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Comment by _mlbt | Hacker News Reader

As a father of an about to be 16 year old, this is a very welcome and potentially life saving feature. I was already considering a Tesla for my next vehicle, but this makes it all the more appealing.

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My only hesitation with this if there is a life saving reason to go faster.

Maybe a simpler solution is to just send notifications when the car exceeds certain limits?

...At which point the panicky parent needs to have enough restraint to sit and stew and get the story later, rather than immediately phoning a teenager who's driving fast in a life-saving situation.

Sometimes it is better for kids (and adults) to make mistakes and get the proper punishment, than to prevent them from making mistakes at all. It gets a little greyer when the mistake can lead to death or permanent injury though.

A delta-V limit would be “constant” in that the teenager would build it into their mental model of how a car drives, and take it into account if/when exceptional circumstances do occur.

The greater risk comes from the car spinning out of control from a standstill because of enthusiastic acceleration.

As for safety, it’s not often we need to outrun a pyroclastic cloud/tornado/airplane crashing into your path.

What is an example of a life saving reason to go faster? What are the chances of that situation happening vs a situation where the young driver will exceed the speed limit and cause injury?

Tornadoes are the big one for me.

If you are under a tornado watch you should take shelter, not drive.

Would you say a Prius is any less safe then a Tesla because it lacks its acceleration performance?

My Prius goes 0 to 60 in high 6's

This is about acceleration, not speed.

>As a father of an about to be 16 year old, this is a very welcome and potentially life saving feature.

"We love an external party able to control the speed of our vehicle!"

If it keeps my kid from driving too fast and being a danger to himself and others, absolutely, yes.

I guess it depends whether you trust the software more than your kid. I personally wouldn't, but my kids are pretty risk-averse compared to their friends.

1. No external party is able to control the speed of the vehicle. Control is maintained by the parent, presumably the vehicle's owner.

2. This has been a feature of slower-accelerating premium vehicles, primarily for valet use, for decades.

Is a father an “external party”?

Tesla didn't invent this. Many manufacturers have it, including Ford and Volvo.

If you can’t trust your kid to obey the rules of the road, why are you letting them drive?

Have you met kids before?

If you know they're not mature enough to obey speed limits, don't let them drive your car. Stop leaving it to the government or corporations to parent your kids.

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