The electric automaker, Tesla, has been taking the passenger vehicle market by storm, and now it wants to tap into the semitruck and transportation business by selling the electric Tesla Semi, which boasts numerous safety features. These features could offer solutions to some of the most dangerous aspects of semitrucks that cause fatal truck accidents.
Safety features in the Tesla Semi include revolutionary technology. One feature relates to jackknifing, a common cause of unnecessary semitruck accidents. In jackknifing events, the semitruck cabin turns one way, the trailer turns another way and a crash ensues. It’s not uncommon for the gravitational imbalances involved to flip the semi over onto its side. This can lead to fatal and injurious collisions with other vehicles.
The safety measures in the Tesla Semi prevent jackknife events by employing independent motors for each wheel, allowing for an equal distribution of weight and braking across the individual wheels. This allows the wheels to auto-correct when things get out of balance. The Tesla Semi does everything automatically, employing computerized procedures to prevent jackknifing accidents instantaneously. According to Tesla’s Elon Musk, “Jackknifing is impossible.”
This feature, in addition to various autopilot features that assist the semi trucks to maintain their lane if the driver falls asleep, could be a big selling point for the Tesla Semi.
Semitruck crashes cause numerous deaths every year on our nation’s roads. If you or your loved one was injured in such an accident, you might want to investigate your legal rights and options regarding the pursuit of a personal injury claim to seek financial restitution and justice.
Source: Fortune, “Inside Tesla’s New Electric Semi-Truck,” Kirsten Korosec, accessed Dec. 15, 2017