Bronco involved in head-on collision with Tesla in Arizona

[Danzer]

Teslas beta testing is currently being done on public roads, which I find absolutely insane and don't understand how that can be legal. I don't dislike Tesla, I just think they're overrated for what they are. I would argue that Telsa is not 7-10 years ahead of anyone when it comes to EV's simply for the fact that they are adamantly relying on optical cameras only for their autonomous driving technology. Every other big player like Ford, VW, ect are already working out the implementation of LiDAR (in addition to optical cameras) for their future autonomous driving capabilities, which is able to see in low light, adverse weather, and is much higher resolution than traditional cameras.

Tesla cars are doing well because they were the first to the scene and Elon is a master at both making the impossible somehow work and hyping up his brand. The next few years will bring on a plethora of EV's and Tesla will have to come up with a way to stay relevant once every major auto maker has a comparable product with a much more intelligent ADAS/Autonomous system.

There is a lot I would argue with your points. Unless you own a Tesla I wouldn't call it hype. I've had my Model 3 for 3 years now and still love getting in it for my long commutes everyday. I just rolled 110,000 miles in those 3 years with hardly any maintenance issues. I had to replace the broken truck latch and I had them service the cabin air filters. Both times they came to my house and did the work. Tesla is also the only manufacturer to release their crash data and with Autopilot engaged and it's much safer than humans. I had a guy thank me once when his daughter walking their dog walked in front of a parked van to cross the road and the car- not me, locked the brakes up. He was also walking a dog but on the other side of the street. Autopilot wasn't engaged but the system works pretty well and can react faster than humans. I don't want to tell you Tesla is the best at everything because there is definitely room for improvement but they are ahead of others in EV's and features in general. Here is what I found about safety with Autopilot, take it for what's it worth because it does come from Tesla.

Sponsored

 

[Silver-Bolt]

I thought you were a little light on the Bronco but the Tesla is considerately heavier than I thought.

You are comparing vehicle weight (Tesla) to Gross vehicle weight (Bronco).

 

[shimmy825]

I just read through this whole thread and was awarded a chem degree from bronco marketing

 

[Panaran]

There is a lot I would argue with your points. Unless you own a Tesla I wouldn't call it hype. I've had my Model 3 for 3 years now and still love getting in it for my long commutes everyday. I just rolled 110,000 miles in those 3 years with hardly any maintenance issues. I had to replace the broken truck latch and I had them service the cabin air filters. Both times they came to my house and did the work. Tesla is also the only manufacturer to release their crash data and with Autopilot engaged and it's much safer than humans. I had a guy thank me once when his daughter walking their dog walked in front of a parked van to cross the road and the car- not me, locked the brakes up. He was also walking a dog but on the other side of the street. Autopilot wasn't engaged but the system works pretty well and can react faster than humans. I don't want to tell you Tesla is the best at everything because there is definitely room for improvement but they are ahead of others in EV's and features in general. Here is what I found about safety with Autopilot, take it for what's it worth because it does come from Tesla.

I didn't mean to shit on Teslas, if it appeared that way. My point was that as great as Teslas are, they are overhyped as far as their autonomous driving is concerned. Their ADAS features are great because of situations like you just explained, they can react faster than a human, and see things that humans might night see. It's a great addition to driving that we'd all be better off if more vehicles had it.

The reason I feel that Teslas are overhyped (not that they aren't great) is that the big feature which they are getting a lot of credit for is being one of the first car manufacturers to have an autonomous vehicle on the streets right now, even if it is only beta. The reason that has value is that the public is equating that to Tesla on track to be the first car manufacturer with SAFE fully autonomous vehicles. I do not think this is true, due to the fact Elon has stated publicly many, many times that they are only going to use optical cameras for their systems. As great as they can develop their software, there are physical limits to optical cameras. They perform poorly in low light, adverse weather conditions, with certain colors, and with calculating velocity of objects in view, all of which are reasons why optical cameras alone will never be safe enough for fully autonomous driving. Unless Elon and Tesla change their minds about that, it wont happen and that is why I believe Teslas are a little over hyped. I really like Teslas, and there's a good chance we'd have one of the SUV's if I had a place to charge it at home, I just think other car manufacturers are quickly catching up to Teslas EV, and it's only a matter of time before other EV's have better safety tech. VW is currently shooting for 2025 for a LiDAR equipped vehicle with ADAS level 3 to 4. (there aren't really any ADAS levels defined yet, but they estimate a rough idea of level 3 and 4 to be semi autonomous with crash intervention)

 

[Robertriley]

You are comparing vehicle weight (Tesla) to Gross vehicle weight (Bronco).

Gotcha

 

[Phil]

So my neighbor has a Tesla SUV. Not the large one, the mid size. He was driving home from work and decided to catch up on emails and engage the auto drive on the interstate. The car did well for a while but then going around a turn on the interstate it didn't correct enough and side swiped several yellow barrier barrels filled with water. No other cars were involved and he was able to drive his Tesla home. But it needed ALOT of body work to get it back to normal.

engaged it to catch up on emails? that aint how it works you engage any auto driving you still have to pay attention driver is responsible and in control of vehicle at all times that doesn't change

 

[pan-y-cerveza]

So my neighbor has a Tesla SUV. Not the large one, the mid size. He was driving home from work and decided to catch up on emails and engage the auto drive on the interstate. The car did well for a while but then going around a turn on the interstate it didn't correct enough and side swiped several yellow barrier barrels filled with water. No other cars were involved and he was able to drive his Tesla home. But it needed ALOT of body work to get it back to normal.

He's a moron.

Morons drive all sorts of cars.

You can't blame Tesla because a guy was emailing instead of paying attention.

 

[TM WildTrak]

He's a moron.

Morons drive all sorts of cars.

You can't blame Tesla because a guy was emailing instead of paying attention.

Wasn’t blaming Tesla. Agree he is a moron and certainly learned from that mistake. Just brought this up because a lot of people buy Tesla’s or cars that claim to have auto drive and think they can not pay attention. Obviously you need to still pay attention. Anyhow this is a bad situation and sorry to see someone pass in a wreck no matter what happened.

 

[Swamp Yankee]

Elemental Lithium is reactive with water, but that is not what is used in the batteries - they use some form of Lithium Oxide such as LiFePO4, which is not reactive in water. It is the same reason table salt, or Sodium Cloride, is not reactive, but pure Sodium is very reactive.

That was a salty burn.

 

[_finack]

Sasquatch. So no crash bars and it does look like the front left wheel is gone. I wonder how it faired as far as cabin intrusion.

 

[Exomodo]

I thought you were a little light on the Bronco but the Tesla is considerately heavier than I thought.

Gross vehicle weight is the maximum a vehicle can weigh with passengers and cargo. You want curb weight.

 

[Danzer]

I didn't mean to shit on Teslas, if it appeared that way. My point was that as great as Teslas are, they are overhyped as far as their autonomous driving is concerned. Their ADAS features are great because of situations like you just explained, they can react faster than a human, and see things that humans might night see. It's a great addition to driving that we'd all be better off if more vehicles had it.

The reason I feel that Teslas are overhyped (not that they aren't great) is that the big feature which they are getting a lot of credit for is being one of the first car manufacturers to have an autonomous vehicle on the streets right now, even if it is only beta. The reason that has value is that the public is equating that to Tesla on track to be the first car manufacturer with SAFE fully autonomous vehicles. I do not think this is true, due to the fact Elon has stated publicly many, many times that they are only going to use optical cameras for their systems. As great as they can develop their software, there are physical limits to optical cameras. They perform poorly in low light, adverse weather conditions, with certain colors, and with calculating velocity of objects in view, all of which are reasons why optical cameras alone will never be safe enough for fully autonomous driving. Unless Elon and Tesla change their minds about that, it wont happen and that is why I believe Teslas are a little over hyped. I really like Teslas, and there's a good chance we'd have one of the SUV's if I had a place to charge it at home, I just think other car manufacturers are quickly catching up to Teslas EV, and it's only a matter of time before other EV's have better safety tech. VW is currently shooting for 2025 for a LiDAR equipped vehicle with ADAS level 3 to 4. (there aren't really any ADAS levels defined yet, but they estimate a rough idea of level 3 and 4 to be semi autonomous with crash intervention)

I agree with about everything you just said. I’m not too familiar with the LiDAR system but Elon may have to ditch the cameras at some point if LiDAR is superior. I do feel we are years away from full self driving vehicles due to multiple factors that no system can pick up. Some things like faded lane markings, construction areas and even cars parked or even double parked cars render these systems useless. I watched a video of a Tesla on the full self driving system in the Bay Area and the car was having a very tough time navigating one way streets and certain turns. I feel these systems really are enhanced safety features and not for self driving. They only work if people are paying attention and not accusing w it by taking naps or playing on their phones. Maybe we agree more than I thought, lol.

 

[Robertriley]

Gross vehicle weight is the maximum a vehicle can weigh with passengers and cargo. You want curb weight.

You are correct but that looks like a model 3 which is 3600-4200lbs. Kind of where I thought they would be. If it's a "S" they are 4500to 4800lbs and that's more than I thought.

 

[BoogieMan1]

The Bronco fared fairly well in the Head on, The Tesla seems to have gotten the worse of it. Unfortunately the Woman in the Tesla was killed in the crash.

https://www.fox10phoenix.com/video/1010213

Daaaaaalllmmmnnn

Sponsored