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Please Google Engineers: If your car knows where bicyclists are anyways, can you please have an additional safety to stop people from opening the driver-side do

by drcode 11y ago

Please Google Engineers: If your car knows where bicyclists are anyways, can you please have an additional safety to stop people from opening the driver-side door, even in a parked car, if a bicyclist is actively passing the car? That is probably the biggest danger to me as a bicyclist in the city: People opening doors on parked cars for me to slam into (and potentially throwing me into a lane of car traffic) Your cars could easily outperform most humans in preventing this dangerous situation.

matthewmcg 11y ago
For that matter, this could probably be implemented in cars with rear cameras or backup sensors without too much additional tweaking.
branchless 11y ago
Wow this is a great thought. Imagine: cycling without worrying about being car doored.
DanAndersen 11y ago
A warning or alarm would be good, but would you feel comfortable being prevented from manually exiting your car? Sounds like a great avenue for edge-case hazards.
- drcode 11y ago
  Fair point... maybe a 3 second delay with an alarm.
  - nfoz 11y ago
    Along with a red LED glow along the door handle!
jaytaylor 11y ago
The notion of physically preventing the doors from opening makes me uncomfortable. How about instead providing some kind of warning so people will know it's a bad time to open the door? This would be some cool tech for sure!
monochromatic 11y ago
Yes, I definitely want a car that locks me inside if it thinks some moron is passing too close to my door.
- Taylor_OD 11y ago
  I hate cyclists and driver online arguments bbbuuuttt... You probably also hate when a cyclist is riding in the middle of the road to avoid car doors and which makes you unable to pass him.
  - monochromatic 11y ago
    Cyclists should ride near the middle of the lane and be treated as taking up the whole lane. I'm not gonna try to squeak by somebody within a single lane just because he's riding toward the right side of the lane.,
- nikatwork 11y ago
  Bike lanes often run adjacent to parking spaces. The bike has right of way and is not being a moron. That said, agree with others that a warning is the best option.

by drcode 11y ago

matthewmcg 11y ago

For that matter, this could probably be implemented in cars with rear cameras or backup sensors without too much additional tweaking.

branchless 11y ago

Wow this is a great thought. Imagine: cycling without worrying about being car doored.

DanAndersen 11y ago

A warning or alarm would be good, but would you feel comfortable being prevented from manually exiting your car? Sounds like a great avenue for edge-case hazards.

drcode 11y ago
Fair point... maybe a 3 second delay with an alarm.
- nfoz 11y ago
  Along with a red LED glow along the door handle!

jaytaylor 11y ago

The notion of physically preventing the doors from opening makes me uncomfortable. How about instead providing some kind of warning so people will know it's a bad time to open the door? This would be some cool tech for sure!

monochromatic 11y ago

Yes, I definitely want a car that locks me inside if it thinks some moron is passing too close to my door.

Taylor_OD 11y ago
I hate cyclists and driver online arguments bbbuuuttt... You probably also hate when a cyclist is riding in the middle of the road to avoid car doors and which makes you unable to pass him.
- monochromatic 11y ago
  Cyclists should ride near the middle of the lane and be treated as taking up the whole lane. I'm not gonna try to squeak by somebody within a single lane just because he's riding toward the right side of the lane.,
nikatwork 11y ago
Bike lanes often run adjacent to parking spaces. The bike has right of way and is not being a moron. That said, agree with others that a warning is the best option.