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> This does not seem like a valid use case for driving on public roads. Driving in the snow often requires this because the brake acts as a poor man’s diff loc
by Swizec 5y ago
> This does not seem like a valid use case for driving on public roads.
Driving in the snow often requires this because the brake acts as a poor man’s diff lock which gives you more traction. You can see the effect at speeds as low as 30kph in snow – a nice slow speed even in the city.
- jeffbee 5y agoLiterally every car sold today does this for you.
- salawat 5y agoAnd automated things never fail? Then what are we reading? The user should be trained to be 10% smarter than the piece of equipment.
- jeffbee 5y agoThere is no way that 99% of drivers under 99% of realistic conditions will be anywhere near as effective as automatic traction control, much less more effective. It is absolutely a fair tradeoff to have a drive-by-wire that's better than virtually everyone and almost as good as that one guy under perfect controlled conditions.
- salawat 5y agoI question the practice of building solutions around people and ceasing to train people why they are there. You aren't empowering people at that point. You're creating a centralized control mechanism the information asymmetry. If people don't come out of a system interaction smarter than they went in, you're not doing it right. You're writing checks their continued ignorance will increasingly extort hogher costs from, and which will culminate in the formation of a lever of control in the form of manufacturers making decisions for people, usurping ultimate end agency. I just don't buy that that's how the world should work. You can't build a better world without building better, more knowledgable people. We engineers spend too long making machines that do things for people without making clear why they exist and how they work. I'm done with the "for their own good" BS.
- failedengineer 5y agoI've never heard of this, and I learned how to drive in places with very rough winters. You just hold the brake (lightly) with one foot, and gas with the other? This doesn't sound as useful as putting the car in 2nd, or rocking back and forth?
- kayodelycaon 5y agoYou're using the brake to prevent a slipping tire from taking all of the power. This is a non-issue for any car made in the last decade since traction control is mandatory.
- olyjohn 5y agoThat assumes that all traction control systems are equal. A lot of them are hot garbage and won't get a car moving when only a single tire is off the ground.
- Zak 5y ago> This doesn't sound as useful as putting the car in 2nd, or rocking back and forth? Neither of those cause the wheel with more traction to get any torque. Applying the brakes lightly will. Rocking and manually preventing wheelspin with the brake can be combined. In theory, traction control will as well, but traction control may also intervene and decrease power right when you need it as you're getting unstuck, so there's potential merit in turning it off and preventing excess wheelspin with the brake yourself. Source: I learned to drive in Alaska, and I have used this technique.
- failedengineer 5y agoyeah, Alaska and Sibera are pretty much the only places with worse winters than where I learned. I'll keep this in my pocket for times when I'm spinning a wheel and am out of other options. We only get a few inches a year here, but my traction control might be out someday. Thanks!