Our Kia has the handbrake linked to the driver's seatbelt. Basically stopping you driving off if you aren't belted.
That seems ok if you want to stop people driving without a seatbelt. It doesn't seem to work on other seats so perhaps seat pressure sensors are linked in as well? Mrs sospan can sit in the passenger seat and I can move with just a warning sound and light on the dash screen. Similar for rear seats.
So, thinking about it over breakfast, what happens if the connection between brake/driver's seatbelt is lost? Switch or sensor failure for example. Is there a failsafe that kicks in? I haven't tested it by unclipping the belt whilst moving. I could do that off road. How would the system react and what would the fix be? My guess is that the it should only cause brake lock when on stop. So, if you stop at a junction, lights, traffic queue would being stationary lock the brakes on? The car has auto lock braking which I like as it's great on hills etc but will that be affected by any system component failures? I would hope that the software developers would put enough checks in place to tecognise the varying situations! I am not 100% convinced though.
Have Kia built in a warning to say there is a problem whilst you are driving? Doing 70 on a M'way? Brake triggered or just a warning? I would hope the fail-safe would be a warning light/sound not braking!
I am sure I have read that Tesla are continuously collecting real world data from the on-board cameras to build a database of varying situations imagery to be used in the autonomous driving management. It needs a huge image bank of objects to be able to identify them and feed a suitable reaction into the car.
Oh the joys of a simple car you just have basics built in!
