The Wheel Network
4 HN mentions · mentioned in 3 months, 2020–2021
7:05 · 1.7M views · Oct 31, 2019
Footage of IIHS tests of pedestrian automatic emergency braking on 16 midsize cars, with ratings from superior to basic or no credit.
HN references it as evidence that pedestrian-detecting emergency braking is routinely tested by independent agencies.
4 comments from Hacker News
Nearly every major manufacturer has a separate emergency stop system that continually looks for an obstacle in the vehicle's path and applies braking force, overriding the driver and any cruise control or self-driving that is in use. These often use RADAR, have worked for years, and are routinely tested by international agencies such as the IIHS. See, for example: this video Teslas at least used to do this too: [LINK] [LINK] If Teslas no longer have this functionality, is a serious problem that needs to be corrected. That could mean reprogramming existing cameras or adding a sensor if the system really did rely on the now-removed RADAR.
The IIHS does all sorts of autonomous braking test scenarios involving pedestrians - this video A pedestrian darting out from behind a car is known to be a tricky scenario, but some systems handle it at least some of the time. This scenario looked like the pedestrian was unobstructed and traveling in a predictable direction, so it’s pretty unnerving if it’s real. Long story short, even in Teslas, even just autonomous braking and crash avoidance is a great extra safety layer, but far from something that should be relied upon. Tesla is reckless for selling it as something that can be relied upon to successfully pilot a car.
There are some newer cars with AEB that have pedestrian detection, though. You can watch videos of IIHS testing those features [0]. It's not a perfect solution but will automatically brake if a collision with a pedestrian (or other VRU) is predicted and the driver is not braking. [0] this video
These systems do work and have worked for years. They are also regularly tested by IIHS. See, for example: this video And Teslas at least used to do this too: [LINK] If they no longer stop reliably to avoid hitting stationary objects, this is a serious problem that needs to be corrected.