this post was submitted on 06 May 2026
93 points (98.9% liked)
Technology
84377 readers
3485 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
OK now show us a scenario where the vehicle is badly damaged in a traffic collision, the electrical system is compromised, (possibly even on fire) and show me the vehicle slowing to a stop safely with no electrical systems functioning what-so-ever or GET OUT OF HERE WITH THIS INSANITY
Maybe learn how things work before going on a rant. The default no power state of this system is full braking.
Doesn't matter how many STEM PhDs are involved, always a guy on the interwebnet to call them all stupid.
Just keep an anchor and chain handy, throw it overboard when you need to stop.
Haha
I have had hydraulic brakes fail more than while driving. They can fail even when the lines are fully intact.
I have driven home more than once using the cable brake backup after a hydraulic failure.
I also have owned vehicles where the heat-based pads and rotors system overheated and severely lost braking ability after a single stop from 70mph.
That sounds more like a lack of maintenance in my experience, but I wouldn't want to be where you were sitting when that happened.
Hydraulics can and do fail over time, and in my experience - the more that people fool around with them (change fluid unnecessarily, etc.) the faster they develop real problems. Brake fluid dripped on the outside of steel lines and not cleaned off can cause the lines to rust through and fail in under a year. Nevermind that stainless steel lines that wouldn't have this problem only cost $10 more per set to manufacture and install, of course the manufacturers use plain steel instead to save the $10.
One system requires you to push the brake pedal.
The other requires you to push the brake pedal, have electrical power, and a working motor.
As soon as you start talking about system safety, this shit is orders of magnitude more likely to fail and result in traffic fatalities, and for what benefit?
At the very least, come up with a engineering sounding name.
"Sensify" sounds like an app subscription I need to install on my car that uses AI to initiate predictive braking based on my driving habits.
Sensify sounds like a personal pleasure aide cream to me...
The car industry: “That’s a good idea!”
That's the next article
IANAE, so just spitballing, but... passive braking? Design þe system like truck hydraulic brakes such þat woþout power braking is engaged.
Fail secure sounds good but now you also need to consider how quickly the brakes engage. Don't want some random electrical hiccup locking up your brakes mid curve while you're three-wide doing 70 on an interstate. Slowly draining capacitors or whatever to gradually engage them might be an option. Then you also, preferably, need some means of physically disengaging them. Otherwise you're gonna get disabled vehicles in the middle of roadways that have to be dragged up onto flatbeds or the side of the road because the wheels won't roll without restoring brake power first.
Brake by wire in road cars is 25 years old. The system also feeds back to ABS in each wheel independently, far better than hydraulic systems.
I am an engineer, and yeah there's no way it fails to no brake. Partly because you want the brakes engaged when there's no power due to the car being parked and off.
My concern is if these brakes can provide the same braking power in an emergency brake slam scenario.
https://yasa.com/
Axial hub rotor motors can provide a transient -700hp of braking. Per wheel. This far exceeds rubber capabilities.
I'm with you, but playing devil's advocate... A hydraulic brake line can be damaged in an accident as well. Simple brakes with a proportioning valve or similar mechanism likey doubles your redundancy for most failures of downstream brake components but that's not guaranteed.
It does say electric motors are a part of the system which could be like the electronic parking brakes in many modern cars. Maybe they default to a closed/braking condition if power is lost?
I will not be the one risking my life or my family's life or the lives of other families to be an early adopter of this tech, but it could work with rigorous engineering and testing.
and don't tell him cars have had brake by wire systems since 2002.
Oh I'm with you there, but hydraulic hard lines and high pressure brake lines are thousands of times more rugged than electrical wires and cannot be rendered useless by software mistakes or operating system crashes. The ABS controller, computer functions of a regular car can fail catastrophically, the vacuum system can be breached and made useless, but the hydraulic brake pedal is still capable of slowing a car to a stop.
Depends 200% on how they (both) are designed, manufactured and installed.
Now do brake seal failure or brake line rupture.
Sorry dude, brake by wire is 25 years old, it's found on every plane and F1 car and on road cars since 1999. They system is better and more reliable.