Okay, so I should clarify: when I say “emergency stop” I mean EMERGENCY STOP. As in, trust the human to know what they’re doing, immediately slam on the breaks to the point of anti-lock, engage the parking brake once the wheels stop turning, and then straight-up cut power to the whole fucking thing by physically blowing the high-voltage disconnect. Hell, now that I think about it, it should probably just cut power instantly and have a purely mechanical fail-safe to lock the brakes so the car skids to a halt. (Screw anti-lock brakes; it’s not as important as getting the whole system shut off as quickly as possible.)
The point is, the passenger hitting that stop button means something is very very wrong and everything needs to stop and shut off right fucking now, regardless of circumstances. The computer may very well be in a fucked-up state and cannot be relied upon to control the car anymore. I mean, think about a worst-case scenario, something like “the car ran over a pedestrian who is now stuck in the wheel well and about to be shredded by the spinning tire / crushed by the wheel steering.” Enabling the car to continue to apply any control inputs other than braking, even for a fraction of a second (let alone the time to “find a safe place to stop”), would be unacceptable.
That’s how “emergency” an “emergency stop” is supposed to be!
you know trains have emergency stops that any passenger can pull, right? and yet i have never ever ever ever heard of that happening, despite trains regularly being literally full of passengers.
One big difference is that someone pulling a train estop for no good reason has to deal with other train passengers who would be unhappy that their trip is suddenly delayed for no good reason.
It’s a different dynamic if you’re alone or with friends/family in a car, even if pushing that estop is on a highway where it’s even more dangerous.
Although I can see how you could argue that the concepts of an “emergency stop” and an “emergency brake” aren’t technically completely identical in every respect (consider e.g. the difference between the emergency stop on a regular table saw vs. the blade brake on a SawStop), I think distinguishing between them in this case entails more nuance than actually exists.
Besides, I’m arguing for a system that would brake the wheels and shut off power to the whole car anyway.
Okay, so I should clarify: when I say “emergency stop” I mean EMERGENCY STOP. As in, trust the human to know what they’re doing, immediately slam on the breaks to the point of anti-lock, engage the parking brake once the wheels stop turning, and then straight-up cut power to the whole fucking thing by physically blowing the high-voltage disconnect. Hell, now that I think about it, it should probably just cut power instantly and have a purely mechanical fail-safe to lock the brakes so the car skids to a halt. (Screw anti-lock brakes; it’s not as important as getting the whole system shut off as quickly as possible.)
The point is, the passenger hitting that stop button means something is very very wrong and everything needs to stop and shut off right fucking now, regardless of circumstances. The computer may very well be in a fucked-up state and cannot be relied upon to control the car anymore. I mean, think about a worst-case scenario, something like “the car ran over a pedestrian who is now stuck in the wheel well and about to be shredded by the spinning tire / crushed by the wheel steering.” Enabling the car to continue to apply any control inputs other than braking, even for a fraction of a second (let alone the time to “find a safe place to stop”), would be unacceptable.
That’s how “emergency” an “emergency stop” is supposed to be!
You have some real confidence in people’s common sense. Every vehicle in the fleet would be blown inside a week.
you know trains have emergency stops that any passenger can pull, right? and yet i have never ever ever ever heard of that happening, despite trains regularly being literally full of passengers.
One big difference is that someone pulling a train estop for no good reason has to deal with other train passengers who would be unhappy that their trip is suddenly delayed for no good reason.
It’s a different dynamic if you’re alone or with friends/family in a car, even if pushing that estop is on a highway where it’s even more dangerous.
It does happen, just very rarely. Partly because, at least in Germany, that is a criminal offense. Which would be the same in a car by the way.
Idk I was just correcting your assumption…
I appreciate the effort, but if the button doesn’t work as I described, then it doesn’t count and my assumption was correct after all.
Well, what you’re describing is an emergency brake, similar to what you have on a train.
Although I can see how you could argue that the concepts of an “emergency stop” and an “emergency brake” aren’t technically completely identical in every respect (consider e.g. the difference between the emergency stop on a regular table saw vs. the blade brake on a SawStop), I think distinguishing between them in this case entails more nuance than actually exists.
Besides, I’m arguing for a system that would brake the wheels and shut off power to the whole car anyway.