Maybe, one day, full Level 5 autonomous tech will enable cars to perform some kind of evasive maneuver to avoid getting rear-ended – but, until then, things like this will inevitably happen.
Still, this incident involving a Tesla and an old Toyota Corolla is a perfect example of how useful such a feature would be. Theoretically, if the car’s sensors can detect a fast approaching vehicle from behind and a scan of the surrounding area reveals that it is safe to move, avoiding such a crash should be possible.
Until then, though, these crashes will just keep happening, most of the times because drivers simply aren’t paying enough attention. In rare occassions, they might be experiencing health issues, but generally speaking, the main reason is distracted driving.
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According to the description of the video, the driver of the Tesla wasn’t hurt, although they couldn’t speak on the condition of the Toyota driver.
“The signal light at the top of the highway onramp was active and alternating to stagger traffic during morning rush hour. The vehicle appeared to not be attentive to the signal or traffic as no attempt to stop or slow was made. I don’t know if there were any serious injuries resulting from the collision. You can see the vehicle ahead of mine was also hit by the offending vehicle after mine was hit. My vehicle was eventually rendered a total loss, but no life-threatening injuries were sustained by me. Two driver airbags were deployed upon the car impact with the signal pole.”
In the end, we can only hope that the driver and any potential occupants of that white Toyota made it out OK. It’s also a good thing that the Corolla didn’t cut across multiple lanes of that freeway after the impact, which might have resulted in a much worse scenario…