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submitted 2 years ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Shipping tycoon Angela Chao was drunk when she inadvertently reversed her Tesla into a pond and drowned last month at a Texas ranch, police say.

Blanco County Sheriff's Office found her blood alcohol level was nearly three times the state's legal limit.

The 50-year-old died after dinner on 10 February with a group of friends at the estate near Johnson City.

Her brother-in-law, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, cited the tragedy in his resignation speech.

On Wednesday, Blanco County Sheriff's Office released the findings of its investigation concluding Ms Chao's death was an "unfortunate accident".

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[-] TechNerdWizard42@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

She did everything wrong that she could have done. I'm going to assume even sober she never read the manual and learned where the manual door releases are.

I am kind of surprised that in 2024 vehicles don't have drop detect sensors but our Roombas do. For 99% of driving of you detect a dropoff, some sort of active brake should be applied...

[-] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 17 points 2 years ago

The false positives with that sort of system would be a major annoyance or dangerous. Steep driveways, rough transitions, potholes, railroad crossings, speed bumps, etc.

A Roomba operates on a nice flat floor and there is no reason it would have to traverse a surface transition of more than 3/8ths of an inch.

[-] Hawke@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Also the speeds are much higher so the brakes would never have time to have any effect. But it could maybe help if designed properly for low-speed maneuvers

[-] SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

You hit a pot hole on the highway and now you’re stopping in the middle of it.

That’s why they don’t exist on vehicles, there’s lots of cases where they drop and still need to keep moving, while only a couple where it should stop, and in those cases it’s usually too late and won’t help.

[-] TechNerdWizard42@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago

Well no, obviously there's a maximum speed. Just like parking sensors have different distance warnings when driving versus parking.

And on a Tesla with so much vision, it should really know the topography.

[-] SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

At speed is when you would need the active breaking…

And great now my car stopped in the parking lot from every speed bump…,

Can you provide a usecase where active breaking from a drop would actually help?

[-] theluckyone@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

I'd argue for drop that extends across the width of the lane, or both. Couple that with a system that can penetrate heavy rain, and two truck drivers might have lived through a washout of Interstate 88 in Central N a few years back. They didn't have much of a chance back then.

[-] aniki@lemm.ee 8 points 2 years ago

After almost freezing to death in Colorado winter with a broken down rental, I make it a point to know how to operate all the locks and ignition manually.

[-] TechNerdWizard42@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

It always amazes me how many people hop in a completely foreign car and just start driving. They'd rather try to learn where the windshield wiper control is while barelling down the highway at 80mph instead of while parked in the garage.

I've got pretty strong rental preferences so I'm sure they hate me when I ask for specific vehicles.

this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
259 points (97.4% liked)

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