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I have a lot of respect for Tesla, but this incident convinced me not to buy one any time soon. I have children with car seats. The fires that break out with ba

by dzink 9y ago

I have a lot of respect for Tesla, but this incident convinced me not to buy one any time soon. I have children with car seats. The fires that break out with battery right under the middle makes it impossible to save someone in the driver seat, let alone in the back. More importantly, self driving cars are not the same - Waymo has lidar, Tesla and Uber don’t (correct me if wrong). If a system is clearly struggling with the detection of still objects in the middle of a highway, on a sunny day, it cannot be trusted. If I ever bought a Tesla, I wouldn’t use autopilot unless their hardware proves reliable.

lostmsu 9y ago
I thought fire started because rescue team cut someone out of the car.
- userbinator 9y ago
  If you look at the pictures, I don't think much cutting was needed, and certainly any that might be would be nowhere near the batteries located beneath the car; the front end basically disintegrated completely from the impact.
ec109685 9y ago
The fire started way after the crash.
disillusioned 9y ago
Not quite. The battery pack actually has an aerogel like insulating layer above it in between the cabin and the pack to allow people time to exit, and ports the flames to the front and rear of the vehicle, rather than the sides for this exact reason. It will obviously eventually consume the whole vehicle, because lithium fires burn so hot, but they've done a lot to ameliorate this concern. I thought the driver in this case was removed _before_ the fire started.
TwoBit 9y ago
I think you are mis-analyzing. Tesla fires are extremely rare, more so than gasoline fires. And the fires take much longer to occur.
icebraining 9y ago
The Uber car had lidar, although only one, whereas Waymo's have six: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-selfdriving-sensors-insight/ubers-use-of-fewer-safety-sensors-prompts-questions-after-arizona-crash-idUSKBN1H337Q https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-selfdriving-sensors-...

by dzink 9y ago

lostmsu 9y ago

I thought fire started because rescue team cut someone out of the car.

userbinator 9y ago
If you look at the pictures, I don't think much cutting was needed, and certainly any that might be would be nowhere near the batteries located beneath the car; the front end basically disintegrated completely from the impact.

ec109685 9y ago

The fire started way after the crash.

disillusioned 9y ago

Not quite. The battery pack actually has an aerogel like insulating layer above it in between the cabin and the pack to allow people time to exit, and ports the flames to the front and rear of the vehicle, rather than the sides for this exact reason. It will obviously eventually consume the whole vehicle, because lithium fires burn so hot, but they've done a lot to ameliorate this concern. I thought the driver in this case was removed _before_ the fire started.

TwoBit 9y ago

I think you are mis-analyzing. Tesla fires are extremely rare, more so than gasoline fires. And the fires take much longer to occur.

icebraining 9y ago

The Uber car had lidar, although only one, whereas Waymo's have six: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-selfdriving-sensors-insight/ubers-use-of-fewer-safety-sensors-prompts-questions-after-arizona-crash-idUSKBN1H337Q https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-selfdriving-sensors-...