Teslas are programmed to turn off autopilot half a second before a crash so statistics can say "autopilot was off at the time of the crash".
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2026
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And that's why regulation on all of these self-driving vehicles need to be much more tightly regulated. You cannot trust a for-profit company, much less one run by a known liar, to self-regulate.
I'd say any "bollard" you can drive over isn't a bollard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_bollard
"Traffic bollards" or "flexible bollards" seem to be the terms for this type of bollard. They're intended to guide traffic, rather than to stop it dead as a security measure.
Just like any pedestrian… amirite?!?!
/s
Jimmy Bollard
I mean, I guess "impeccable safety record" is in the eye of the ~~beholder~~ stakeholder?
Fixed that for you
Clearly it saw them. It makes more sense to believe it realized it was in a bad place and it had only one option to extricate itself. I know this video makes the clicks but the problem was how it got into that situation. The problem had already happened.
From the video, I was wondering what the fuck road crews were thinking, and seeing myself do exactly the same. I see the picture lower in the article showing the approach but I still don’t understand since the car could not get into that situation without running over the traffic poles. The details are important here.
But wtf is that trying to do? I’ve never seen anything like that
If there are no consequences for lying, then why would they ever stop lying?
*every politician in the world
And, if the only consequences are fines, then those are just the cost of doing business. Breaking the law is usually very profitable for corporations.
Just the fact that it crosses that double wide white line, that means under no circumstance do not cross this line! Only to end behind a perfectly visible veritable wall of bollards! All this in high daylight too!
The strongest danger of Tesla FSD I think, is that in most situations it drives very confidently, and very well. So people begin to trust it.
But then suddenly it does something insanely stupid like this, or cross a red light without hesitation, or completely ignore a stop sign.
This is when you die. Not the 90% of the time it drives fine.
Remember that the bar for self driving cars isn't perfect driving, it's better-than-human driving, and humans are generally pretty bad at driving, so that bar isn't as high as you probably hope it is.
I'm not suggesting they've reached that bar, only that "sometimes a mistake happens that results in death" is also a problem with human driving, but we know that self driving cars don't get drunk or distracted by their phones, so they've already got a leg up on the competition.
But take that to the next step. Let’s say it reaches the point where it drives better than humans. The problem is it’s not perfect, and has different weaknesses than humans. Even after self-driving is statistically safer, there will be accidents where a human could have done better. Would we accept it under those circumstances? Because those are the circumstances
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A human can drive decades without accidents. I've done that myself. Day and night, rain, snow and fog.
Most autonomous systems are not allowed to be used in any of those conditions!
So there's a long way for FSD to match a competent driver.
“sometimes a mistake happens that results in death” is also a problem with human driving
The shit show Tesla is doing is nowhere near an average human driver, and the FSD has been shown to be lethal multiple times even under good circumstances that shouldn't pose any problems. All Tesla has is as good as a human driver 90% of the time. Then it fucks up. Tesla FSD would for sure not be able to get a drivers license here in Denmark.
IDK the rules in USA. But if a reasonable drivers test is included, I think Tesla FSD would be very likely to fail it.
So Tesla is definitely not anywhere near "better than a human". Not even under optimal conditions like daylight and no bad weather.
Aside from the interactive voice response, Tesla self-driving would easily pass a road test here. Although I never tried to get it to parallel park and certainly not “parallel park between those two cars”.
The driving part is easy though. What I remember of the driving test was basic skills and confidence, and self-driving has those. Real life driving is a plethora of unexpected stuff and edge cases: that’s where self-driving still needs work but is also not covered in a road test
OK, to be fair the roads in USA are 100 times easier to navigate than in Europe. At least when I compare Californian cities to Copenhagen and other European cities.
But when the Tesla AI can be confused by the above, I'm not so sure it will easily pass a drivers test. Something that is completely obvious to a human, obviously is not to the AI of a Tesla Robo Taxi, that even has extra sensors compared to a normal Tesla.
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The human safety supervisor of a Tesla Robotaxi who crashed was apparently sleep deprived and having a mental health episode, so, if you think self-driving cars will insulate you from human foibles, just you wait. The futures going to get real weird!
Broadly I agree, though. The goal is better-than-human. It really shouldn't ever cross a solid line, though.
That was this case, it's all self-reported so take it with a grain of salt, but it was interesting food for thought: https://electrek.co/2026/07/28/tesla-self-driving-manager-rolling-hazards-lawsuit/
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My bad, that was me controlling it remotely. Once you get a taste of that phap phap phap sound while mowing them down in GTA V, you start needing that satisfaction everywhere...
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I'm just glad I live in a part of the country that doesn't have these things.
Watching the video, I get the feeling like the car software hit a wall and asked for human help.
Traffic infractions for people have to balance the severity of the infraction and the human who did it. But this is a systemic failure and corporate is responsible. The fines need to be corporate-level to match.
What good is a bollard if the bollard doesn't mow down the car?
y'all not got bendy bollards? most bollards are bendy.
is that just a Chicago thing? they don't trust us with solid bollards, it would be a mass-casualty-incident instantly
British bollards on the other hqnd tend to be stout and solid, after the Battle of Trafalgar it was found the French guns that were captured could not be retrofitted into British ships so they got turned into London bollards as a way of rubbing it in. While only a few of these still exist, they inspired the general shape of London bollards for a long time.
Also can't believe I can remember bollard lore but not important things
British bollards are hilarious. These would kill half of American drivers.
This setup in Watford makes great Youtube content, even police can't avoid hitting them.
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