People have a bad habit of running out in front of traffic. The Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT) noted that 1.35 million people die in road crashes each year, with more than half of those deaths occurring among pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.
kid runs in front of Tesla on FSD Beta 9 $TSLA @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/6I9xcvQaqc
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) July 11, 2021
It’s not just human drivers who aren’t paying attention — pedestrians don’t at times as well. In a clear example of something that is too common, this happened to WholeMarsBlog as he was testing out Tesla FSD Beta 9. He was ready to take over if necessary, but Tesla’s latest software handled the incident very well.
“This functionality will be enabled even when driving manually. Imagine how many lives it will save over decades when it’s in every new car that’s made,” he said in a follow-up tweet. Asirt noted that in the U.S., pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities continue to rise. In one sad example, Tesla cofounder and former Tesla CTO JB Straubel recently lost his wife in this manner. She was struck when a Ford Edge crossed the double-yellow line while she was cycling and hit her head-on.
This is an all too common statistic and her death could have been prevented if the driver had been paying attention. For those wishing to pay condolence, you can donate to their foundation, which is focused on accelerating the transition to a more environmentally sustainable future.
In 2018, more pedestrians and cyclists were killed than in any year since 1990. As a pedestrian who has never owned a car, there have been times I’ve almost been a statistic. I once had a guy tell me he should have run me over — and he’d run a red light. People run red lights, jump curbs, or don’t pay attention to their speed while in parking lots. Some are cruel and incredibly selfish. This is why the work of Tesla is critical. Tesla’s #1 focus is on safety, and that focus is enabling the company to create vehicles that not only protect drivers, but also the people around them.
FSD Beta 9 responds to guy getting out of his car in the middle of the road $TSLA @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/8mvMqIeA7e
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) July 11, 2021
In another incident, Someone got out of their car and crossed in the middle of the road in front of WholeMarsBlog’s vehicle. FSD Beta 9 responded to him by stopping. As a pedestrian, I try not to run out in front of traffic and be super cautious of my surroundings. It’s really unnerving how careless people — drivers and pedestrians can be. The guy literally got out of his car and barely glanced at the oncoming traffic before crossing. What if the light WholeMarsBlog was at had been green and he’d been going at a higher speed? What if the car he was driving wasn’t a Tesla?
FSD Beta 9 handles a sticky situation $TSLA pic.twitter.com/n2QfJOFihD
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) July 11, 2021
Fortunately for that guy, it was someone beta testing Tesla’s FSD Beta 9 instead of a driver who wasn’t paying attention or was going too fast in a regular gas car that didn’t have the advanced technology that Tesla has.
Running preproduction software is both work & fun. Beta list was in stasis, as we had many known issues to fix.
Beta 9 addresses most known issues, but there will be unknown issues, so please be paranoid.
Safety is always top priority at Tesla.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2021
Sometimes people think it is performance, but safety is always the primary design requirement for a Tesla
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 25, 2021
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era — Podcast:
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
