I work for a major manufacturer, and I remember when we were testing our pedestrian avoidance system on a course. We had mannequins set up to cross and we invited all of the executives out to see the result of our final product. The car I was in plowed straight threw a pedestrian much to everyone's shock. The executive got out, shook everyone's hand, and said "I look forward to your final product." and left. :x
In my state, 55 is the lower bound for almost any highway, though they get up to 65, and interstates up to 75. It's Nebraska. There's alot of space to traverse if you want to get anywhere. If you don't go that fast, you fall asleep.
In the UK, "highway" is an umbrella term for public roads. 35, 40mph is not unusual for city driving. You saw how it could barely stop in time at 40mph, now you see the challenge in getting a car to stop sooner than that while not creating inertia for the people in the vehicle.
I think the point of this is that it's not only safer but much cheaper to test the systems with the foam car than a real one. Although the remote-controlled base probably costs a fair bit, it's still reusable. And if the systems fail, you don't want to wreck the car that's being tested, either.
it's a bit hard to see, but it appears to be higher in the middle. I'd suspect that it's somewhere between 20 and 30cm high. enough for a small electro motor. combined with a weight of 30~50kg you really don't need much to accelerate it up to 50mph.
When they finally work out driverless cars, will they have to make a special model for Brits that doesn't have the steering wheel on the right, instead of not having it on the left?
It won't be so much where the invisible steering wheel is as knowing which side of the road it's supposed to be on. Plus having equal amounts of sensors on each side of the car and both LH and RH software installed simultaneously, coupled with the knowledge that if a UK car traverses the Channel (or vice versa) it knows to swap sides (not doing so would be a little awkward... well, more like downright dangerous and possibly fatal). Even in countries that drive on the same side of the road, they'd need to know the respective countries' Highway Codes when crossing borders, and recognise different styles of signs. It also needs to be preloaded, as you can't guarantee decent GSM coverage across the entirety of a border. Your comment was in jest, but illustrates a nice little can of works...
mittfh, now I'm imagining a gentle chime followed by the car calmly announcing "please be advised there are currently 127 wrong-way drivers approaching you at a high rate of speed".
Monty Python the Flying Circus, It's called the *Right* side for a reason. 😛😋 It's you benighted Brits who don't have a firm grasp of your own Language.😂😂😂
I don't think this system would react to a brake check, since an actual brake check doesn't stop the vehicle, it just rapidly slows it down for an extremely short period, then back up to speed.
i mean...i wouldnt doubt it. he could design a story like he does, where he talks about all the benifits of peace between the countries, throwing in the occasional misstep made by a few countries but expressing how in total peace between every country would be a good thing.
Guys, this is just an assist. It's not expected to handle everything. It's supposed to just help in case you don't stop in time on your own, in situations it can detect.
@Squant Thank you for saying inching. Futurephiles have been boasting that we'll have fully autonomous robo taxis on the road in a few short years for a decade now, and always been wrong. The hurdles of fully automated driving on mapped out roads in clear weather with no traffic are still real. It may not be possible to actually have automated vehicles on current infrastructure.
@Squant We'll get fully automated cars as soon as someone manages to automate the final missing piece of the puzzle: responsibility. Whose responsibility it is when an inevitable accident happens; the owner's, the passenger's, the manufacturer's, the father's brother's nephew's cousin's former room mate's?
Not claiming otherwise, I'm just amused by it. I'm wondering how it came to be, because both details are real, but they would never appear together on the same plate
I would guess that plate making is strictly regulated when applied to moving vehicles or vehicle lookalikes in this case, sort of how you can't make false money that looks to real, even for films, without approval. The invalid combination is likely an intentional dead giveaway to any scrutiny.
Not for profit and funded by insurance companies aren't two phrases that sit comfortably in the same sentence. But if it makes cars safer then I can't complain. Great video Tom.
Really cool to see the new tech in vehicle testing. This is particularly cool since it doesn't destroy the car being tested which helps keep the testing costs lower.
As I was watching this on my laptop, I got a text and when I looked back up, the car had rear-ended the target. Even if you've got driver assistance, even if you're not the one driving, even if you're not actually in the vehicle at all, even if it was recorded, edited, and uploaded to RUclips 12 hours ago, never take your eyes off the road.
I would like to have seen more details about that robot. It's quite amazing how they can manage to pack something that goes so fast into something so slim, meanwhile also keeping it durable enough to be run over by cars at highway speeds.
The secret is short run times, Speed durability range and form factor are our sliders here, if it only need to be at speed for 5-10 minutes for a test then you can plug it in to a generator or swap the battery while you reassemble you can shove that range slider to the floor, they also only went to 50 which will depress the speed slider a bit so you have plenty of room for durabilty(weight) and formfactor, the latter of which also helps the former by acting more ramp like and not eating the entire force at once.
That foam car is awesome (especially the fact that it can drive, but still without posing any hazard to other drivers, because there's nothing solid to hit). Now I really want to see Canada's Worst Driver use one of those next season to really scare the crap out of their students. ;-)
I was thinking just that! I guess it'd crash... Not sure how you can detect ice or water on the road... Unless it uses the rain sensor, thermometer, etc., to predict if the road could have less grip...
I was wondering if the "warning" pre-brake was the rear axle pair braking, so the system could work out the mu (coefficient of friction) of the particular conditions. The rear axle tends to be the most susceptible to locking on a FWD vehicle as it tends to have the least load. It did seem to leave a very limited margin even on a dry surface.
They do, yes. Some cars (I can only speak for Volvo, since this is were I worked a couple of years back) will estimate the friction of the road surface while the driver brakes or use the anti-spin system for example. It also weighs in the ambient temperature, rain sensor (normally used for the wipers) and sometimes even a humidity sensor to try and estimate if there's ice on the road surface. These things will have some impact on the brake algorithms that determines if you should warn the driver or ultimately stop. I imagine that someone might have come far enough to also use the camera to visually detect the road surface, but I'm not sure if anyone does that yet.
There's an interesting shutter sync artefact at 2:29. Every five frames the alloy wheel "spokes" (which are otherwise in sync with the frame rate) jump, suggesting there's a slightly longer or shorter interval after every fifth frame, than otherwise. What camera was used for that segment?
@2:50 Explains why I was plowed into by an inattentive driver. I was stopped in traffic, not moving at all. He was going full freeway speed and never slowed down. Ironically, I was driving a Ford Fiesta (this break up model looks like big sister, the Focus) and my car was crushed with me in it
2 Questions: * If it brakes this late and hard, then surely the car behind you won't be able to break in time, and will hit your rear end (possibly causing you to hit the vehicle in front anyway)? I'd argue it should brake earlier and slower, to give the driver behind you time to react as well. Now - because your car continues at speed for too long - you're obscuring the car in front from the driver behind you, which only makes the situation more dangerous. * That second one... didn't really work, did it? Why not?
1) in the US at least, the driver in the rear is usually found at fault for "unsafe following" during most rear-end collisions. (The driver in front may simultaneously be charged with something else, depending on what they were doing). 2) Eh - the driver should have seen the obstacle before the system was programmed to react, so they would still be at fault; BUT I'd still be happy if the system reacted faster than I could and that small bump was the only result. That collision was better than a full-on crash, so in a way it did work. (Sounds like the system could use a bit more tweaking, but kudos to the car maker anyhow)
It's mainly to reduce the speed at impact. Sure it's great if an impact is avoided, but at higher speeds so much distance is needed to stop that without lots of false positives it would not be possible to program that. Crashing at 20 mph is still better than at 40 mph. If cars were connected, then it would be possible, but that brings up a low load of security issues.
Yup, this is the big issue. Especially, with idiots tinting the rear glass totally black, you won't be able to see the traffic. If something that should be illegal, it's one of the most dangerous modifications ever.
The radar has a limited range. At the speed they were traveling, during the second test, there wasn't enough time to stop once the radar had detected the obstacle. At lower speed, the radar would detect the obstacle and have more than enough time to brake earlier and more slowly. Note that this was a test of "adaptive cruise control" and not something akin to Tesla's automated driving system. It's a last-resort accident prevention mechanism; not a means for you to forego braking completely. Think of it as an airbag.
Wait. You said you were getting in the passenger seat and then sat in the driver's . . . Oh, right. Limeys. You drive on the wrong side of the car and the road but we still love you. :P
3:07 i feel like this fact is what also holds back some really cool inventions that some people have thought of, but haven't created yet; thinking how they will make it fit with different people. Some get angry at the slightest thing, some don't really care
I know its only additional safety but still im mildly concerned that the car actually bumped into the foam fiesta at the second attempt. Many people probably think and rely on the knowing that their car has this feature and it will safe them if something happens. Would be interesting to see what happens at 60mph or at germany Autobahn speeds.
Idiots rely on the system, not people! A normal, intuitive reaction for people would be to still slam their foot on the brake even though the brake assistant is "handling" it!
The issue is, if one car slams on its brakes, then the person behind (especially if they don't have autonomous features) will have to brake even quicker and so and so on. If people all had great reactions and were spaced properly it would be less of an issue... but that isn't the case.
also the car in question (unless its had an aftermarket system fitted), is far too old to have auto-braking capabilities, and as a guess is just a car normally used for filming other cars (hence matte black paint)
probably a test car for software development although i think any car that has ABS is capable of auto breaking but im not sure abs can certainly interupt the breaking system to maintain t raction but idk if it is capable of operating the breaks itself or if it needs user input
Why does it have a numberplate from Wolfsburg.... with the sticker from Bavaria AND it's on a Ford Focus and not even on a VW?! I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS! :(
More importantly, why is there a Bavarian state seal on the license plate, when the WOB indicates that it is registered in Wolfsburg (headquarters and a production plant of VW, Audi, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Skoda, Seat and everything from the VolksWagen Group), which is in the state of Niedersachsen, NOT Bavaria.
Sort of. EuroNCAP is European, rather than EU, and it's not a "standard" in the sense of being required anywhere. Type compliance in European countries, including the EU, is done by entirely separate rules and there's no mandate for Autonomous Emergency Braking (as tested with this fun dummy car from 2020) in the type compliance rules at all, so if Thatcham only did compliance testing this dummy would be useless. Where compliance tests are done with pre-production models before a product goes on sale, EuroNCAP buys real popular mass market cars and crashes them, using Thatcham and other centres, independent of such type compliance rules in order to generate test results it shows to the public. A merely satisfactory EuroNCAP rating far exceeds the safety required to meet type compliance rules and be sold in EU countries. For example, to be sold a car must pass a frontal impact test at 56kph (35mph) but EuroNCAP starts testing at 64kph (40mph). Manufacturers support EuroNCAP (although much of its funding comes from governments and customer groups) because good EuroNCAP ratings drive sales especially to young families.
Screwed? Insurance wise yes. would you die? No. Is this an assist and not a driver less car? Yes. People get off your phone, be sober and pay attention then you'll be fine
While the radar reflective foam is interesting I'm most fascinated by that little platform. It's almost flat but can travel at highway speeds and endure being constantly run over.
You know how in movies or tv when there is a car crash there is always that one tire that rolls away comedically? That's that tire that was left standing.
Or uh, you know, outlaw cruise control and self driving until it properly works? Cruise control is such a dangerous implementation of lazy technology, it's horrifying. Especially in combination with modern distractions already built into cars. Not to mention the distractions people carry like cell phones. While this technology is fascinating, it's equally likely to cause accidents with people driving older vehicles. Perfect example being that I nearly ran OVER a Mercedes with this automatic braking because it seemed to decide someone was going to jaywalk, and the driver was talking on the phone, ergo, not paying attention, so the car took control. The person did not jaywalk, they stopped, and if the road hadn't been clear I'd have been at fault for hitting a car that needlessly stopped. Again, while this is a cool technology, I feel like it's simply saying "It's alright dear, you don't have to be a competent human being, you can just sit back and let the gadgets do everything!"
They have similar test dummies, but built to resemble humans, both when it comes to how it looks on a camera and when it comes to radar backscatter. They even have some advanced dummies that will swing their arms like a human does (yes, this affects the radar). Other than that, it's basically the same tests. I know Volvo has pedestrian airbags that will lift the hood of the car so that the pedestrian, should it get hit, will not hit the very hard engine block, but instead a slightly cushioned hood.
what about cyclists, pedestrians and animals? Car manufacturers only think about the drivers. They went so far as demanding that children should wear gps transmitters because they can't get their pattern algorithms to work for cylists and pedestrians.
actually they do take that in to consideration. They even test pedestrian safety in crash tests. Newer cars(not autonomous) also have cyclist and pedestrian warning systems in place
I think youve misunderstood the video (or techonology). The radar pieces on the foam "target" are there to simulate a real car. Cars do not transmit radar but in this case it is used to trick the car to think the "target" is a real car.
@minj4ever: Yes there is. I can't find the article about childrens backpacks and bycycle helmets with gps transmitters but just search for "GPS Mobile ITS for Pedestrian Safety".
"People in Germany tend to drive slightly more aggressively" is the nicest thing you can say about our driving style. More honest would be "like self-absorbed, speed-obsessed bastards."
This reminded me of an incident where a guy hit my car. He had an older, mostly steel-and-titanium heavy duty industrial truck, versus my fiberglass and plastic subaru. My car just about flew apart, while his was undamaged beyond denting the grill guard. He looked at it, then shrugged at me. "Hope you can get it fixed." When the police tracked him down after he left, his excuse was "There was no damage to my car, it's not my problem." He'd hit my parked car at a wal-mart while I was going towards it. My car looked a bit like the test model here! Just doors popped off, hood caved in, bits lying everywhere. I don't know what his car was made of, but they sure don't build them like they used to anymore.
I turn off all systems when I get into a car, because I freak out when I feel something on steering wheel or brakes. I only like traction control. Whoever invented it, did a good job.
This was a lot of fun to film! Thanks to all the team: pull down the description for more about them.
Tom Scott thanks for a good vid
Tom, have you seen Taran Van Hemert's video of you?
Definitely your best video this month!
I really hope you did at least one take where you just smashed through the foam car without stopping.
Did you get to do a ride in the car during an impact?
Shout-out to the interns who reassembled the car
IQ of 110, top of the class in very hard engineering, prodigy in maths, the best person to re-assemble the velcros.
nraynaud1 gotta get that job experience somehow :(
It’ll be great exposure!
Y'all do know that engineering interns are almost always paid right?
CJJC They get paid.
Can confirm, interned there a while back, great place to work
4/5 would've wanted to see you drive straight through that foam car.
And why is there only one car to run over? I want to see a truck run through 5 foam cars.
And I want to see a foam truck exploding.
Henrik Andersson And a foam T1000 walking away from it?
Nope a brick wall
I want to see Tom jump 5 foam cars with a vehicle of his choice.
I work for a major manufacturer, and I remember when we were testing our pedestrian avoidance system on a course. We had mannequins set up to cross and we invited all of the executives out to see the result of our final product. The car I was in plowed straight threw a pedestrian much to everyone's shock. The executive got out, shook everyone's hand, and said "I look forward to your final product." and left. :x
I wanted to see the flat robot drive around!
bennyty the flat robot was the star of the show, but didn't receive the attention it deserved!
Like playing chicken or tag.
That would have been awesome, but no attention for the rc robot :(
Poor little flat robot. Alone and unloved 😢
@Tom Rapley magic metallic carpet
That shot of you walking through the debris was _fantastic_.
When?
@@emilal 0:41
@@officialrohinmusic You call that debris?
You mean _fantastic._
Separate the dot from _
>50mph
>"highway speeds"
Disgusting, Tom Scott. Truly filthy.
In my state, 55 is the lower bound for almost any highway, though they get up to 65, and interstates up to 75.
It's Nebraska. There's alot of space to traverse if you want to get anywhere. If you don't go that fast, you fall asleep.
Micah Philson that’s not what they were talking about
55 saves lives.
In the UK, "highway" is an umbrella term for public roads. 35, 40mph is not unusual for city driving. You saw how it could barely stop in time at 40mph, now you see the challenge in getting a car to stop sooner than that while not creating inertia for the people in the vehicle.
Would have preferred metric as well :D
@Tom you should also write the speed in km/h for those of us who ride "slightly more aggressively."
+1 for the profile pick :)
Haha, Germans are the best drivers in the World ;) Don't know what that nob was talking about
well lets see... a mile is 5280 feet, and 1 foot is 12 inches. There are 2.54 cm in an inch... so... about 56 km/h?
3,4394 Km/h more aggressive.
p.s.: google says 80,4672 Km/h.
@@JBMPPS That nob was from Germany as well. You can see that from the licence plate of the foam car.
00:52 When I set up Need For Speed with the recommended graphics to my PC video card.
Bro that's literally a Euro Truck Simulator 1 car
I wasn't paying 100% attention at the beginning and when that car smoked the crash tester I about had a heart attack
Shame it wasn't an actual one
@@k9sidrat662 yo chill
0:35 This is what happens when you buy your car at the 99 cents store.
*poundland
Haha, though in reality, the test car is probably more expensive than a real one!
I think the point of this is that it's not only safer but much cheaper to test the systems with the foam car than a real one. Although the remote-controlled base probably costs a fair bit, it's still reusable. And if the systems fail, you don't want to wreck the car that's being tested, either.
most likely. leaving the base aside, that's not a normal foam. that thing withstood a crash and didn't change it's form permanently.
Cost effective doesnt equal safety
2:11 360 camera pan? I think I saw the park bench episode about it, if so this is a subtle and very appropriate way to use it
Nice catch. It was so subtle I didn't notice but if it is one of those cameras that really is an excellent usage.
Correct, and also one from 4:16-19 :)
Yes, with GoPro Fusion.
“Brand new tests in 2020”
2020: Nope
while that was neet, i want to hear more about that robot and how it goes so fast while being so slim
78 hamsters
It probably dosent weigh very much, so it doesn't require a huge amount of power to move it
it's a bit hard to see, but it appears to be higher in the middle. I'd suspect that it's somewhere between 20 and 30cm high. enough for a small electro motor. combined with a weight of 30~50kg you really don't need much to accelerate it up to 50mph.
It's lightweight, so doesn't need much power to accelerate, and it doesn't need to drive long distances so it doesn't need a bulky battery pack.
What is it named?
When they finally work out driverless cars, will they have to make a special model for Brits that doesn't have the steering wheel on the right, instead of not having it on the left?
Yes.
It won't be so much where the invisible steering wheel is as knowing which side of the road it's supposed to be on. Plus having equal amounts of sensors on each side of the car and both LH and RH software installed simultaneously, coupled with the knowledge that if a UK car traverses the Channel (or vice versa) it knows to swap sides (not doing so would be a little awkward... well, more like downright dangerous and possibly fatal).
Even in countries that drive on the same side of the road, they'd need to know the respective countries' Highway Codes when crossing borders, and recognise different styles of signs. It also needs to be preloaded, as you can't guarantee decent GSM coverage across the entirety of a border.
Your comment was in jest, but illustrates a nice little can of works...
mittfh, now I'm imagining a gentle chime followed by the car calmly announcing "please be advised there are currently 127 wrong-way drivers approaching you at a high rate of speed".
Monty Python the Flying Circus,
It's called the *Right* side for a reason. 😛😋 It's you benighted Brits who don't have a firm grasp of your own Language.😂😂😂
None of us have the wheel on the correct side. The correct side would not involve walking into a lane of traffic to enter your car.
Was really hoping for a both-vehicles-moving test, to see how the Volvo would handle a brake-check
If the target tried to break check the Volvo, surely the target would fall apart under its own breaking forces?
I don't think this system would react to a brake check, since an actual brake check doesn't stop the vehicle, it just rapidly slows it down for an extremely short period, then back up to speed.
Look on the NCAP RUclips channel for other tests.
Just search for “EuroNCAP Volvo” (or any other car make and model).
what about a neither vehicle moving test?
I need to know more about the 50mph flat robot. That’s a little bit of a thing that would work amazingly in my industry.
tom scott will one day negotiate world peace between all countries
i mean...i wouldnt doubt it. he could design a story like he does, where he talks about all the benifits of peace between the countries, throwing in the occasional misstep made by a few countries but expressing how in total peace between every country would be a good thing.
correct
I'm glad there are people concered with testing the safety equipment and keeping driver annoyance in mind.
I'd give that white ford fiesta a EuroNCAP safety rating of -5 points.
EinkOLED A bumper tap would disintegrate it haha
What is even more terrible: it's registered in Wolfsburg, Germany. It's the HQ of Volkswagen and not Ford
Guys, this is just an assist. It's not expected to handle everything. It's supposed to just help in case you don't stop in time on your own, in situations it can detect.
That why the emergency stop is short and hard to prevent drivers from relying on the radar.
@Squant Thank you for saying inching.
Futurephiles have been boasting that we'll have fully autonomous robo taxis on the road in a few short years for a decade now, and always been wrong. The hurdles of fully automated driving on mapped out roads in clear weather with no traffic are still real. It may not be possible to actually have automated vehicles on current infrastructure.
@Squant We'll get fully automated cars as soon as someone manages to automate the final missing piece of the puzzle: responsibility. Whose responsibility it is when an inevitable accident happens; the owner's, the passenger's, the manufacturer's, the father's brother's nephew's cousin's former room mate's?
The license-plate on the mock-up is bogus: It's WOB (for Wolfsburg, which is in Lower Saxony), but the little coat of arms is that of Bavaria
its supposed to be not real
Not claiming otherwise, I'm just amused by it. I'm wondering how it came to be, because both details are real, but they would never appear together on the same plate
namewarvergeben, so any accidental coincidences are impossible.
I think you are taking this more seriously than I am.
I would guess that plate making is strictly regulated when applied to moving vehicles or vehicle lookalikes in this case, sort of how you can't make false money that looks to real, even for films, without approval.
The invalid combination is likely an intentional dead giveaway to any scrutiny.
It is a good day when you see Tom Scott upload
all of them are high quality
@@DJ-dp3jy very true
Preach
Makes Monday better.
You mean Monday?
Not for profit and funded by insurance companies aren't two phrases that sit comfortably in the same sentence. But if it makes cars safer then I can't complain.
Great video Tom.
The car (Where he was a passage)is a Volvo XC60 the newest one, if you're wondering
Could you imagine going down the country roads and you just see some guy disintegrate a car before your very eyes?
No time to watch he road, there’s a new video.
Really cool to see the new tech in vehicle testing. This is particularly cool since it doesn't destroy the car being tested which helps keep the testing costs lower.
Now you see it. Now you don’t... because it’s in pieces all over a road.
As I was watching this on my laptop, I got a text and when I looked back up, the car had rear-ended the target. Even if you've got driver assistance, even if you're not the one driving, even if you're not actually in the vehicle at all, even if it was recorded, edited, and uploaded to RUclips 12 hours ago, never take your eyes off the road.
don’t text and watch tom scott crash test dummy car video
The most amazing thing is that that flat platform can do highway speed!
It'll do 100kph :-)
Congratulations to Thatcham, still resting safety systems for the road.
0:33 NOTE TO SELF: When choosing a car, make sure it isn't a foam one.
I would like to have seen more details about that robot. It's quite amazing how they can manage to pack something that goes so fast into something so slim, meanwhile also keeping it durable enough to be run over by cars at highway speeds.
The secret is short run times, Speed durability range and form factor are our sliders here, if it only need to be at speed for 5-10 minutes for a test then you can plug it in to a generator or swap the battery while you reassemble you can shove that range slider to the floor, they also only went to 50 which will depress the speed slider a bit so you have plenty of room for durabilty(weight) and formfactor, the latter of which also helps the former by acting more ramp like and not eating the entire force at once.
That foam car is awesome (especially the fact that it can drive, but still without posing any hazard to other drivers, because there's nothing solid to hit). Now I really want to see Canada's Worst Driver use one of those next season to really scare the crap out of their students. ;-)
Thank you VERY much for having included the one where the little car blows up. Very satisfying. It's a nice touch from you !
2:32 that sound is way too nice. It sounds like you got a message on your phone, not like your car is about to slam on the breaks.
I like it that it does that, because my Mazda is absolutely LOUD and 90% of the time the warning is actually unnecessary.
Bro that base would be an amazing thing, it could be a magic carpet
I wonder if the breaking system can detect and compensate for things like wet or icy conditions where you need to break more in order to stop.
I was thinking just that! I guess it'd crash... Not sure how you can detect ice or water on the road... Unless it uses the rain sensor, thermometer, etc., to predict if the road could have less grip...
cars already have those, so, probably!
I was wondering if the "warning" pre-brake was the rear axle pair braking, so the system could work out the mu (coefficient of friction) of the particular conditions. The rear axle tends to be the most susceptible to locking on a FWD vehicle as it tends to have the least load. It did seem to leave a very limited margin even on a dry surface.
They do, yes. Some cars (I can only speak for Volvo, since this is were I worked a couple of years back) will estimate the friction of the road surface while the driver brakes or use the anti-spin system for example. It also weighs in the ambient temperature, rain sensor (normally used for the wipers) and sometimes even a humidity sensor to try and estimate if there's ice on the road surface. These things will have some impact on the brake algorithms that determines if you should warn the driver or ultimately stop.
I imagine that someone might have come far enough to also use the camera to visually detect the road surface, but I'm not sure if anyone does that yet.
I know the new Ford Focus uses surface sensing to detect pot-holes and brace the rear suspension, reduces the wheel slam into the hole.
There's an interesting shutter sync artefact at 2:29. Every five frames the alloy wheel "spokes" (which are otherwise in sync with the frame rate) jump, suggesting there's a slightly longer or shorter interval after every fifth frame, than otherwise. What camera was used for that segment?
super thin platform with ramps, can drive 50 mph, and hold the weight of a car on top... Sounds like some battlebots guys got a more formal job.
Haha you should see our fully driverless systems ;-)
@2:50
Explains why I was plowed into by an inattentive driver. I was stopped in traffic, not moving at all. He was going full freeway speed and never slowed down.
Ironically, I was driving a Ford Fiesta (this break up model looks like big sister, the Focus) and my car was crushed with me in it
Scott the car's coming. Oh my god he can't hear us. Oh my god
I was really waiting for Tom's reaction when going through the model...
2 Questions:
* If it brakes this late and hard, then surely the car behind you won't be able to break in time, and will hit your rear end (possibly causing you to hit the vehicle in front anyway)? I'd argue it should brake earlier and slower, to give the driver behind you time to react as well. Now - because your car continues at speed for too long - you're obscuring the car in front from the driver behind you, which only makes the situation more dangerous.
* That second one... didn't really work, did it? Why not?
1) in the US at least, the driver in the rear is usually found at fault for "unsafe following" during most rear-end collisions. (The driver in front may simultaneously be charged with something else, depending on what they were doing).
2) Eh - the driver should have seen the obstacle before the system was programmed to react, so they would still be at fault; BUT I'd still be happy if the system reacted faster than I could and that small bump was the only result. That collision was better than a full-on crash, so in a way it did work. (Sounds like the system could use a bit more tweaking, but kudos to the car maker anyhow)
It's mainly to reduce the speed at impact. Sure it's great if an impact is avoided, but at higher speeds so much distance is needed to stop that without lots of false positives it would not be possible to program that. Crashing at 20 mph is still better than at 40 mph.
If cars were connected, then it would be possible, but that brings up a low load of security issues.
@@tams805 or if it learnt to lane detect it could sense the road either side and over take and accelerate away. Such linear thinking tut tut
Yup, this is the big issue. Especially, with idiots tinting the rear glass totally black, you won't be able to see the traffic.
If something that should be illegal, it's one of the most dangerous modifications ever.
The radar has a limited range. At the speed they were traveling, during the second test, there wasn't enough time to stop once the radar had detected the obstacle. At lower speed, the radar would detect the obstacle and have more than enough time to brake earlier and more slowly.
Note that this was a test of "adaptive cruise control" and not something akin to Tesla's automated driving system. It's a last-resort accident prevention mechanism; not a means for you to forego braking completely. Think of it as an airbag.
Wait. You said you were getting in the passenger seat and then sat in the driver's . . . Oh, right. Limeys. You drive on the wrong side of the car and the road but we still love you. :P
0:10 seconds in what happens when you order a fiesta from wish
LMFAO why is this not top comment
Glad to hear they made it have a proper radar signature
Now do it at 100 with Tom on board. I want to see his reaction!
Complete with brown stains.
km/h, mph or m/s?
Oskar Skog MPH was my original meaning, sorry should have stated which.
3:07 i feel like this fact is what also holds back some really cool inventions that some people have thought of, but haven't created yet; thinking how they will make it fit with different people. Some get angry at the slightest thing, some don't really care
would be nice if you'd also put the speeds in km/h on screen next time. just a suggestion, otherwise great video as always :)
yeah, that'd be great
I love it, it's kinda disarming watching a crash test and one of the cars just wisps apart.
I know its only additional safety but still im mildly concerned that the car actually bumped into the foam fiesta at the second attempt. Many people probably think and rely on the knowing that their car has this feature and it will safe them if something happens. Would be interesting to see what happens at 60mph or at germany Autobahn speeds.
Idiots rely on the system, not people!
A normal, intuitive reaction for people would be to still slam their foot on the brake even though the brake assistant is "handling" it!
The issue is, if one car slams on its brakes, then the person behind (especially if they don't have autonomous features) will have to brake even quicker and so and so on. If people all had great reactions and were spaced properly it would be less of an issue... but that isn't the case.
35 mph is about 56 km/h
40 mph is about 64 km/h
I was hoping tom would be in the car when the real car hit the foam car.
next up: RADAR INVISIBLE CARS HITTING THE ROAD IN 2020!
2020: nope
That flat robot could make one hell of a party skateboard! Bring your friends!
No metric units? I'm disappointed, Tom.
that is so smart! lovely to see some people working hard to make trafic safer! :D
So, were those test hits or were those instances where the car was going too fast to stop in time?
The car didn't appear to slow at all, so I'm guessing test hits.
also the car in question (unless its had an aftermarket system fitted), is far too old to have auto-braking capabilities, and as a guess is just a car normally used for filming other cars (hence matte black paint)
+Bean_ So much for my powers of observation! :P Thank you! :)
probably a test car for software development although i think any car that has ABS is capable of auto breaking but im not sure
abs can certainly interupt the breaking system to maintain t raction but idk if it is capable of operating the breaks itself or if it needs user input
probably depends on the type of abs (mechanical or electronic).
This is the coolest Tom Scott I've seen in a while! So Cool!
35 mph is aprox. 56,327 Km/h to my metric system boys out there
56 thousand?! That's orbital, sonny!
Question is did you use UK or US miles...
By the looks of it he used astronomical miles...
Not everyone uses commas as thousands separators.
That's not a approximate, it's approximately 55kmh
2:38 It is a Volvo, the safest car company in the world.
I don't know why one would ever use cruise control around other cars. I only ever use cruise control on long stretches of mostly empty road.
This is awesome. Don't know how much I'd want to ride in the test car; but it's a great concept and very cool to watch.
Elon Musk smokes a bit of weed and this is what happens to Tesla...
you have to inhale to technically smoke weed..
see, this guy gets it ^
Car companies all around the world really really hope this is what happens to Tesla...
Watching the target getting flung apart is so satisfying
Why does it have a numberplate from Wolfsburg.... with the sticker from Bavaria AND it's on a Ford Focus and not even on a VW?!
I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS! :(
It is a Fiesta
What ever! this numberplate makes no sense! Why is it even german?
It has North American bumpers too. So many questions!
This is one of the best videos in a good while - and that is saying something!!! :D Excellent work!!
How come they use German plates while testing in the UK?
It's an EU testing standard, I guess it's not worth it to reprint different textures for each country.
Makes it easier to WANT to hit it.
More importantly, why is there a Bavarian state seal on the license plate, when the WOB indicates that it is registered in Wolfsburg (headquarters and a production plant of VW, Audi, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Skoda, Seat and everything from the VolksWagen Group), which is in the state of Niedersachsen, NOT Bavaria.
@@thekrautist hahaha
Sort of. EuroNCAP is European, rather than EU, and it's not a "standard" in the sense of being required anywhere. Type compliance in European countries, including the EU, is done by entirely separate rules and there's no mandate for Autonomous Emergency Braking (as tested with this fun dummy car from 2020) in the type compliance rules at all, so if Thatcham only did compliance testing this dummy would be useless. Where compliance tests are done with pre-production models before a product goes on sale, EuroNCAP buys real popular mass market cars and crashes them, using Thatcham and other centres, independent of such type compliance rules in order to generate test results it shows to the public. A merely satisfactory EuroNCAP rating far exceeds the safety required to meet type compliance rules and be sold in EU countries. For example, to be sold a car must pass a frontal impact test at 56kph (35mph) but EuroNCAP starts testing at 64kph (40mph). Manufacturers support EuroNCAP (although much of its funding comes from governments and customer groups) because good EuroNCAP ratings drive sales especially to young families.
It's really cool that you did a cars-related video. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing more engineering-themed kind of things like this on the channel.
Over 40 mph = screwed?
Just careless if your not paying attetion at any speed especially 40+
Screwed? Insurance wise yes. would you die? No. Is this an assist and not a driver less car? Yes. People get off your phone, be sober and pay attention then you'll be fine
The video angles on this is amazing!
*Why not make cars out of wood*
No. Overrated capitalist balsa houses are bad already, 1 tornado and it's destroyed.
Look up fastest shed made of wood
In a crash it would splinter and burn
Morgan does.
Bowling with cars, the inexpensive version.
Best inventions that came from weed: Elon Musk edition
While the radar reflective foam is interesting I'm most fascinated by that little platform. It's almost flat but can travel at highway speeds and endure being constantly run over.
Germans Drive slightly more aggressive.... yep that's true! ;)
Me: Hey dad I want a car!
*My dad robs Thatcham Research to get Collapsible Robot car*
Sweden
You know how in movies or tv when there is a car crash there is always that one tire that rolls away comedically? That's that tire that was left standing.
Or uh, you know, outlaw cruise control and self driving until it properly works? Cruise control is such a dangerous implementation of lazy technology, it's horrifying. Especially in combination with modern distractions already built into cars. Not to mention the distractions people carry like cell phones. While this technology is fascinating, it's equally likely to cause accidents with people driving older vehicles. Perfect example being that I nearly ran OVER a Mercedes with this automatic braking because it seemed to decide someone was going to jaywalk, and the driver was talking on the phone, ergo, not paying attention, so the car took control. The person did not jaywalk, they stopped, and if the road hadn't been clear I'd have been at fault for hitting a car that needlessly stopped. Again, while this is a cool technology, I feel like it's simply saying "It's alright dear, you don't have to be a competent human being, you can just sit back and let the gadgets do everything!"
The problem is that if it's outlawed until some arbitrary point in the future, nobody would actually spend money to improve the technology.
Driving a steady speed is a dangerous horrifying technology? You know people do that without cruise control also...
Driver: "Steeeerike!"
Car: "I'm sorry, Dave, I can't let you do that."
Me: *sad driver noises*
Assuming that everything on the road is a car... Oops
John Robson would be nice to know what they’re doing for pedestrian protection.
@@bfapple Quite simple, reinforcing the car structure so the driver and passengers would not result injured from the tremendous impact...
Have a look at EuroNCAP crash tests (they have a RUclips Channel). Modern AEB systems can stop/slow down for pedestrians and bicycles as well.
They have similar test dummies, but built to resemble humans, both when it comes to how it looks on a camera and when it comes to radar backscatter. They even have some advanced dummies that will swing their arms like a human does (yes, this affects the radar). Other than that, it's basically the same tests.
I know Volvo has pedestrian airbags that will lift the hood of the car so that the pedestrian, should it get hit, will not hit the very hard engine block, but instead a slightly cushioned hood.
I know it requires so much work, but I'd rather wait more and have more details in the video. Other than that, great vid, thanks!
what about cyclists, pedestrians and animals? Car manufacturers only think about the drivers. They went so far as demanding that children should wear gps transmitters because they can't get their pattern algorithms to work for cylists and pedestrians.
actually they do take that in to consideration. They even test pedestrian safety in crash tests. Newer cars(not autonomous) also have cyclist and pedestrian warning systems in place
Yeah, that's why they install airbags for pedestrians. What are you talking about? These systems work on pedestrians too.
There's no such thing as pedestrian gps transmitter
I think youve misunderstood the video (or techonology). The radar pieces on the foam "target" are there to simulate a real car. Cars do not transmit radar but in this case it is used to trick the car to think the "target" is a real car.
@minj4ever: Yes there is. I can't find the article about childrens backpacks and bycycle helmets with gps transmitters but just search for "GPS Mobile ITS for Pedestrian Safety".
"People in Germany tend to drive slightly more aggressively" is the nicest thing you can say about our driving style. More honest would be "like self-absorbed, speed-obsessed bastards."
Hab mir das gleiche gedacht, und dann wohne ich auch noch in einem landkreis der auf der top ten liste der aggressivsten Autofahrer auf nr. 7 ist 😅
When I grow up I would like a car that has an inbuilt function to crash.
Basically a free death.
Elon Musk is a libertarian and also possibly a bit mad. You could probably convince him to add a suicide mode to Tesla's autopilot.
Take hands off the steering in any car... free death.
"And if you weren't expecting it..."
*The car in front of you just explodes*
This reminded me of an incident where a guy hit my car. He had an older, mostly steel-and-titanium heavy duty industrial truck, versus my fiberglass and plastic subaru. My car just about flew apart, while his was undamaged beyond denting the grill guard. He looked at it, then shrugged at me. "Hope you can get it fixed." When the police tracked him down after he left, his excuse was "There was no damage to my car, it's not my problem." He'd hit my parked car at a wal-mart while I was going towards it. My car looked a bit like the test model here! Just doors popped off, hood caved in, bits lying everywhere. I don't know what his car was made of, but they sure don't build them like they used to anymore.
you know its summer in britain when toms got his jumper sleeves pushed up
2:23 Of course, its a volvo
Recently got a new car with adaptive cruise control across lanes, and I was wondering how on earth they test this. Great video!
The grey hoddie has risen like the phenix. That looks like it would be fun to play with
Seeing them rebuild the foam car reminded me of that Skoda advert from a few years back where they bake a massive car cake.
Blind date: what do you do for a living?
Other person: I put car(s) together...
Love the new video, Taran!
Intentionally driving through that thing must be real cathartic.
I turn off all systems when I get into a car, because I freak out when I feel something on steering wheel or brakes. I only like traction control. Whoever invented it, did a good job.