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Comment by Rubu | Hacker News Reader

And so was he. The first talking you hear is them telling the kids to stay put until they're sure no one is going to be rear ending them.

Does anyone know if these braking systems account for people driving behind you? And if a collision is inevitable, what do they "choose"?

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I have no idea if it looks behind, or uses that information for anything. Ideally, it would time it such that when it was rearended, it was touching the car in front. It would significantly increase the mass and decrese the risk of whiplash.

Most Tesla's on the road don't have rear facing radar. I don't think the rear facing camera is used for anything other than parking. So, that leaves ultrasound, which has limited range.

I would think in theory they could use the camera alone to detect an approaching vehicle, and take some remedial action.

When the car is motionless (e.g. immediately after it has come to a stop from the emergency breaking), does the computer engage the breaks just soft enough so the car stays put?

And would this reduce the impact from behind if it were to happen?

I'm curious if you really want the brakes on full when you get hit from behind. It seems the cars would start to crumple in place until firmly together and you overcome friction, getting launched. With the brakes off, you would immediately accelerate, but perhaps with a lesser initial burst.

That's the decision I had to make one day. I saw a car coming to hit me from the rear. I took my foot off the brake and gripped the steering wheel, leaned back and relaxed. It worked out well, but I've always wondered if the brakes make any difference one way or the other.

The opposite, you should release the brakes to reduce the effect of the impact so you actually acted correctly.

Thanks, the scientist part of me said this was correct. That just left a conflict between the experimentalist part of me and what my wife will allow.

I think you misread me. I was suggesting the computer don't put the break on full when stationary, but only enough to keep the car still (as the road may not be flat etc).

I was just using your comment as a starting point.

Well I would hope it would choose getting rear ended, particularly because that is the fault of the driver behind you. If you choose to slam into someone instead of letting someone slam into you, you are now at fault.

I dont think the driver would like to have a whiplash...

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