Driverless Truck Drives in Circles

How come all the while that the truck is going in a reverse circle all
the tires are fine, but at the end of the video after the truck has
run out of gas there is a scene with firemen looking at the passenger
side and both tires are flat. Why would they flatten the tires after
the truck had stopped??????????


On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 19:31:21 -0800, Scott en Aztlán
> wrote:

>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. Meanwhile, they have a busy street in a business
>district completely blocked off. WTF didn't one of them just walk up
>to the truck, hop in, and shut the damn ignition off? For that matter,
>why didn't the ****tard owner of the truck do it, without involving
>the cops at all?
>
>http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister...le_1339435.php
>
>Driverless truck circles Irvine streets
>Irvine Police deploy spike strip to halt the circuitous route of
>riderless vehicle today.
>By RYAN HAMMILL
>The Orange County Register
>IRVINE — A driverless pick-up truck circled Irvine streets in reverse
>today shortly after 3 p.m. before Irvine police deployed a spike strip
>to bring the vehicle to a stop.
>
>The 1970 Ford F-150 was locked in a tight backward oval near the
>corner of Von Karman Avenue and Alton Parkway, Irvine police Lt. Rick
>Handfield said.
>
>The driver, a 55-year-old male from Santa Ana, had pulled over to
>inspect a load of cardboard that he believed got loose prior to the
>incident. While out of the vehicle, the truck's reverse gear engaged
>sending it into a perpetual backward flight.
>
>There were no injuries or property damage reported.
>
>"Thanks to the engineering of that truck's front end, it just stayed
>in a circle the whole time," Handfield said.

"Ashton Crusher" > wrote in message
...
> How come all the while that the truck is going in a reverse circle all
> the tires are fine, but at the end of the video after the truck has
> run out of gas there is a scene with firemen looking at the passenger
> side and both tires are flat. Why would they flatten the tires after
> the truck had stopped??????????
>

I thought I'd read that they used a spike strip to flatten the tires. The
way those things are designed, they are supposed to NOT flatten the tire
quickly. Just gradually let the air out . . .-Dave

In article ews.net>,
Dave > wrote:
>
>"Ashton Crusher" > wrote in message
.. .
>> How come all the while that the truck is going in a reverse circle all
>> the tires are fine, but at the end of the video after the truck has
>> run out of gas there is a scene with firemen looking at the passenger
>> side and both tires are flat. Why would they flatten the tires after
>> the truck had stopped??????????
>>
>
>I thought I'd read that they used a spike strip to flatten the tires. The
>way those things are designed, they are supposed to NOT flatten the tire
>quickly. Just gradually let the air out . . .-Dave

Obvious problem with that plan is that flattening the tires won't stop
the truck. Maybe they flattened the passenger side to get it to go in
a circle, at which point you might as well just let it run out of
gas.

--
There's no such thing as a free lunch, but certain accounting practices can
result in a fully-depreciated one.

>>I thought I'd read that they used a spike strip to flatten the tires. The
>>way those things are designed, they are supposed to NOT flatten the tire
>>quickly. Just gradually let the air out . . .-Dave
>
> Obvious problem with that plan is that flattening the tires won't stop
> the truck. Maybe they flattened the passenger side to get it to go in
> a circle, at which point you might as well just let it run out of
> gas.

Problem with that plan is, how long would a driverless vehicle running in
circles occupy the same circle in space? (as opposed to say, doing circles
in the elementary school playground, or circles in the park, or circles in a
grocery store, etc?) Driving in circles is not an efficient method of
getting from point A to point B, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the
vehicle would STAY at point A until it ran out of gas. -Dave

On Sat, 4 Nov 2006 11:56:14 -0500, "Dave" > wrote:

>
>"Ashton Crusher" > wrote in message
.. .
>> How come all the while that the truck is going in a reverse circle all
>> the tires are fine, but at the end of the video after the truck has
>> run out of gas there is a scene with firemen looking at the passenger
>> side and both tires are flat. Why would they flatten the tires after
>> the truck had stopped??????????
>>
>
>I thought I'd read that they used a spike strip to flatten the tires. The
>way those things are designed, they are supposed to NOT flatten the tire
>quickly. Just gradually let the air out . . .-Dave
>

Using a spike strip would be pretty stupid. Clearly the truck was in
a stable configuration, many vehicle are in a tight reverse turn like
this. Flattening the tires may cause instability causing the truck to
go who knows where. On second thought, doing something stupid would
be par for the course for the typical cop.

>>Problem with that plan is, how long would a driverless vehicle running in
>>circles occupy the same circle in space?
>
> I drove by the scene this morning on my way back from the airport.
> Judging from the tire tracks in the grass, it appears the truck
> travelled in progressively overlapping near-circles - kinda like a
> gigantic Spirograph.

Well as long as it just tore up some grass, that's kinda cool. -Dave

Ashton Crusher wrote:

> How come all the while that the truck is going in a reverse circle all
> the tires are fine, but at the end of the video after the truck has
> run out of gas there is a scene with firemen looking at the passenger
> side and both tires are flat. Why would they flatten the tires after
> the truck had stopped??????????

Vengeance.

--
Cheers,
Bev
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It only takes 2 men to tile a bathroom
if you slice them thinly enough.