Tesla has added another brazenly stupid new entry to its dubious safety record.
How is this even legal? If a toaster manufacturer introduces a setting “kill neighbour’s dog” it would get sued into oblivion.
I swear, America’s got issues man…
We call it a democracy but it’s been an oligarchy for over a century.
No.
Oligarchy has waxed and waned throughout US history. It’s latest rise has only been over the last 50 years or so. They were kept thoroughly in check for 40ish years before that. It was after Nixon’s pardon that they realized they might be able to get away with it again.Yes I gave an overly simplified version… but the essential meaning is the same. Every gain was immediately lost, oligarchy is still 100% the description.
Every gain was immediately lost
Not at all.
They may be weaker, but we still have unions. Social security is still in place. We still have 5 day 40 hour workweeks as standard. Overtime is still paid at 1.5x. We still have OSHA ensuring safe working conditions. The list is long.Each cycle the public makes many gains. Most of them are carried through to the next cycle, where more gains are made. I have hope that Gen z or Gen Alpha will gain ground on universal healthcare, mandatory vacation and sick leave, mandatory family leave, voting rights and methods. Hell with AI coming for everyone’s jobs, maybe even a form of universal basic income.
I have personally seen the ways overtime is maneuvered. Service industry is still paid in pittance with no chance at the gains a union can provide. The working poor are still keeping this oligarchy afloat. Mayhaps my grand neices and nephews can see gains but by then will we have poisoned the world too much for them to enjoy it?
I’m just depressive, your points are well made, but the doom still sits upon my shoulders…
Well, all cars are made to go waaayy above any speed limits, unless you’re driving on a German autobahn.
I know what you mean, but by that logic we should only make cars that go up to 80mph.
The majority of electric vehicles have speed limiters (I.e. escooters and ebikes), but the moment somebody suggests putting speed limits on cars, the #2 killer of children (behind guns), everybody loses their minds.
Not entirely true. Speed limiters on cars sold in EU are mandatory now. It’s still possible to go above speed limits and the limiters are only required in brand new cars. But it’s the first step.
Manufacturers aren’t required to use speed limiter software, the law allows for cars to only play alert sounds when a driver is breaking speed limits. I rented a 2024 Mercedes in Europe recently that beeped when you were speeding, but otherwise didn’t do any active safety measures.
Also, while these speeding alerts are on by default, they can easily be disabled, so most people who understand how to configure their car will probably turn them off.
Plenty of articles online with drivers freaking out that they’re being punished for breaking speed limit laws, and explaining how to turn off the alerts.
Compare to ebikes in the EU, where all (legally-imported) ebikes will turn off their motors above 25-30 kmh, and firmware hacking the system to disable it is illegal unless you register it as a moped. Disabling the speed limiter is illegal even if you are riding it on 50 km/h streets where it is legal and safe to go faster.
that beeped when you were speeding, but otherwise didn’t do any active safety measures.
You didn’t read the link before typing that long ass incorrect reply 👎
Your car didn’t have a speed limiter. It just had a warning system. Older cars, pre 2024, have those too.
It will be an active limiter, that will stop the car from accelerating, and drivers will have to floor the gas pedal when they need extra speed overtaking cars.
“The system then limits the engine’s power and the vehicle’s speed to that limit. … You can override the system by pressing hard on the accelerator, but the system will reactivate every time the car is started.”
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/content/news/mandatory-speed-limiters-on-eu-cars-from-2024?refresh=true
Also, re. mopeds and ebikes - no one goes on race tracks with those.
I go on a racetrack with my car, and wouldn’t be fun driving 80mph on a track.
I did read the link, and I also read other sources about Intelligent Speed Assist.
Intelligent Speed Assist is not necessarily a speed limiter, unless the EC has created new guidelines since 2024 that require hard speed limiters.
Sure, speed limiters aren’t required on ebikes either when you’re not on a public road, but 99.9% of vehicle usage is on public roads, even for racecar enthusiasts. EU regulation makes it very easy for manufacturers to make cars that double as racecars, since ISA can be disabled easily by the user. But neither racecars nor e-bikes are meant to race on public roads. ISA clearly does not go far enough.
There are much bigger issues with car safety than just speeding, I just wanted to point out that we knowingly allow car drivers to kill people with reckless driving on increasingly more complex and more dangerous machines. And we as a society are very resistant to any harm reduction tools that would prevent drivers from breaking speed limits, or otherwise adapt cars to fit better in the cities where they’re driven. Even historically-large 2-door economy cars are referred to as “clown cars”.
The reality is that the modern car is a high speed impact-armored vehicle designed for intercity cruising at speeds traditionally reserved for trained professionals. They are increasingly unsuitable for the intraurban environments they spend the vast majority of their time in. Cars might be important in rural areas, but personal mobility needs more variety than just cars, walking and the occasional sport cyclist.
Here is a video about intermediary vehicles that used to exist, but were abandoned immediately as soon as we could build something faster.
Until the average car driver gets some self-understanding about the vehicles they operate, modern cars do not belong in civilized urban neighborhoods at all. Speed limiters are just the tip of the iceberg.
That’s not at all the same logic. Yes, cars can go way above speed limits. And there are use cases where cars need to have more power (driving uphill for example). But this is about an autopilot specifically programmed/instructed to actually go above speed limits, and going above speed limits is illegal. So the setting in itself is illegal. Having the technical ability to go above speed limits is not. If the driver chooses to use that ability and go above speed limits, it’s illegal again. This is not rocket science.
there are use cases where cars need to have more power (driving uphill for example).
More power does not equal more speed.
Tractors are way more powerful than most cars, but are also super slow. Cars can be made powerful but not fast.
Many drivers enjoy going on a day race track where they can go as fast as they want. My car (not a Tesla) even has a special warranty that allows me to disable certain road safety features when I’m on a race track.
If I pay for a 200mph car, why should I not be able to safely enjoy it? I’m a responsible adult.
If an idiot decides to drive 200mph on a public road it’s their mistake to own up to.
It’s like saying guns kill, not people.
So you agree with the rest of my statement then?
Not at all.
The same way I can disable road safety features on my car when I am on a racetrack, they can use their stupid autopilot on a racetrack.
Btw fuck Tesla. But it’s the people using Teslas that are fucking idiots.
mad max= isolates and locks into children and small animals and steps on the gas.
I can see it both ways
On the one hand I don’t think companies should be legally required to restrict the freedoms of consumers. Stuff like this is why custom roms were illegal for a while in the US.
On the other hand, safety is involved
Because it goes 15mph over the speed limit, which is the prevailing traffic speed on most highways. Going 55 when everyone is doing 75 is far more dangerous.
WTF? Are your speeding cameras set so lenient to allow 15 mph (23 km/h) over the limit?
Easy to avoid, rare, and don’t impact traffic greatly. And yes 15 mph is commonly the trigger point.
What is the point of a maximum speed if “everybody is going over it anyway”?
Going 75 where you are only allowed to go 55 is the dangerous part, even if everyone is doing it.
In Belgium, they substract 6km/h from what they detect in case the machine makes a mistake. Nowhere are people allowed to go faster, let alone 15 mph faster. If they do they all get fined. And for good reason. They are endangering everybody around them.
I have heard that in America the police sometimes fine people for driving at the speed limit because they’re driving too slowly. It’s an absolute farce.
A law that everyone breaks is a law that the police can choose to prosecute anyone for, for any reason. A law that you can be prosecuted for not breaking means you can’t even escape being targeted.
I’ve only ever heard of this in a generic sense. I’ve never seen evidence of a specific case. I don’t think it’s real
In fairness I also didn’t feel like I was reading eyewitness accounts of this kind of thing so maybe it doesn’t actually happen (or almost never, or did in the past but no longer)
Both are dangerous. If you’re going significantly slower than the flow of traffic you’re making yourself a road hazard, regardless of the speed limit.
Some places have minimum speed limits for this very reason.
Welcome to North America, where the speed limit is more like the speed minimum.
I was really confused why this was news because I remembered trying mad max mode. It’s fucking batshit how aggressively it merges on that mode. I turned it off immediately. Although the speeding thing isn’t new, all the autopilot modes will let you set the speed to 15 over or more by default
Part of me wonders if they sell your driving telemetry to your insurance company, and if those companies pay out more for data on worse offenders. If so, they’re just letting you tie your own increased insurance rate noose by providing that option, for their own financial gain.
Presumably not in California or wherever else there are sensible data protection laws?
Probably necessary for driving in Boston
