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Comment by gnicholas | Hacker News Reader

> For Model S vehicles, latch problems may lead a front trunk to open "without warning and obstruct the driver’s visibility, increasing the risk of a crash," Tesla said.

"increasing the risk of a crash" is an optimistic description of what would happen if the frunk opened while driving. Even if the loss of visibility didn't directly cause an accident, the distraction/confusion/anxiety could easily cause a crash indirectly.

I guess this is one instance where you're much better off in FSD mode, since the computer's vision wouldn't be obstructed by the open frunk, nor would it 'freak out' the same way a human driver would. Of course, you'd still have to have the driver take over in order to pull the car over, but at least you could do so when it was safe to do so (assuming you could resist the urge/reflex to mash the brake pedal when the frunk popped open).

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At risk of being pedantic, Teslas' front facing cameras are located behind the windshield and would be obstructed by an open trunk just the same as a human driver's vision would be.

Yes, but it can be expected that Tesla thoroughly tested the cornercase of sudden loss of vision of the cameras.

Yeah - sound a warning, shake the steering wheel, and delete any record that self driving mode was engaged.

Can it? I'm not sure it can be expected Tesla has thoroughly tested anything from their 'FSD' before pushing it out to their testers/customers.

There’s a YT video of a guy taping over the cams one by one. The car performs still pretty impressively even with most cameras blocked.

(I was pointed to this video because I, too had been skeptical after seeing normal “navigate on autopilot” disable itself due to one camera being blinded by the sun. Apparently, FSD is much better at handling such situations.)

Pretty sure I've seen that video and it totally oversold itself. Other drivers tried the same:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=92&v=yKgBakJc8ZY&f...

That's AP 2 hardware and computer... Not sure what it proves about AP HW 3 at all, or even AP 2.5.

Right, I forgot that Tesla threw out every single line of code, every single model, and crushed all AP2 cars when AP 2.5 came around. Same again for AP 3.

(Those of us who live in reality like to use the concept of inference)

Nope, I meant this one (FSD/HW 3): https://youtu.be/77cbSy-rBEQ

This is way more realistic than the original video, but yeah once the main sensor is blocked it starts driving erratically (even more so than usual)

Not sure if that's exactly unexpected...

Appreciate the correction! I wondered if this was the case when I wrote my comment, but figured the cameras were in the front grille. I guess putting the cameras higher up gives better perspective and reduces the chance of splashed mud/water that would obscure their view.

"The wheels falling off might have a small detrimental impact on the drivability of the vehicle"

"The wheels falling off does not impact the vehicle's drivability, because if the wheels fall off it is no longer a vehicle"

I've seen what an unlatched hood can do at highway speeds. It will rip the hood right off the dampers and smash the windshield. FSD won't help you.

Hood will almost certainly stay on, which is arguably less convenient.

Hmmm, but possibly better for the cars following ... a hood detached from a car at highway speed is the closest thing I can imagine to a UFO Robot Grandizer Single Harken (for those that were kids in the '70's):

https://mazingerzgreatkaiser.fandom.com/wiki/Grendizer#Weapo...

Heh, reminds me of front-facing “suicide doors” on cars that were so named (in part) because the air at highway speeds pushes said doors further open when cracked (or even before).

I guess these Teslas have “suicide frunks”!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_door#Disadvantages

Was that a A fully unlatched hood or one that is caught by the manual safety latch?

I’ve seen many cars accidentally driven with the hood open but caught by the safety latch at highway speeds.

I imagine either regulations and/or good engineering makes it safe to drive with an open but latched hood considering that you can pop the hood while driving by accident.

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