Tesla Model X Driver Dies in Mountain View Crash | Hacker News Reader

Tesla Model X Driver Dies in Mountain View Crash

engadget.com

38 pointsblackguardx17 comments

It's going to be important and relevant to learn whether autopilot was engaged.

I know that location pretty well. There are side-by-side HOV lanes. The left lane enters an up & over bridge to head south on Hwy 85. The right continues south on 101. It seems likely that this driver was traveling at high speed, either realized they were in the wrong lane, or were not paying attention and drifted into the collapsible barrier[0]. They'd have struck the median barrier from the end. It's about a foot wide concrete. One factor in this type of accident is that the X is much heavier than the typical auto (5,500 lbs for Model X vs. 3,500 for a Camry for example) and at high speed would have collapsed the safety barrier with much more force than it was designed to absorb, thus destroying the front end of the vehicle.

I'm speculating, but from the video, that appears to be what happened.

[0] https://goo.gl/maps/NqpxHaLsopQ2

The area you described is fucking scary. It's a carpool lane, sure, but several drivers like to use it to get a little bit ahead and go back to non-carpool lanes, and sometimes they don't pay attention. It's also common for drivers to realize only one lane goes to 85 and jump in at the last moment, including driving over the triangular section just before the barrier.

Also scary is entering 85 (either direction) from El Camino near Bernardo.

Very sorry for the driver and their family :(

101 is pretty scary pretty much everywhere between Gilroy and SF (doesn't help that locals can barely drive even in perfect conditions; add two drops of rain, and the whole thing stops) but the title is clickbaity -- so far it doesn't look like it being a Tesla necessarily had anything to do with the accident.

Just imagine back before that chunk of 101 was even a freeway. US 101 was Monterey Road. That stretch from just south of IBM to San Martin was literally known as "Blood Alley", averaging a death per month.

Can well imagine that. It might be better than that now only because cars are safer.

It was then two lanes in each direction, undivided, with often a two-way left-turn lane in the middle. Lots of head-on crashes despite it being mostly straight after the initial bend off Monterey Rd.

And there we were, thinking that "well, but California has good roads!".

On/off ramps on 101 aren't that great now either (try getting on at Trimble and getting off on 87 at rush hour). But given that people manage to drive straight into things on Monterey (I live on Monterey Rd) even now, it must have been quite horrifying.

  Also scary is entering 85 (either direction) from El Camino near Bernardo

I don't understand this. Entering northbound 85 is just an average single-lane ramp -- are you concerned about competing with what little traffic is exiting 85 to Evelyn?

And taking 85 southbound is just a basic cloverleaf ramp to the right -- are you concerned with merging traffic from the 85 northbound offramp?

Neither of those particular use cases would be a problem but for the numerous transplants who can't freaking merge.

The other direction's onramp to 85 southbound became a messy hairpin a year or two ago after the construction.

> Neither of those particular use cases would be a problem but for the numerous transplants who can't freaking merge.

Either you are blabbering, or I didn't communicate which merge I am referring to very well. Being unable to merge in 3 car lengths is not a transplant problem.

I drove past the scene yesterday heading northbound. Firetrucks and people were standing around. It looked like all the body panels ahead of the front doors were some distance down the road to the left of the divider. The rest of the car was to the right. Only way I can see that happening is if the car was at an extreme angle and hit sideways.

Shouldn't there be those impact absorbing bumpers before the concrete barrier?

> would have collapsed the safety barrier with much more force than it was designed to absorb

Why would the barrier not be designed to absorb the force from a 5500lb vehicle? Lots of light trucks (e.g. Chevy Silverado) weigh that much in certain configurations.

why is this even news?! Teslas have a very strong firewall. if flames were coming out it most likely wasn't directed to the passenger compartiment. anyway all cars fail. people shouldn't expect teslas to be absolutely perfect...

The front of the car was ripped off and you can see in the video, fires right where the driver and passengers feet would be.

https://twitter.com/NBCian/status/977406284260495360/video/1

Can see a volt meter on the side of the road in on of the links pics. Wonder if the first responder use that or was it this employee Tesla sent. Do you find a ground and check a metal part?

> Fires are common in crashes regardless of the power plant.

Can anyone cite statistics supporting this statement?

Yes, especially statistics that include diesel vehicles.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com