck that, to save fuel at low power, goes from 8 cylinders to 4. Lots if problems with that. I researched the various blogs and found a guy that would reprogram the computer to turn it off and run V8 all the time.
$50 for him to reprogram my computer AND it included shipping back to me. Granted, it took him probably more time to repack and label the box for my truck’s computer than it did for him to reprogram it - but $50 well spent IMHO.
I’m guessing most anything can be changed with the various sensors and safety features. (My truck was off the warranty so that is a big deal.)
Using the old “Olympic-sized swimming pool” as a frame of reference doesn’t do much good in this case. 660,000 gallons!
My car came with blind spot warning, which I love. It also came with the EPA mandated auto-stop/start, which I hate. I hacked the ECU to turn that off permanently. I also permanently turned off the annoying seat belt warning, even though I always wear my seat belt. Auto bright lights on/off were an up charge for my car which I did not pay for. I later learned that the hardware was there, but they wouldn’t enable it without paying an extra $1000 or so. I easily hacked the ECU to turn that on. That is essential as far as I’m concerned. Same with lane assist, which is not essential but I do like. There are another couple of hacks I did that I can’t remember off the top of my head. Audi has a great forum with a lot of smart people and it was pretty easily done by following the instructions in the forum. I never would have attempted any of it without that guidance.
Did you have to change your pants (after the unexpected controls from the car)?
Because of my advanced age, I don’t trust the car to do these things for me but the lane-assist and adaptive cruise control are nice to have. I’d say they’re 80% of the way to having self-driving cars, but the last 20% will be tough.
I now sub at the junior high I retired from and I look at the kids who are getting ready to get their driver’s licenses and wonder if their kids will ever learn to drive. I had a great uncle who when young delivered candy to stores with a horse-drawn cart. He knew how to drive a horse. I’d have no idea. Time flies.
The insane speed at technological advances is too hard to believe, and I agree with you about the abilities of the cars (and not trusting them).
I can also see/imagine people getting lazy with all of the ‘back-up’ driving and easily fall asleep at the wrong time.
The end result of protecting people from their own stupidity is to live in a world full of fools.
The blind spot warning seems like that would be good-it isn’t beeping or honking at you all the time just driving down the road.
Auto bright lights is pretty cool too. I used to love having that on the floor where you could hit it with your foot. I always wondered why they got rid of it.
Of course, I never wondered why a company would charge a thousand dollars for it to simply unlock it.
Hmmm. It is an enticing thought.
Mine doesn't make any sound. It's just a light on each of the side mirrors that flashes when a lane change would be unsafe. I rarely need the mirrors anymore.
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