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Tesla Has Special Code for Crash Testing in Its Cars, Raising Red Flags

30 points| jjulius | 3 years ago |electrek.co | reply

15 comments

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[+] HEHENE|3 years ago|reply
This really feels like a non-story to me. It seems obvious that Tesla would have to create special builds or settings for crash testing.

Their crash avoidance features (automatic braking, steering correction, etc) can't be disabled by the user and it's rather hard to perform, say, a frontal crash test if the car refuses to crash.

[+] i_am_jl|3 years ago|reply
This is my feeling as well, but to play devil's advocate; what settings could Tesla tweak to cheat on a crash test? I'm struggling to think what software tweaks Tesla could be implementing during a test that would game the results of the crash.

Airbag/seatbelt tensioner timings? Maybe lowering the threshold for their deployment? Maybe something sort of software-triggered fuse to make the battery safe?

[+] simion314|3 years ago|reply
> It seems obvious that Tesla would have to create special builds or settings for crash testing.

Isn't obvious that you turn off the "crash avoidance" stuff if you want to test the car body only? Sure maybe the regular driver can't turn it off but I am expecting a Tesla mechanic can turn it off, rather then 10 engineers creating new software builds, deploy them on the cars and then ensure that when is the time to test the "Crash avoidence" you use the car with the correct build.

[+] svrtknst|3 years ago|reply
IMO the code runing in cars (and other types of vehicles) should be made available to inspection agencies, pref. written in languages that can make certain guarantees, or at the very least be required to be written in clear, legible manners with certain standards.
[+] EncomLab|3 years ago|reply
VW also like to use special code for testing it's diesel engines...
[+] Bilal_io|3 years ago|reply
I hope Tesla gets punished as well if the allegations are true.
[+] coffeebeanHH|3 years ago|reply
Hhhh true. VW's system takes longer to kill someone but therefor kills more. Given their history and production environment it might be something they want to acchieve. No one knows but them.
[+] SilverBirch|3 years ago|reply
This is interesting because ANCAP stated the following

>The autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system is capable of detecting and reacting to pedestrians and cyclists. The AEB system showed GOOD performance in pedestrian test scenarios in both daylight and low light, with collisions avoided or mitigated in most scenarios including in turning scenarios and some reverse (AEB Backover). In cyclist test scenarios, the AEB system offered GOOD performance with maximum points scored.

It wouldn't be difficult for Tesla to just bump up the sensitivity for the test - ensuring that it acts extra cautiously for the test, and then have it lower in real world scenarios where they're worried false positives would make it unusable.

[+] throwaway23236|3 years ago|reply
I could completely see Tesla making the system more sensitive to pass tests and then in the real world drop the setting down do that it's not emergency braking due to fall positives.

There have been a few reports of motorcyclists getting rear ended by Teslas cars, which if the ANCAP test was GOOD in cyclist settings and hitting motorcycles in real world scenarios, I can see this being the case.