A discussion on auto safety issues and technological developments, in hopes of providing consumers and enthusiasts with a better understanding of modern vehicles, safety systems, and current issues in the auto industry.
NHTSA has finally released a rule for Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB). We've been asking for one since 2015 so... 3 cheers for NHTSA? But the rules don't go into effect until 2029. Ugh. On the plus side IIHS updated their AEB tests and car makers have a lot of work to do. We dive deep into AEB. And will 2024 be the year of the Tesla lawsuits? Maybe they shouldn't sell things with aspirational names like Autopilot when they keep crashing and killing people? Ford Blue Cruise is under investigation, Waymo says the bad driving of it's robotaxi was on purpose and we cover the latest recalls. This weeks links: https://www.autosafety.org/support-us/ https://www.autosafety.org/av-bill-of-rights/ https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/few-small-suvs-excel-in-new-iihs-front-crash-prevention-test https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywyCTIsNYis&t=3s https://apnews.com/article/ford-blue-cruise-crash-investigation-deaths-4429651e132e3702a6a2a6a127aebbc2 https://jalopnik.com/new-california-law-hopes-to-stop-robotaxis-from-dodging-1851447318 https://futurism.com/self-driving-waymo-wrong-side-street https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/federal-agency-investigates-effectiveness-of-recall-of-teslas-autopilot-system https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/tesla-s-autopilot-and-full-self-driving-linked-to-hundreds-of-crashes-dozens-of-deaths/ar-AA1nIyP0 https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/28/tesla-trial-autopilot-lawsuit/ https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V282-3386.PDF https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V288-7983.PDF https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2024/INOA-PE24011-11699.pdf
The autonomous vehicle industry has their own PR team that is trying to compete with our Consumer Autonomous Vehicle Bill of Rights. It's a bunch of hogwash that they regurgitate every few years. A few Senators that can see through this have written a nice letter to NHTSA telling them to regulate AV's, British Columbia bans AV's and another Tesla driver makes the fatal mistake that his car is an AV and not lipstick on a pig. Fred gets into the dangers of AI through the story of mushrooms. Plus recall roundup that starts with a... Tesla. This weeks links: https://www.autosafety.org/support-us/ https://theavindustry.org/trust-principles https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-markey-blumenthal-lead-call-for-stronger-action-from-federal-regulator-on-autonomous-vehicle-safety-after-high-profile-crashes https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/18/24133448/autonomous-vehicles-adas-blumenthal-markey-nhtsa https://jalopnik.com/tesla-driver-who-trusted-autopilot-charged-with-killing-1851428652 https://jalopnik.com/tesla-cybertruck-no-match-for-car-wash-1851417011 https://www.thedrive.com/news/self-driving-cars-banned-in-british-columbia https://www.extremetech.com/cars/mercedes-becomes-first-automaker-to-sell-level-3-self-driving-direct-to https://www.citizen.org/article/mushroom-risk-ai-app-misinformation/ https://www.ibm.com/topics/artificial-intelligence https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V276-7026.PDF https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V274-3413.PDF https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V275-7192.PDF https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/04/22/five-car-culture-euphemisms-we-need-to-stop-using
Could your road go on a diet? Maybe it should as it could make it safer. Did you spend too much money on a stainless tank and are now suffering from unintended acceleration? Contact Tesla and ask if you've been Cyber Trucked. Turbo roundabouts, bad Tesla software updates, daylight savings time and car crashes an update on the Consumer Autonomous Vehicle Bill of Rights and lots of recalls. This weeks links: Support the Center for Auto Safety https://jalopnik.com/tesla-cybertruck-hit-with-stop-sale-because-of-unintend-1851409651 https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktoker-trapped-hot-car-tesla-locked-her-inside-software-update-2024-4 https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/changing-the-clocks-helps-pedestrians-but-hurts-motorists https://www.governing.com/transportation/one-citys-quest-to-rein-in-reckless-driving https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/turbo-roundabout-california-update-19404019.php https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V267-6161.PDF https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24E032-1614.PDF https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V255-4634.PDF https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V256-2391.PDF https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V257-2023.PDF https://www.autosafety.org/av-bill-of-rights/
Tesla settles an Autopilot case before the trial starts which makes sense since Elon said they never fight true claims. Another Telsa case involving a 2 year that managed to start the car and crash into his mom has begun and Elon says that his robotaxi's will be announced real soon. Our expert opinion is that Tesla won't produce a robo-taxi within the next 5 years. Don't get high and drive because it's dangerous and the sobriety checks are so poor that you might wind up in jail for a really long time even if you're sober. Fred covers reaction time and we cover some recalls. Enjoy. This weeks links: https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/tesla-fatal-autopilot-crash-trial-33936b42 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/in-2018-crash-tesla-s-autopilot-just-followed-the-lane-lines/ar-BB1ld85O https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/tesla-trial-company-sued-after-toddler-crashes-model-x-into-mom/ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/teslas-bet-robotaxis-is-long-way-paying-off-2024-04-05/ https://www.repairerdrivennews.com/2024/04/09/kentucky-governor-vetoes-allowing-avs-on-state-roads/ https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cannabis/24/04/38134128/detection-of-cannabis-in-bodily-fluids-not-correlated-with-driving-impairment-new-review-shows https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28124573/ https://phys.org/news/2017-01-guidelines-takeover-automated-vehicles.html https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V246-1564.PDF https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V240-9036.PDF https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V227-7296.PDF https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V214-7532.PDF https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V228-1895.PDF
This week Dr. Emily Thomas from Consumer Reports joins us to discuss backseat safety. Did you know that there is technology to remind you not to leave your kids in the car? And it's not standardized or required, Dr. Thomas walks us through the tech, the safety of car seats and how Consumer Reports conducts testing for these items. It's a good one. This weeks links: https://www.noheatstroke.org/ https://www.consumerreports.org/babies-kids/car-seats/ https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/2022-traffic-deaths-2023-early-estimates https://www.autosafety.org/support-us/