3 ms·
This was my immediate reaction when I first saw it: how is anything remotely like that design ever going to be road-legal here in the UK, unless it has some inn
by Silhouette 7y ago
This was my immediate reaction when I first saw it: how is anything remotely like that design ever going to be road-legal here in the UK, unless it has some innovative ways to do better than standard, possibly even legally-required safety features that don't seem to have been mentioned?
There are certainly reasonable alternatives to things like wing mirrors. For example, it's not hard to imagine a camera-and-screen arrangement in a vehicle from Tesla.
However, giving the vehicle a solid shell pretty much implies that the full force of any impact is transmitted to the occupants on one side and the impactee on the other because physics, which is going to be a concern given the great emphasis on the materials used.
Then there's the angular styling, which appears to have edges practically designed to cause serious injury to anyone vulnerable that might be hit by the vehicle, not to mention the potential to act as a ramp sending the victim of a frontal collision up the front or even over the top of the vehicle.
It definitely looks like a case of form-over-function so far, but it's hard to believe no-one at Tesla has considered these kinds of issues, so surely they must have something up their sleeves to deal with them (unless <conspiracy theory>it's all been a very successful publicity stunt and they never really intended to bring a vehicle like this to market</conspiracy-theory>).
- lrem 7y agoFor a good start, it's over the weight limit of the regular driving license in Europe.
- Silhouette 7y agoHas the weight been officially confirmed anywhere? That and the breakover angle were notable only for their absence in anything I've seen so far.
- cardinalfang 7y agoThe weight of a Model X (2.5t) and the Truck's 1.6t payload is easily above the 3.5t gross a European car licence is limited to.
- Silhouette 7y agoLots of people in Europe do have licences that would allow them to drive heavier vehicles, though. For example, the rules changed here in the UK for drivers passing their test from 1997 onwards, but those who passed before that will usually have a licence for most vehicle categories apart from the really big ones like HGVs and buses. If memory serves, I can technically drive something like a 7.5t box truck with another 4.5t as a trailer without exceeding what my licence legally permits -- though given my lack of specialist training in that type of vehicle, whether it would be a good idea is another question entirely!
- detaro 7y agoLots of large vans can either be licensed as <3.5t cars or >3.5t trucks, with often only small (or even no, if only a bit above the limit) changes. Of course the speed is pointless for the latter option.
- sansnomme 7y agoCars are supposed to send people over in the event of collision, not under.
- daedalus_f 7y agoPreferably not with large soft tissue wounds due to sharp edges in addition to the blunt force trauma.
- sjwright 7y agoThe Ford F-150 is the most popular vehicle in the USA. Despite this, new car sales of the F-150 outside of North America appears to be negligible. This disparity is instructive. Cybertruck is a product designed squarely for this North American market and isn't going to have mass appeal in any other global markets beyond novelty factor for a small number of people with excessive disposable wealth. Yes, the Cybertruck looks like a safety nightmare in many respects—especially for pedestrians—but I would dare guess that it'd still be safer across the board compared to its established competitors like the F-150.
- daedalus_f 7y agoThe United States has a traffic related mortality of 12.4 per 100,000 pop compared to the UKs 3.1 and well behind the rest of western Europe [1] Its almost as if there's something wrong with America's road regulations. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...
- viridian 7y agoDoes that take in to account the difference between how many miles Americans drive a day versus Brits?
- NickNameNick 7y agoWhile I don't doubt there are shortcomings in the US's road safety regulatory regime, That's probably not a fair comparison. I strongly suspect that on both a trip-miles and passenger-miles basis, the US far outstrips any european country. *edit If you sort that table on 'road fatalities per billion vehicle KM' you'll see the US at 7.3, same as Belgium. The UK is doing better at 3.4
- sjwright 7y agoI'd argue it's entirely fair. The fact that people in the US spend a lot more time in the car is part of the problem. Fatalities per distance is fine for a technical comparison of road safety regulations. Fatalities per population is more useful when comparing the safety of roads as they are used.