In the piece — titled “Can You Fool a Self Driving Car?” — Rober found that a Tesla car on Autopilot was fooled by a Wile E. Coyote-style wall painted to look like the road ahead of it, with the electric vehicle plowing right through it instead of stopping.

The footage was damning enough, with slow-motion clips showing the car not only crashing through the styrofoam wall but also a mannequin of a child. The Tesla was also fooled by simulated rain and fog.

  • TommySoda@lemmy.world
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    16 hours ago

    Notice how they’re mad at the video and not the car, manufacturer, or the CEO. It’s a huge safety issue yet they’d rather defend a brand that obviously doesn’t even care about their safety. Like, nobody is gonna give you a medal for being loyal to a brand.

    • can@sh.itjust.works
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      16 hours ago

      These people haven’t found any individual self identity.

      An attack on the brand is an attack on them. Reminds me of the people who made Stars Wars their meaning and crumbled when a certain trilogy didn’t hold up.

      • Billiam@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        An attack on the brand is an attack on them.

        Thus it ever is with Conservatives. They make $whatever their whole identity, and so take any critique of $whatever as a personal attack against themselves.

        I blame evangelical religions’ need for martyrdom for this.

        • CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world
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          12 hours ago

          You pretty much hit the nail on the head. These people have no identity or ability to think for themselves because they never needed either one. The church will do all your thinking for you, and anything it doesn’t cover will be handled by Fox News. Be like everyone else and fit in, otherwise… you have to start thinking for yourself. THE HORROR.

      • stoly@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        The term you are looking for is “external locus of identity”. And, yes.

      • jumperalex@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        So literally every single above average sports fan?

        The pathological need to be part of a group so bad it overwhelmes all reason is a feature I have yet to understand. And I say that as someone who can recognize in myself those moments when I feel the pull to be part of an in group.

        • DogWater@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          It’s evolutionary. Humans are social pack animals. The need for inclusion was evolved into us over however many years.

    • rtxn@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      The styrofoam wall had a pre-cut hole to weaken it, and some people are using it as a gotcha proving the video was faked. It would be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic.

      • scops@reddthat.com
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        11 hours ago

        For more background, Rober gave an interview and admitted that they ran the test twice. On the first run, the wall was just fabric, which did not tear away in a manner that was visually striking. They went back three weeks later and built a styrofoam wall knowing that the Tesla would fail, and pre-cut the wall to create a more interesting impact.

        • Confused_Emus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          8 hours ago

          Particularly disappointing part of that interview was Rober saying he still plans to buy a new Tesla. Safety issues aside, why would anyone want to do that?

          • hovercat@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            6 hours ago

            Knowing the insanity of die-hard Tesla fans, it’s likely to try and protect himself.

            “I love my Tesla, but” has been a meme for years now because if you ever went on forums to get help or complain what a giant heap of shit the car was, and didn’t bookend it with unabashed praise, you’d have people ripping you to shreds calling you a FUDster and Big Oil shill who’s shorting the stock and trying to destroy the greatest company the world has ever known.

            People have learned over the years that even with the most valid of criticism for the company, the only way to even attempt to have it received is by showing just how much you actually love Tesla and Daddy Elon, and your complaints/criticism are only because you care so much about the company and want them to do better. Yes, it’s fucking stupid and annoying, but sadly this is the reality we’ve created for ourselves.

      • TommySoda@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        Yeah, but it’s styrofoam. You could literally run through it. And I’m sure they did that more as a safety measure so that it was guaranteed to collapse so nobody would be injured.

        But at the same time it still drove through a fucking wall. The integrity doesn’t mean shit because it drove through a literal fucking wall.

      • samus12345@lemm.ee
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        12 hours ago

        Yeah, because he knew that thing probably wasn’t gonna stop. Why destroy the car when you don’t have to? Concrete wouldn’t have changed the outcome.

        • rtxn@lemmy.world
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          14 hours ago

          Hopefully with a Mythbusters-style remote control setup in case it explodes. And the trunk filled with ANFO to make sure it does.

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      me waving a little handheld flag on a tiny pole that just says “Brand loyalty”

      …what? No medal???