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by tshaddox 2051 days ago
Well, a Model S can just barely stop in 50 meters at 60mph, while some other luxury and sporty cars in the segment can stop in 35 meters or less. And that’s only 60mph, hardly “top speed” or even a normal highway speed. So regardless of driver assistance features, I’d choose a car that at least has a chance to even physically stop assuming instant reflexes. 50 meters is probably a much too small distance for this thought experiment.
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I don't know my cars that well, but an alert driver will take at least 300ms to begin reacting. That's over 8m at 60mph (not sure why we're combining unit systems here). So I'll stand in front of the Model S in this particular scenario and hope to get away with 'mere' broken legs/pelvis. Give the human more time and is probably take the human, not because that's necessarily the more reliable option, but because its distribution of outcomes is more well known to me.
Most, if not essentially all, cars in that category have emergency automatic braking, so the Model S still isn't the best choice.