this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025
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The car came to rest more than 70 metres away, on the opposite side of the road, leaving a trail of wreckage. According to witnesses, the Model S burst into flames while still airborne. Several passersby tried to open the doors and rescue the driver, but they couldn’t unlock the car. When they heard explosions and saw flames through the windows, they retreated. Even the firefighters, who arrived 20 minutes later, could do nothing but watch the Tesla burn.

At that moment, Rita Meier was unaware of the crash. She tried calling her husband, but he didn’t pick up. When he still hadn’t returned her call hours later – highly unusual for this devoted father – she attempted to track his car using Tesla’s app. It no longer worked. By the time police officers rang her doorbell late that night, Meier was already bracing for the worst.

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[–] TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.ca 170 points 1 week ago (61 children)

If we lived in any sort of reasonable or responsible world then these cars would be banned from public roads all over the globe.

[–] rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 36 points 1 week ago (47 children)

Call me a Luddite but I won't ride in a "self driving" car. I don't even trust lane assist although I've never had a car with that feature.

I think my sweet spot is 2014 for vehicles. It's about 50/50 with the tracking garbage and the "advanced features" on those models but anything past 2015 seems to be fully fly-by-wire and that doesn't sit right with me.

I'm old though and honestly if I bought a 2014 right now and babied it as my non commuter car I could probably keep it until I should give up my keys. You younger people are going to have to work around all this crap.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 week ago (18 children)

I have a Sprinter van with lane assist for cross country travel. As obnoxious as it is 99% of the time, it has come in clutch a few times when I started to get drowsy and drifted off my lane.

[–] Atropos@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I hear you, but a 99% chance of being obnoxious isn't a great review.

I think I'll just stick to not driving when tired.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago (2 children)

That's easier said than done. You can't judge your own behavior when impaired because you are impaired. By the time you are aware you are that tired, you've already been impaired for a long time.

[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 days ago

I apparently have the uncanny ability of being able to sense when I am drowsy. Call up the X-Men

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You absolutely can judge your own behavior when you are impaired, I have done that plenty of times and decided that I needed a break when driving plenty of times.

The issue is that you are a worse judge of your own behavior when impaired, so you need to take that into account

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

You absolutely can judge your own behavior when you are impaired

By the time you realized it you were already impaired. That's why professional drivers have a schedule. It's not up to them to decide for themselves that they could go longer.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml -2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

For sure, but when you are driving cross-country you sometimes do not have a choice because there is nowhere to stop.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

"Guess I'll just drive off the road then!"

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Unless there's a safety concern, there's always the side of the road. I drive 2 lane backwoods roads periodically, and it's not uncommon to see a car pulled a bit off the road with no visible driver's seat.

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