294

Mark Rober just set up one of the most interesting self-driving tests of 2025, and he did it by imitating Looney Tunes. The former NASA engineer and current YouTube mad scientist recreated the classic gag where Wile E. Coyote paints a tunnel onto a wall to fool the Road Runner.

Only this time, the test subject wasn’t a cartoon bird… it was a self-driving Tesla Model Y.

The result? A full-speed, 40 MPH impact straight into the wall. Watch the video and tell us what you think!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Buffalox@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

This is a very good test, and the car should have past. That said though, I hate the click bait format where they show a stupidly obvious cartoonish wall, when the real wall is way more convincing.

The Video:

That sort of clickbait is 100% sure to get a "do not recommend channel" from me, I'm so sick of it. And it's sad when the video has such a good point.

The Clickbait

I can see it's kind of funny, but it's misleading.

[-] MurrayL@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

YouTubers - especially large channels like this - constantly A/B test with different thumbnails and stick with whatever one drives the most traffic (no pun intended) to the video.

You might not like it, but it’s unfortunately the reality of operating a content creation business on an algorithm-driven platform.

There are plenty of channels I follow that make fantastic videos, but sometimes you have to tolerate the shitty thumbnails because that’s just the reality of the system they’re operating within.

[-] Tanoh@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, that is just how youtube works. You as an individual can say you don't like annoying thumbnails and titles, but they 100% work. And channels that don't use them are just not getting as many viewers.

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

algorithm-driven platform

And what is this "algorithm" based on? Actual user behavior. So the way to correct an algorithm is to change actual user behavior, no?

[-] kibiz0r@midwest.social 1 points 2 weeks ago

Lemme know when they release an OTA for our parietal lobes.

[-] Ulrich@feddit.org 0 points 2 weeks ago

And what is this "algorithm" based on?

No one knows.

Actual user behavior. So the way to correct an algorithm is to change actual user behavior, no?

Definitely not. I pretty much exclusively get recommended garbage content, and 90% of it is already on the "trending" page. At least it was like 3 years ago before I stopped using any of YTs first-party front-ends.

[-] SloppyPuppy@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

I must say that the recommendation section on youtube for me is spot on! Though I spent years on youtube constantly liking and disliking content. But I think it learned me quite well.

When im tired of recommendations I move to subscriptions. And 5 hours just passed by…

[-] Glitterbomb@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

You realize Mark Robers target audience is like 8 years old, right? He also references looney tunes and wile e coyote a couple dozen times, including in this thumbnail you're losing your mind over. The thumbnail fits the theme very well if you ask me.

This video isn't a rigorous scientific test. This is a children's video designed to get them interested in the scientific method. Get over yourself.

[-] Valmond@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

IMO it doesn't need to be a rigorous scientific test, it's not trying to prove something works as it should under all conditions. It's showing the exact opposite, it does not work under this one condition, which is more than enough to disprove the safety of the car.

[-] chaogomu@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

More than one test failed.

The Tesla failed the heavy rain and the heavy fog tests.

There's zero excuse to fail either of those tests. But the Tesla killed the kid both times.

The wall test was just to show that the Tesla cannot put together optical clues.

load more comments (17 replies)
[-] Maestro@fedia.io 2 points 2 weeks ago

Have you heard of DeArrow? https://dearrow.ajay.app/

It's a browser extension that replaces clickbait thumbnails with good community sourced ones

[-] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 weeks ago

Still supports a creator pulling clickbait.
The only way is to vote with views/retention.

[-] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

But it only supports them if their video is then also good. I don't like clickbait, because I don't want to be tricked into my monkey brain looking at something. I do want to see good videos.

Just yesterday the algorithm found some guy doing tech videos. I watched a few of them and then sent a text to a friend who I thought would like it. He asked for a link so I pulled the guys channel up on my phone, and holy smokes, clickbait. If I hadn't seen the videos already I wouldn't have given that guy the time of day. But they are well thought out, interesting videos.

I'm not here to correct the world's poor behaviour. I'm here to watch good videos. De-arrow does a good job of that, it's quite interesting to see YouTube on a computer without it vs what I'm used to now.

[-] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Blame the youtube algorithm and Mr Beast, not all the other youtubers caught up in the tidal wave.

[-] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 1 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah they do it because it works. I've seen several who make otherwise good content talk about it in their videos and make comments about how stupid it is bit they basically have to to be competitive.

[-] Buffalox@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks no I hadn't. Is that available as a Firefox extension. I do most of my browsing on desktop.

[-] asap@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Yes, but you could have just clicked the link to find that out

[-] kipo@lemm.ee 1 points 2 weeks ago

Imagine being in the middle of a friendly conversation where you ask a question and the person says, "Why are you asking me?? Just google it."

[-] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 weeks ago

Well, this is a forum, not an out-loud discussion, so those are 2 completely different scenarios

They were also already given the link, so I guess:

Imagine being in the middle of a friendly conversation where someone asks for something, you give it to them, and then they proceed to ask questions about it that could be answered by looking at the thing you gave them

[-] Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

I give you a green round ball. You then proceed to ask me the colour and shape of the ball.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] eneff@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 2 weeks ago

The link is right there, you could've just clicked it instead of taking the time to write this question?!

[-] Buffalox@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

OK I see it now, a bunch of icons I usually glance over, because such "icon lines" are generally for a bunch of social media crap I don't use.
Apparently it's proprietary crap, so no thanks anyway.

[-] eneff@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

https://github.com/ajayyy/DeArrow
https://sponsor.ajay.app/database

This (again) is from the link in the comment you replied to..
Your attitude really doesn't work well with your lack of reading comprehension.

[-] Buffalox@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

6 hour trial, sounds like proprietary to me.

Privacy Note: Other than intially checking your license key, no requests to DeArrow servers contain your license key.

Edit: I just read the entire text, and it is actually very reasonable, I just caught the license key thing together with the payment option. It's actually even cheap, so maybe I'll consider it.

[-] eneff@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 weeks ago

You cannot be serious?! Are you trolling?

  • First of all, something not being free (as in gratis) does not mean it is proprietary per se.

  • Second of all, your reading comprehension failed you again:

    However, if you cannot, or do not want to pay, you can click the button at the bottom to use DeArrow for free. No worries if you can't or don't want to pay :)

[-] amorpheus@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

At this point everyone should know that YouTube thumbnails have no requirement for accuracy. It's more like an album cover.

[-] Buffalox@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

I know, but if they are about anything serious like tests, I think it's a fair assumption that the thumbnail represent it reasonably.
If it's misleading, I don't want their vomit. They can just fuck right off. We already have more than enough misinformation. I simply don't want to waste my time on bullshit.

[-] Xbeam@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

You shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (6 replies)
this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
294 points (99.3% liked)

Technology

68190 readers
1973 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS