So Much for Technology!

I could see turns being a special case. The sensors would have to look in the direction of the turn, actually a little more, to spot them.

Then I found this:

Bob Wilson

 

Pattern recognition algorithms programmed into the firmware? Toyota: Add skateboarders.



There's a small branch with a few leaves on it (for now) growing slightly into one of the parking spaces at work. When I use that spot and pull in a little too close to the curb, the STOP warning and action happens. Scared me to death the first time -- now I'm used to it. As far as I can figure, the car is detecting the leaves on the branch of the bush. Might just be because it is directly in the path of the sensor. The curb is the same height in all the other 10 spaces on that side of the lot, and only in this one space is the STOP warning ever exhibited.

Two nights into my first days with the car, I was backing up towards the patio when the rear sensors detected and STOPPED the car dead because it was nearing a very flimsy plastic patio chair. The chair wouldn't have harmed the car even if I did hit it, but the Prime didn't know that. So far I'm impressed. From what I read elsewhere, the sensors cannot reliably detect kangaroos bounding across it's path, but that usually isn't a problem where I live. But maybe possums are, because they're also marsupials?

 

A good reminder for everyone that those sensors are a backup, not a primary safety feature. Glad you dodged that one!

 

Bob, remind the guy with the fancy video complete with nice music that it's "brakes", not "breaks". Unless he's looking for one.

 

I hate it when my car (or anything else) breaks automatically.

 

well.......you could break it manually

 

Glad you missed the skateboarder. My issue is with the skateboarder. Since when do they have the right to skate willy-nilly at will, on the wrong side of the road, never stopping to assess to see if it is safe to proceed. Whether I am making a left or right turn, I now look to see if some earbud wearing music listening jerk is coming down the street. I have nearly hit people similar to your situation.............in broad daylight!!

 

Right. If it breaks, I want the honor.

Edit to add:
I almost nailed a bicyclist Sunday. He was coming fast from the right, on the sidewalk as I was exiting a parking lot onto a major thoroughfare. A driver stopped to let me out. I started moving and rechecked to the right. There he was. I was barely moving and stopped instantly as he did one of the most impressive stoppies I ever saw. He put his chain back on, cursing like a tinker the whole time and then rode off, continuing to ignore the bike lane, screaming and throwing F-bombs to the whole world. Just kinda makes you feel great to be a fellow human being.

 

Isn't that when you're supposed to use the horn you wake the little son of a b@tech up?

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

There was no time for a horn. It was in the blink of an eye.

However ... If I was like most drivers here, I'd have just run over him and kept going. Or at best, sat there blowing my anemic little horn while he demonstrated the quality of his character. None of that would make him any smarter.

 

Looks like they fixed the problem of cardboard boxes laying around! …now all they need is to do is something about that bloody musak!

 

Yep, today, it comes down to liability, not responsibility

 

Uhg I know! Thank you for pointing that out. I was triggered.

 

…yup, I think that Darwin chap might have been on to something!

 

I hope the auto-braking system is concerned with more than just whether the car will be damaged. What if it was a Ming vase instead of a flimsy chair?

 

wait...doesn't @HPrimeAdvanced have that Presbyterian warning horn?