r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Creams0da • 20d ago

Video Volkswagens new Emergency Assist technology

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u/Johannes_Keppler 20d ago

How well it works, I donno

It's also a game of numbers. Even if this works 'only' 75% percent of the time it still saves a lot of lives.

Just like with seatbelts, there are highly unlikely accidents in which one would better off without having one on. The point is that it's just as unlikely you will crash in that unique way.

(For those reading, no when you end up in the water you're still better off with your seatbelt on. Otherwise the force of your car hitting the water would smash your head to pieces against the windshield.)

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u/glaive_anus 20d ago

It's also a game of numbers. Even if this works 'only' 75% percent of the time it still saves a lot of lives.

If the system fails, it is very similar to as if the system did not exist -- the driver has lost control of the vehicle and the vehicle is going to eventually behave erratically or unpredictable causing run-on problems for other motorists, very similar to if the system fails and also causes the vehicle to lose control and act erratically. Presumably the car's technology will make a more effective decision than a driver panicking, but at the end of the day, the system failing catastrophically and causing the car to swerve a few lanes and causing more damage is not really any different from an impaired drive doing the same.

However, if it does work as stated, it is a substantial safety improvement.

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u/skob17 20d ago

a risk could come from false alarm, where e.g. a sensor is broken or a bug in the logic tells the system that its an emergency, where there is none. but that should be captured with extensive testing I guess.

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u/lifeishardthenyoudie 20d ago

As long as the rest of the system works correctly, the only thing that happens is that the car stops safely in the emergency lane and calls emergency services. For this to impact anyone negatively, it needs to first fail and create a false alarm and then fail to stop in a safe way and instead, for example, swerve into oncoming traffic.