https://techxplore.com/news/2025-12-automated-cameras-road-safety-nyc.html#!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qEllWdK4l_A

The observed smallish physical blind spot view areas also exist on the Model Y. However, the cameras on the pillars provide a view on the screen when the turn signal is activated. There is also a representation of everything around the car depicted on the screen in real time all the time. Being old school, I use my eyes as well as the cameras/screens.

This car does have the Full Self Driving software. Every week I have a single 240 mile commute going through towns and cities, on two lane roads and freeways. Although I also do like to drive, you can imagine it gets a bit monotonous week after week, even when varying the route a bit.

Regardless of route choice, whenever it is used FSD handles the drive with smoothness and human-like precision. It navigates construction zones, avoids potholes, works through heavy traffic, seemingly perceives the hand gestures of other drivers. It problem solves ahead of time, sees in all directions at once, and never gets emotional or frazzled by challenging driving conditions.

It is annoyingly safety conscious (I am admittedly an aggressive driver.). So far this year I have not had an intervention where I had to take control that wasn’t routing related. Zero safety interventions.

I select a destination, press a button on the screen, and the car just takes me there, even backing into Supercharger stalls and parking spaces at the market.

My friends and I have attempted to recreate a few of those FSD youtube videos. This version is very good. We have been unable to run over each other. The car successfully avoids or stops for whatever is tossed in its way. It just works.

We aren’t at the stage of the flawless AI driver, not quite yet. The steering wheels will remain in new cars for quite some time to come. But we are getting very close.

I’ve read differently:
– sloping the windscreen to get a more aerodynamic profile to reduce drag and improve MPG/KPL & meet emissions rules moves the lower edge forward
– moving the windscreen forward to reduce chance of impact of front persons’ heads in the case of a frontal impact, especially for those who don’t wear seatbelts. Designers joked they were designing “postman pat” vans.
– need to still be able to support the vehicle in the event of a rollover – sloped beams bend easier, so there’s some little supports increasing the blind spots in the ‘quarter’ window area.
– the pillar width has a max legal size, and while it could be narrower and still do the job – company lawyers are concerned ill informed juries will be swayed with a “wider beam is stronger” argument and the company will lose $m in damages (see the McDonalds payout to a driver who put a hot coffee between their thighs and then scolded themselves when they braked hard and complained they weren’t told fresh made coffee is very hot!).

Where you can trip he and his up is with Greens:
If Corvair was unsafe at any speed–are the Smart for Two even LESS safe? Electric scooter’s?

Gavin’s gulag is the worst state when it comes to motorists.

A way to blunt his own gerrymandering would be commercials showing Sen. Kelly and VP candidate Walz getting rid of Teslas in favor of big trucks–with a commercial asking that if those two:

“have the right to buy the vehicles of their choice–shouldn’t you? Not if Gavin has his way and appoint’s his stooges. Me, I’ll stay home election day to send Governor Gulag a message– quit harassing motorists like me.!”

We still have one car with no rear view camera. It is a 2006 sedan. It runs great with regular maintenance (oil, filter changes, etc}. The other huuuuge advantage to the 2006 is that it is fully PAID OFF.

Our other car is a 2015 SUV, also paid off, with a rear camera. When backing up, in the SUV or the sedan, if I have ANY doubt of the area behind, I get out and look. What a concept!

I cannot believe the number of times people walk behind our car, even when we are already moving, backing up. Even without a phone in their hands, they walk behind a moving vehicle. Yikes!

People need to not just drive defensively, but walk defensively. Whether driving or walking, we ALWAYS assume the other drivers cannot see us. Discretion and caution are the better part of breathing.

As for the people who look at their phones 24/7, well, The Darwin Awards is in their future. These days, walking on a sidewalk, staring into the phone, could lead to a collision with one of those EV scooters that drive way too fast. Crossing the road while staring at the phone is hilarious, sad, and dangerous. I once drove behind a person walking in the parking lot of a grocery store. I do not have an EV, so the internal combustion engine could be heard. This person was walking down the middle of the parking lot, staring at her phone, oblivious to the outside world. My wife and I just drove slowly behind her, shaking our heads, and thanking G-d for not being her.

Robert wrote: “”But don’t worry. Soon AI will soon make it possible for cars will drive themselves!””

The San Francisco WayMo driverless taxis are hilarious. There have been times where the taxis just stop, and won’t move. Also, thieves and thugs see easy prey. When stopped in traffic, thugs could easily break windows and rob the passenger(s), or worse. If stopped in traffic, we always leave space between cars, in case we have to move.

“”I’ll be amazed if more accidents aren’t going to be caused by the distraction of the humongous info-screens””

A friend has a large info screen in their hybrid sedan. It often warns her to not look at it………

As for pedestrians at least in cities folks really need to use the (expletive deleted) crosswalks. Dashing out from between groups of parked SUV’s is a sure way to startle a driver who may be already near or at task overload. I worked in Boston for 7 years and I don’t know how many close calls I saw, especially of young small women darting between SUV.s. I also saw driving home from work, a young girl dart between traffic and be struck by a mail truck. Her injuries looked minor but would have been worse had the Mail Truck have not just started moving.

(The California version of “Signal 30.”)

“Signal 30”
Highway Safety Films, Inc. (1959)
https://archive.org/details/0869_Signal_30_07_00_59_00

Is that sarcasm, or does it reflect genuine enthusiasm for the Elon Musk philosophy that human beings are — literally in this case — “just along for the ride” and ought not to be looking at anything except a touch screen. What, BTW, is the field of view in a Tesla Cybertruck? And here, finally, is an actual practical use for these things… https://gizmodo.com/the-air-force-wants-to-use-cybertrucks-for-target-practice-2000640105

While I am getting old enough that one day I will probably welcome a truly self-driving vehicle to maintain my mobility, I still enjoy driving as an active participant in the experience. And for visibility, nothing beats a convertible with the top down. Elon would no doubt be horrified, lol.

Realistically, I’d wager that one of the major factors in the loss of visibility for drivers is the shear size of the new vehicles and the proportionate increase in the size of the A B and C pillars, etc. Likewise the manufactures’ desire to come out with the most bizarre shapes possible, believing — apparently correctly — that the *uglier* the vehicle (and the larger it is), the better it will sell.

Here is some more commentary on this, from both the US and the UK

https://www.cars.com/articles/the-death-of-the-affordable-new-car-what-happened-to-the-20000-cars-507932/

https://www.reddit.com/r/CarTalkUK/comments/1inoq4e/the_slow_sad_death_of_the_affordable_car/

It is not just the Democratic Party that has gone insane.

Of course, they’ve got the little radar system that is SUPPOSED to warn you if somebody is there, but it’s very poor at picking up smaller things like bicycles, pedestrians, and even smaller motorcycles and scooters. On the other hand, it routinely picks up the garage door frame when backing out of the garage…and you can’t shut off that stinking beeper.

I’ll be amazed if more accidents aren’t going to be caused by the distraction of the humongous info-screens they seem intent on filling the dashboard with. You cannot in the wildest of imaginations keep your eyes on the road while trying to turn your defroster on using one of those things. Fortunately hers is the last year model in which the heating/cooling/fan controls are still knobs.

If we had our free choice (free of government interference) we’d pick a vehicle with NOTHING electronic on it except the ignition and fuel injection system. Give us a 5-speed and a clutch, cranks on the windows, and a simple radio.

There is another issue, though, that is the fault of the pedestrians, and the various rule-making bodies: Everywhere one goes these days, there is the thinking that pedestrians have the right of way, and there are even signs posted in the middle of roads stating that vehicles must yield for pedestrians. The intention is that vehicles not run over people in the roadway, but the actual belief many pedestrians have is that they have the right to cross at ANY time, regardless of any vehicles in proximity. The notion of “Look both ways before you cross the street!” has been lost.