Driverless Truck Drives in Circles
 

Scott en Aztlán wrote: <brevity snip>
> http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister...le_1339435.php
> Be sure and follow the link and watch the video: what you'll see is a
> bunch of cops standing around, watching this pickup truck driving
> around in reverse circles. It appears they just let it go until the it
> ran out of gas.

Duh: "Irvine Police deploy spike strip to halt the circuitous route of
riderless vehicle today."

> Meanwhile, they have a busy street in a business
> district completely blocked off.

If there's one thing Irvine has, it's plenty of alternate routes.

> WTF didn't one of them just walk up
> to the truck, hop in, and shut the damn ignition off?

Because they aren't quite that stupid?
-----

- gpsman

Driverless Truck Drives in Circles
 

> > WTF didn't one of them just walk up
> > to the truck, hop in, and shut the damn ignition off?

> Because they aren't quite that stupid?

Reminds me of an evolution a few years ago in the town where my mother
lives. The local shopping mall is built on a hillside, so part of the
parking lot slopes downward to about a 5-foot retaining wall. The
parking brake on this fellow's Lincoln wouldn't auto-release when he
put the automatic transmission into Reverse. He got out and bent over
to fumble for the release lever. The car was still in Reverse. You
can see where this is going. As he sat on the ground howling over his
smashed foot, the car went along its merry way without him until it
went over the curb and down the retaining wall.

Fortunately, his elderly in-laws in the back seat were uninjured.
Unfortunately, I don't think they'll ever let him live this down. The
car was totaled -- despite the fairly low speed of its ultimate halt,
the unibody was completely tweaked in an unusual way, and the old folks
got to see the Hurst Tool aka Jaws of Life from the customer end.

Moral (at least one among several): Cars are heavy, tires are not that
soft, and the human foot is fragile and complicated and hurts like hell
when smashed.

Cheers,
--Joe

Driverless Truck Drives in Circles
 

Ad absurdum per aspera wrote:

> Reminds me of an evolution a few years ago in the town where my mother
> lives. The local shopping mall is built on a hillside, so part of the
> parking lot slopes downward to about a 5-foot retaining wall. The
> parking brake on this fellow's Lincoln wouldn't auto-release when he
> put the automatic transmission into Reverse. He got out and bent over
> to fumble for the release lever. The car was still in Reverse. You
> can see where this is going. As he sat on the ground howling over his
> smashed foot, the car went along its merry way without him until it
> went over the curb and down the retaining wall.

Can someone explain this to me. The only parking brakes I've
seen are hand-operated in the centre console, or foot operated
where the clutch pedal should be (in which case there is a
release lever in the centre console). Why would you get out of
the car to release it?

Secondly, why would you want a parking brake that auto-releases?
Isn't the idea of such a device to NOT automatically fail ? If you
want to park without a backup then just put the gearbox in Park
and don't pull on the parking brake.

Driverless Truck Drives in Circles
 

Old Wolf wrote: <brevity snip>
> Ad absurdum per aspera wrote:
>
> > Reminds me of an evolution a few years ago in the town where my mother
> > lives. The local shopping mall is built on a hillside, so part of the
> > parking lot slopes downward to about a 5-foot retaining wall. The
> > parking brake on this fellow's Lincoln wouldn't auto-release when he
> > put the automatic transmission into Reverse. He got out and bent over
> > to fumble for the release lever. The car was still in Reverse. You
> > can see where this is going. As he sat on the ground howling over his
> > smashed foot, the car went along its merry way without him until it
> > went over the curb and down the retaining wall.
>
> Can someone explain this to me. The only parking brakes I've
> seen are hand-operated in the centre console, or foot operated
> where the clutch pedal should be (in which case there is a
> release lever in the centre console). Why would you get out of
> the car to release it?

Some (auto-tranny) vehicles have parking brakes that release
automatically when the tranny is shifted from Park. Occasionally they
don't release and the easiest way to see what's going on is by kneeling
on the ground and sticking your head practically under the dash.
Usually, IME, they will release by placing the selector back in Park
and then back into Drive or Reverse.

> Secondly, why would you want a parking brake that auto-releases?

They're convenient, usually standard on vehicles so equipped.

> Isn't the idea of such a device to NOT automatically fail ?

Yes, I suppose the idea is for them to be infallible, but they aren't.

> If you
> want to park without a backup then just put the gearbox in Park
> and don't pull on the parking brake.

Some people insist on using the parking brake. The Park "pawl" that
holds the vehicle in place is just a nylon pin and they do fail on
occasion... rarely, but it's a hard to argue with the practice.

The pawl can be abused by people who shove the tranny into park while
it's still moving or by the vehicle being hit while parked. They used
to be made of steel but those sometimes just broke off leaving the
vehicle with no Park function and was expensive to repair. Nylon takes
abuse better.

This is s good time to remind those who use the parking brake
habitually and have rear drums that using it in wet and freezing
conditions can allow the the brake pads to freeze to the drum leaving
the car immobile. Sliding around underneath the car in the slop to
free them is an experience I suggest be avoided.
-----

- gpsman

Driverless Truck Drives in Circles
 

> He got out and bent over to fumble for the release lever.

> Can someone explain this to me.

Luxury car "feature" that disengages the parking brake when you take
the tranny out of Park. Ford-Lincoln-Mercury has long had a soft
spot for this one. It used to make for an especially interesting
combination with the propensity of a certain part in the old shift
linkage to wear out and let the car slip into Reverse (though the car
in this anecdote was a late 80s or early 90s sedan, long after that
linkage and the Cruise-o-Matic it was attached to had gone out of their
product line). If the automatic release doesn't do the trick, you have
to feel around for a usually small and obscure release lever on the
mechanism. (We're talking about the traditionally styled large
American car, where the parking brake takes the form of a pedal 'way on
the left side of the driver's footwell.)

> Secondly, why would you want a parking brake that auto-releases?

That one has never been clear to me, for just the reasons you cited;
but there it is... I disabled it on my old T-bird for safety's sake (I
know just where to reach down with my left hand for the manual release
lever while in the driver's seat, so kneeling next to the car to
beseech its release is not required) and perhaps as a small increment
of theft deterrence.

--Joe

Driverless Truck Drives in Circles
 

Old Wolf wrote:

> Ad absurdum per aspera wrote:
>
>> Reminds me of an evolution a few years ago in the town where my mother
>> lives. The local shopping mall is built on a hillside, so part of the
>> parking lot slopes downward to about a 5-foot retaining wall. The
>> parking brake on this fellow's Lincoln wouldn't auto-release when he
>> put the automatic transmission into Reverse. He got out and bent over
>> to fumble for the release lever. The car was still in Reverse. You
>> can see where this is going. As he sat on the ground howling over his
>> smashed foot, the car went along its merry way without him until it
>> went over the curb and down the retaining wall.
>
> Can someone explain this to me. The only parking brakes I've
> seen are hand-operated in the centre console, or foot operated
> where the clutch pedal should be (in which case there is a
> release lever in the centre console). Why would you get out of
> the car to release it?
>
> Secondly, why would you want a parking brake that auto-releases?
> Isn't the idea of such a device to NOT automatically fail ? If you
> want to park without a backup then just put the gearbox in Park
> and don't pull on the parking brake.

My mom's 1988 Caddy has an auto-release parking brake. There is NO
release handle. She had a dead battery once. She parks her car under
an overhang in her garage. I couldn't raise the hood without moving the
car. I couldn't move the car without releasing the parking brake. I
couldn't release the parking brake without starting the engine. I
couldn't start the engine because the battery was dead and I couldn't
raise the hood...

The Auto Club guy found the secret switch in the wheel well (gotta
remember to find out where that is) and gave us a jump so we could go
get a new battery (mom insisted).

Yeah, I think it's dumb too.

--
Cheers, Bev
================================================== =================
"If your mechanic claims that he stands behind his brake jobs, keep
looking. You want to find one willing to stand in front of them."

-- B. Ward