IIHS Pedestrian Autobrake Tests – Audi, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Subaru

The IIHS does all sorts of autonomous braking test scenarios involving pedestrians - [this video] A pedestrian darting out from behind a car is known to be a tricky scenario, but some systems handle it at least some of the time. This scenario looked like the pedestrian was unobstructed and traveling in a predictable direction, so it’s pretty unnerving if it’s real. Long story short, even in Teslas, even just autonomous braking and crash avoidance is a great extra safety layer, but far from something that should be relied upon. Tesla is reckless for selling it as something that can be relied upon to successfully pilot a car.

Nearly every major manufacturer has a separate emergency stop system that continually looks for an obstacle in the vehicle's path and applies braking force, overriding the driver and any cruise control or self-driving that is in use. These often use RADAR, have worked for years, and are routinely tested by international agencies such as the IIHS. See, for example: [this video] Teslas at least used to do this too: [link] [link] If Teslas no longer have this functionality, is a serious problem that needs to be corrected. That could mean reprogramming existing cameras or adding a sensor if the system really did rely on the now-removed RADAR.