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Comment by hnzix | Hacker News Reader

Speaking as a cyclist of many years, maybe the system is just modelling human drivers a little too accurately.

Ha! Yes. This is definitely terrible, but its some variation of what I survive through every day anyway.

But still, even before this clip, I make sure to stay far away from Teslas if I see them out, they are just scary to me..

As a driver in the beta program, unless there is a lot of clearance I generally take over when passing a bike. Not so much because I don't trust the software, but because I don't trust the bicyclist! Around here none of them signal. They appear to assume that you recognized the 250ms glance under their armpit they made two seconds ago as a formal and legally binding declaration of intent and just swerve across the non-bike lane to make their left while running the stop sign. (Old suburban smallish grid blocks with >50% stop sign coverage, so I guess it makes them grumpy.)

Also, a plea to other drivers… Please! Stay off the bumper of Teslas. The software is generally cautious and gets spooked. It rapidly decelerates a couple miles per hour in preparation for a full on evasion, which wouldn't be a problem for a driver with a sane following distance, but if you are close enough to angrily look down at my speed limit driving head through my glass roof things could get a little awkward.

can u imagine telling other people to drive differently so your car works?

I do that a lot already, in my dumb car.

Even before self-driving cars, you've always been supposed to leave enough room that you won't rear-end the car in front of you if it suddenly brakes hard.

> Around here none of them signal

It is not always safe to remove one hand from the handlebar to signal. In fact, in a lot of urban spaces, it's downright dangerous given the bad quality of the streets. Another reason why cyclists don't signal is when they notice a car too close or too aggressive. In this situation, it's best to have full control of the bike.

The cyclist is not a threat to your life. At most to the exterior of your car. You are a threat to their life. They don't want you to crash on them or the other way around. Give them space and it should be fine.

Do you go around posting every anecdote you have about bad drivers too?

Pretty poor execution by Tesla though. It didn't even honk and yell "ride on the sidewalk, moron!"

Well that’s what these betas are for, iron out the bugs like this. Rumour has it in the next couple of versions the car will look for cyclists in its rear facing cameras so it can open the door right into them.

Not a far-fetched request given they already have ways to replace the horn via the exterior speaker.

I've had humans literally drive at me with the express intent of seriously injuring or killing me.

At least with the Tesla it's just going to kill you through its own stupidity...

Dead is dead, no? Ride safe and keep it in the big ring, lol.

Kind of like running stop signs, I guess.

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