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Runaway Vehicles (Land, Sea & Air)

EnolaGaia said:
Welcome to the FTMB ...

The news account is somewhat confusing and lacking in relevant details.

There are multiple references to the car rolling off in reverse, but the sole photo shows damage to the car's front end. It therefore seems as if the car slid or turned around before its final impact.

The car was apparently parked on a slope. There's no secondary evidence (e.g., reverse lamps activating) to prove the car was engaged in reverse (gear) rather than free-rolling backward down the slope.

The owner / driver was in a cafe 'nearby' with the keys in her handbag. If she had a remote start capability on her key fob and accidentally (com-)pressed the 'start' button it could have triggered the car starting.

Nowhere does it state in which gear the driver left the car after parking it. The DSG gearbox is configured as something of a pseudo-manual unit, and drivers accustomed to classic manual transmissions often leave them parked in gear.

The VW / Audi DSG gearboxes have a history of weirdness, including short circuits within the transmission causing shifting, inability to shift, and other unexpected behaviors.

Bottom Line: I'd have to get a clearer picture of the scene and the incident's particulars before suggesting any theory or theories. The one thing of which I'm confident is that (so far) the story isn't obviously outside the range of known accidents - particularly if one's talking about Audis with the DSG transmission.
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The remote start button is the obvious explanation for the vehicle starting on it's own. I've always wondered about the possible consequences of accidental starting, but assume that firstly the key would have to be very close to the vehicle(as with keyless go systems) and secondly that there would be some system which would prevent starting except when the vehicle is in "Park" mode. Of course you can't rule out the possibility that the incident was a botched attempt at theft with a laptop as has been seen with thefts of cars with the keyless go feature.
 
The image shows damage that I would consider to be inconsistent with direct, high-speed impact against a 2-ton boulder:

0_JS160365234.jpg


Perhaps the car started off in reverse and the boulder impact spun it around, whence it ran front-first into the ditch? Or perhaps a tabloid newspaper is revving up (geddit?) the incident to make it sound worse than it was. That wouldn't be a first...

None of this accounts for the car starting up autonomously, of course. If the locus were Knightsbridge or a similar area, the idea of a supervillain with a remote-locking cloning device attacking luxury cars would be one I'd consider. Gatehouse of Fleet, however..?

maximus otter
 
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Cars are not the autonomous machines they once were, they are full of electronics and sensors with wifi connectivity. It is absolutely possible that the car may have been hacked.
 
maximus otter said:
The image shows damage that I would consider to be inconsistent with direct, high-speed impact against a 2-ton boulder:

0_JS160365234.jpg


Perhaps the car started off in reverse and the boulder impact spun it around, whence it ran front-first into the ditch? Or perhaps a tabloid newspaper is revving up (geddit?) the incident to make it sound worse than it was. That wouldn't be a first...

None of this accounts for the car starting up autonomously, of course. If the locus were Knightsbridge or a similar area, the idea of a supervillain with a remote-locking cloning device attacking luxury cars would be one I'd consider. Gatehouse of Fleet, however...

maximus otter
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F**king Audi drivers!
 
Modern(ish) cars can do amazing things. These days I drive Saabs - I'm trifle obsessive - that's another story. Anyway, I was trying to get the steering wheel audio controls to work with an after market radio . At one combination of connections a) You could start the car without a key by turning the radio on and b) You couldn't stop the engine (except by stalling it with the clutch). Turning the ignition to off had no effect. I did not touch ANY wires that had any overt connection to the ignition circuit.

You don't need to hack a modern car to make it go mad, it can be done by accident very easily. And my Saab is 15 years old - in a modern car any after market modification which has a trivial mistake can make the car basically go mad.
 
i get something similar in my line of work (motorcycle mechanic) usually when cheapo aftermarket LED bulbs are fitted, sometimes we see them where they have "back fed" through the wiring system causing all kinds of problems - normally other bulbs etc to operate for no reason. this can be a real issue particularly on machines running canbus wiring systems. first thing i do is chuck them in the bin and fit 'proper' bulbs!
 
Oops ...
Latvian drone wrests control from human overlords and shuts down entire nation's skies

Latvia’s skies have been closed to long distance flights because a military-grade drone is “uncontrolled and lost” somewhere above the eastern European nation – and nobody knows where it has gone.

Local news website Apollo reported over the weekend that a test flight went disastrously wrong when a Latvian drone firm lost control of one of their remote-controlled aircraft.

The “experimental vertical takeoff and landing aircraft” was reportedly being test-flown when ground personnel lost communication with it, reported Apollo. The news site added that UAVFactory “also supplies drones for the needs of the Latvian army.”

Latvian news agency LETA added: “During a controlled test flight on Saturday, communication with an unmanned aerial vehicle owned by drone manufacturer SIA UAVFactory was lost. The company's representative, Jevgenijs Sinikovs, confirmed that the aircraft can fly for up to 90 hours, and added that its gliding in orbit depends on the wind.”

It is thought by local sources that the drone was last seen flying at an altitude of 200 metres, or 600ft in aviation-standard units. The craft itself measures 3.5m x 5.5m, weighs 26kg and has a top speed of 70kph. Helpfully, it also took off with fuel for about 90 hours of flying time – meaning Latvian airspace could be closed for most of this week unless the rogue drone is found. ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/04/latvian_drone_breaks_free/
 
I don't think it's just the Latvians who should be worried!

I'd guess the 90 hours fuel/flying time time is not estimated on the drone travelling continuously at its top speed. If, say, its more like a 40kph, then that still could put it somewhere over Morocco.
 
A bit of an update on details ...

On Monday evening, the aviation authority said the possibility the drone was no longer in the air was becoming increasingly likely but multiple planes were still searching.

Despite lower air traffic across Europe due to the coronavirus pandemic, the errant UAV has caused some problems, closing airspace over Riga International Airport and causing the redirection of a flight from China to Tallinn.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52533227
 
Another update from a Latvian source ...

Ten reports of suspicious flying objects were received Monday night, but none has been confirmed as the lost UAVFactory drone, said the Emergency Situation and Communication Manager of the Civil Aviation Agency (CAA) Aivis Vincevs.

An increasingly plausible version is that the missing 5.5 meter-wide and 3.5 meter-long unmanned aircraft might already have landed on the ground, a CAA spokesman said.

Theoretically, with the fuel left in the tank, the drone could keep flying until Tuesday, May 5, around 19:10. Searches will continue until the evening, Vincevs said, adding that throughout the night, a search unit was prepared to travel to the scene and intercept the unmanned aircraft if confirmed it was still in the air.

A private plane is in readiness mode to approach and take control of the drone in case it is still in the air. The National Armed Forces will also continue to provide support in the search. If the drone is found, a helicopter will be sent to take control of it. ...

The uncontrolled flying drone prevented a Smartlynx flight from China on Sunday, May 3, from landing in Riga. It had to be redirected to Tallinn.

Vincevs told Latvijas Radio that CAA wants to obtain the drone to investigate how the state-of-the-art, technologically advanced experimental prototype aircraft, with GPS and all the electronic equipment in place, could simply have vanished. ...
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FULL STORY: https://eng.lsm.lv/article/economy/transport/runaway-drone-still-on-the-loose-over-latvia.a358541/
 
Where else has it happened? rather than being warned against I mean. Apart from The Heathrow Incident.
 
Frideswide said:
Where else has it happened? rather than being warned against I mean. Apart from The Heathrow Incident.
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Runaway drones aren't rare, even among recreational hobbyists.

The most severe reaction to a runaway drone that comes to mind is the 1956 "Battle of Palmdale" incident:

The Battle of Palmdale was the attempted shoot-down of a runaway drone by United States Air Force interceptors in the skies over Southern California in mid-August 1956. The drone was launched from Point Mugu Naval Air Station and soon went out of control. Interceptor aircraft took off from Oxnard Air Force Base and caught up with the drone, but were ultimately unable to bring it down, in spite of expending all of their rockets. After it ran out of fuel, the unmanned aircraft crashed in a sparsely populated tract of desert.

During the incident over 1000 acres were scorched and a substantial amount of property was damaged or destroyed.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Palmdale
 
EnolaGaia said:
Runaway drones aren't rare, even among recreational hobbyists.
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I was thinking of airports closing rather than the drones in other circumstances.
 
Frideswide said:
I was thinking of airports closing rather than the drones in other circumstances.
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Oh ... Those would be reported on a case-by-case basis, such closures may only last a matter of a few hours, and I'm not sure there's anyone who collates reports on such drone-related airfield closures.

It happened in Madrid circa 3 months ago ...
Drone sighting disrupts air traffic at Madrid airport

Spanish authorities say that Madrid's international airport was closed for over an hour following the sighting of drones ...
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FULL STORY: https://abcnews.go.com/Internationa...space-madrid-airport-drones-reported-68719452
 
After these 3 guys went overboard and their boat began its runaway jaunt things went really sideways really fast ...
Driver-less boat in Florida spins of control, smashing docks

Three men conducting a photo shoot on a boat in a busy Florida river somehow went overboard, leaving the 24-foot vessel unmanned and out of control.

The three men told deputies that they accidentally fell into the St. Lucie River along Florida’s Atlantic coast on Saturday, leaving the boat unmanned. It circled around the men numerous times, forcing them to dive underwater so it wouldn’t run them over.

The boat then straightened out, hit a concrete dock, went airborne and hit a second dock before coming to a stop, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. ...

The men were able to swim to a nearby sailboat. One had a minor injury, the sheriff’s office said. ...
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SOURCE: https://apnews.com/article/accidents-florida-archive-a971b02d855345e68e896b9610ed4e77
 
Here's a more recent runaway boat story from Florida.
Florida deputies chase down runaway boat off popular beach

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post that deputies responded to calls about a "subject in the water" off Pass A Grill Beach and they arrived to find a man had been thrown from his boat about a half mile from shore, and the vehicle was now speeding through the water without any occupants. ...

"Utilizing their training, marine deputies were able to match the speed of the runaway vessel, board it and regain control," the post said.

The sheriff's office said the incident should serve as a reminder to wear a flotation device while boating and utilize a cut-off switch, or "kill cord," to ensure the boat's engine stops when the driver is thrown overboard.
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FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...unaway-boat-Pass-A-Grill-Beach/7481631901519/
 
An empty railway tank car separated from its train and rolled 16 miles away on its own.


Rail car breaks away from Washington train, travels 16 miles down the tracks

Authorities in Washington said a rail car broke away from a train and rolled nearly 16 miles on its own before being stopped.

The Walla Walla County Sheriff's Office said the empty tank car broke away from a Columbia-Walla Walla Railroad train in Walla Walla and rolled to the Touchet area before being stopped by emergency responders. ...

Walla Walla County Undersheriff Joe Klundt, who posted video of the loose rail car to Twitter, said the tank car reached a top speed of about 50 mph while loose, but had slowed to about 3 mph after rolling up a steep hill near Touchet.

Klundt said the reduced speed allowed a responder to climb aboard the car and apply the brake.

The sheriff's office said no one was injured in the incident. ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2022/0...m-train-Walla-Walla-Washington/8171643396754/
 
Here's a novel twist on the runaway vehicle trope ... A balloon used to provide an elevated platform for Chinese pine nut harvesters came untethered, and a man carried off by the runaway balloon spent 2 days aloft.
Chinese man trapped aloft in hydrogen balloon for 2 days

Chinese state media say a man has been found safe after he spent two days aloft in a hydrogen balloon, traveling about 320 kilometers (200 miles), after it became untethered and flew away while he was using it to harvest pine nuts from a tree.

The man, identified only by his surname, Hu, and a partner were collecting pine nuts on Sunday in a forest park in Heilongjiang province in northeastern China when they lost control and the balloon sailed off.

The other person jumped to the ground, and a search was launched for the escaped balloon and Hu.

State broadcaster CCTV said rescuers were able to contact the man by cellphone the following morning and instructed him to slowly deflate the balloon to land safely. It took another day before he reached the ground about 320 kilometers (200 miles) to the northeast in Fangzheng region, close to the border with Russia.

Hu was in good health, apart from a pain in his lower back, possibly from standing the entire time he was in the air, CCTV said.
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FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/oddities-china-fb88033cd6be11dd93cc13d3da9c7e3b
 
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