What kind of idiot STOPS ON A DIME with speeding cars hot on his tail? Only a Computer... It's unfortunate that the Driver did not have the sense to Slam on the Gas -The idea of "Slow == Safe" can be disastrous...
If the stopping car had been an old Toyota and we all had the same footage... well, it probably wouldn't even make the news in the first place... but if it did, we'd all be blaming the rear-enders. But because it's a Tesla, and there is a possibility that AI was involved, suddenly we shift our blame from the rear-enders and tailgaters to the computer.
We've always had double standards for humans and machines.
Yes brakes will apply sooner and follow distance is likely to be safer/wider.
I just don’t yet trust it’s good enough.
If a tree falls on the car in front of you and you hit them because they stopped instantly, it’s hardly your fault.
Humans do it on a pretty regular basis unfortunately. I have seen people slam on the brakes at highway speed for minor road debris, small animals, and a couple of times for no apparent reason. The only thing you can do as a driver is minimize your own risk by leaving sufficient following distance.
It's very rare. I've never seen it, IIRC.
Dolphins die on a pretty regular basis and I've never seen it. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen on a regular basis...
Ironically this is one of the areas where driver assist can be helpful. Adaptive cruise control that maintains following distance though in practice I don’t think people use it much.
So we have 1 car that approaches the light, gets a red, and stops. It has to shed E kinetic energy. Then 10 cars approach the intersection on the perpendicular road. Before they reach it the light changes and they all have to stop, shedding 10 E kinetic energy. The first car resumes its journey. The light changes again and the other 10 resume.
The net result is that encountering the intersection caused this 11 car system to shed 11 E kinetic energy more and to consume 11 R idling energy more than would have been consumed if the intersection had not been there (e.g., if the crossing had been an overpass).
What he's proposing is that some sort of smart traffic light system could notice the 10 approaching cars and hold their green a little longer so that the 10 cars do not have to stop. Suppose it has to hold the light long enough that car 1 has to wait twice as long.
The energy cost of the intersection on the 11 car system under that scenario is E shed kinetic energy and 2 R idling energy. That's going to be much less that 11 E + 11 R.
2. It's impossible to be safe if someone is (illegally!) tailgating.