this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2025
1115 points (98.8% liked)

Technology

68244 readers
4245 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

TL;DR: Self-Driving Teslas Rear-End Motorcyclists, Killing at Least 5

Brevity is the spirit of wit, and I am just not that witty. This is a long article, here is the gist of it:

  • The NHTSA’s self-driving crash data reveals that Tesla’s self-driving technology is, by far, the most dangerous for motorcyclists, with five fatal crashes that we know of.
  • This issue is unique to Tesla. Other self-driving manufacturers have logged zero motorcycle fatalities with the NHTSA in the same time frame.
  • The crashes are overwhelmingly Teslas rear-ending motorcyclists.

Read our full analysis as we go case-by-case and connect the heavily redacted government data to news reports and police documents.

Oh, and read our thoughts about what this means for the robotaxi launch that is slated for Austin in less than 60 days.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 9 points 16 hours ago

It’s because the system has to rely on visual cues, since Tesla’s have no radar. The system looks at the tail light when it’s dark to gauge the distance from the vehicle. And since some bikes have a double light the system thinks it’s a car in front of them that is far away, when in reality it’s a bike up close. Also remember the ai is trained on human driving behavior which Tesla records from their customers. And we all know how well the average human drives around two wheeled vehicles.

[–] Redex68@lemmy.world 10 points 18 hours ago

Cuz other self driving cars use LIDAR so it's basically impossible for them to not realise that a bike is there.

[–] the_three_tomatoes@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

You mean they are providing organ donations more than any other car. Silver lining. /s

[–] KayLeadfoot@fedia.io 1 points 9 hours ago

They call it the Model 3 because the Tesla Organ-Harvester didn't translate well to Chinese

[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 24 points 1 day ago (2 children)

the cybertruck is sharp enough to cut a deer in half, surely a biker is just as vulnerable.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 1 day ago (10 children)

Remember, you have the right to self-defence, against both rogue robots and rogue humans.

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] arrakark@lemmy.ca 4 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

What bike is that in the photo?

[–] lando55@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

It looks a great deal like a Royal Enfield, but I couldn't tell you which model. A Bullet, maybe?

[–] KayLeadfoot@fedia.io 5 points 23 hours ago

My partner and I were actually debating that exact question before I posted it!

It's just stock art, but of a rider in the Midwest. Custom exhaust, custom saddle and rack for that cafe racer look, and I just barely can't make out the model on the engine fairing.

Here it is all big, let me know if you can figure it out: https://unsplash.com/photos/a-person-riding-a-motorcycle-on-a-city-street-kPfwWyUWubA

Looks hot, that's why I picked it.

[–] AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net 30 points 1 day ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (11 children)

I imagine bicyclists must be æffected as well if they're on the road (as we should be, technically). As somebody who has already been literally inches away from being rear-ended, this makes me never want to bike in the US again.

Time to go to Netherlands.

this makes me never want to bike in the US again.

I live close enough to work for it to be a very reasonable biking distance. But there is no safe route. A high-speed "stroad" with a narrow little bike lane. It would only be a matter of time before some asshole with their face in their phone drifts into me.

I am deeply resentful of our automobile-centric infrastructure in the U.S. It's bad for the environment, bad for our wallets, bad for our waistlines, and bad for physical safety.

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] kreskin@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I wonder if a state court judge could mandate its use as unsafe?

[–] slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org 9 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

They are illegal in every developed country.

[–] merdaverse@lemmy.world 5 points 21 hours ago

But muh innovation! How are genius CEOs supposed to innovate if they can't use the public at large as guinea pigs??

[–] captainastronaut@seattlelunarsociety.org 143 points 1 day ago (15 children)

Tesla self driving is never going to work well enough without sensors - cameras are not enough. It’s fundamentally dangerous and should not be driving unsupervised (or maybe at all).

[–] KayLeadfoot@fedia.io 86 points 1 day ago (8 children)

Accurate.

Each fatality I found where a Tesla kills a motorcyclist is a cascade of 3 failures.

  1. The car's cameras don't detect the biker, or it just doesn't stop for some reason.
  2. The driver isn't paying attention to detect the system failure.
  3. The Tesla's driver alertness tech fails to detect that the driver isn't paying attention.

Taking out the driver will make this already-unacceptably-lethal system even more lethal.

[–] jonne@infosec.pub 66 points 1 day ago (3 children)
  1. Self-driving turns itself off seconds before a crash, giving the driver an impossibly short timespan to rectify the situation.
[–] KayLeadfoot@fedia.io 64 points 1 day ago (7 children)

... Also accurate.

God, it really is a nut punch. The system detects the crash is imminent.

Rather than automatically try to evade... the self-driving tech turns off. I assume it is to reduce liability or make the stats look better. God.

load more comments (7 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)
load more comments (14 replies)
[–] PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)

This is another reason I’ll never drive a motorcycle. Fuck that shit.

[–] KayLeadfoot@fedia.io 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's like smoking: if you haven't started, don't XD

[–] mutual_ayed@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago (3 children)

As a fellow meat crayon I agree

[–] Klear@lemmy.world 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Negative. I'm a meat popsicle.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] KayLeadfoot@fedia.io 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Bahaha, that one is new to me.

~~Back when I worked on an ambulance, we called the no helmet guys organ donors.~~

This comment was brought to you by PTSD, and has been redacted in a rare moment of sobriety.

[–] mutual_ayed@sh.itjust.works 3 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I also rammed 10cc spikes at the back of the bus, the world needs organ donors and motorcycles provide a great service for that. Hope your EMT career was short lived but rewarding.

[–] KayLeadfoot@fedia.io 2 points 19 hours ago

My EMT career was both short lived and rewarding, right back at ya :)

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 3 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I remember finding a motorcycle community on reddit that called themselves "squids" or "squiddies" or something like that.

Their whole thing was putting road tyres on dirtbikes and riding urban environments like they were offroad obstacles. You know, ramping things, except on concrete.

They loved to talk about how dumb & short-lived they were. I couldn't ever find that group again, so maybe I misremembered the "squid" name, but I wanted to find them again, not to ever try it - fuck that - but because the bikes looked super cool. I just have a thing for gender-bent vehicles.

[–] real_squids@sopuli.xyz 4 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Calamari Racing Team. It's mostly a counter-movement to r/Motorcycles, where most of the posters are seen as anti-fun. Their whole thing is that, not just a specific way to ride, they also have a legendary commenter that pays money for pics in full leather.

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 1 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

That's the one! Thanks, that was un-googleable for me.

I guess the road-tyres-on-dirt-bikes thing was maybe a trend when I saw the sub.

[–] Psythik@lemm.ee 6 points 1 day ago

As someone who likes the open sky feeling, this is why I drive a convertible instead.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 83 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (7 children)

Hey guys relax! It's all part of the learning experience of Tesla FSD.
Some of you may die, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

Regards
Elon Musk
CEO of Tesla

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 35 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sounds like NHTSA needs a visit from DOGE!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] 0x0@programming.dev 52 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (9 children)

This is news? Fortnine talked about it two years ago.
TL;DR Tesla removed LIDAR to save a buck and the cameras see two red dots that the 'puter thinks it's a far away car at night when indeed it's a close motorcycle.

load more comments (9 replies)

Trucks in general have gotten so big they are pedestrian deathtraps

[–] Gork@lemm.ee 68 points 1 day ago (12 children)

Lidar needs to be a mandated requirement for these systems.

load more comments (12 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›