Tesla Oops: Tesla car crashes into police cruiser

One of the most important rules in Handbook of Drunk Driving states to never run into a police cruiser.  Cops tend to hate that.  In this case we had driving while automated rather than driving under the influence of unrealistic expectation rather than, you know, several shots of scotch.

Of course, Tesla wants drivers to keep their hands on their wheel at all times and pay attention also, which begs the question how that differed from "real" driving.

A Tesla sedan in Autopilot mode crashed into a parked Laguna Beach Police Department vehicle Tuesday morning, authorities said. 

The collision happened at 11:07 a.m. at 20652 Laguna Canyon Road, according to Laguna Police Sgt. Jim Cota. The officer was not in the cruiser at the time of the crash. The Tesla driver suffered minor injuries, but refused transportation to the hospital.

"Thankfully there was not an officer at the time in the police car," Cota said. "The police car is totaled."  (Emphasis added)  http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-tesla-collision-20180529-story.html

When it comes to drunk driving, Just Don't Do It.

Maybe former taxi drivers can work washing autonomous vehicles

Say you live on a tree lined street with no garage or you drive the second car in family with one car garage, happy to go to work in your autonomous vehicle, reading your newspaper and sipping your coffee.  You push the start button and the sweet engine fails to turnover; you only get a warning light and polite computer voice saying, "You are screwed.  You have bird doodoo on one of your Light Detection and Ranging Sensors (LIDAR).  Good luck figuring out which one."

OK, made that last one up.  Nevertheless, point remains these dream cars depend on functioning sensors.  Plus, you wonder how these things can reliably sense stuff like other cars in a driving, tropical FL downpour, which we real men tend to drive on through.  You just slow down, pray, turn on your lights, and watch for people ahead braking. 

....There are a range of problems with putting a self-driving vehicle through a traditional car wash, experts say.
For example, soap residue or water spots could effectively "blind" an autonomous car. A traditional car wash's heavy brushes could jar the vehicle's sensors, disrupting their calibration and accuracy. Even worse, sensors, which can cost over $100,000, could be broken.
A self-driving vehicle's exterior needs to be cleaned even more frequently than a typical car because the sensors must remain free of obstructions. Dirt, dead bugs, bird droppings or water spots can impact the vehicle's ability to drive safely....

(S)elf-driving car companies such as Toyota, Aptiv, Drive.AI and Uber described to CNN that they use microfiber cloths along with rubbing alcohol, water or glass cleaner for manual cleanings.

For snowy and icy conditions, Uber has a worker apply windshield washer fluid with a squirt bottle to its camera lenses. A puff of air is then used to remove whatever residue remains.  (Emphasis added)  http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/22/technology/self-driving-car-wash/index.html

Nowzabout Buffalo after a few feet of snow?  Do you want to set your coffee and paper in your car and whip out your cleaner, microfiber cloth, and can of compressed air to clean your sensors before you drive?  Self cleaning sensors drive up price keeping vehicles our of hands of the unwashed masses.