Keep in mind the human eye is very good at detecting low level lighting, better than a camera. Some studies say it can even detect a single photon. It was likely easier to see in person.
I doubt I would have seen it or reacted in time.
There was a human in the Tesla that apparently didn't see it either.
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Sure... maybe a human could have "lessened the blow", maybe some humans, but now we're hindsight backseat driving and pulling things out of our ass.
As a human there's a lot that goes into it, it depends on how long you were driving, your vision at the time, whether you were talking, your driving skills, your reaction time, your handling of accidents, knowing where you can swerve to.
Some humans with full attention may have prevented it or weakened the crash, but that's a maybe, and assuming full attention.
Many people in this thread who think they would have noticed the subtle lighting effects on a pitch black pickup in the middle of the road. I've nearly hit blacked out cars on the road, you don't see them. You could go back and probably see it in a dashcam, but you know it's there then.
The uncompressed version you're still expecting a truck, it seems like it's much slower than what rounding a corner going 75mph on a freeway is, I don't think any of us could judge without being in the seat at the time.
All in all, this is the most speculative thread I've ever seen on HN. Very reaching, but anti-Tesla is hot news here so...
The big takeaway for me is how that Tesla just took that head-on collision at 75mph without compromising the cabin.
When you watch the uncompressed version, there are tons of visual cues to a human that there is an object in the way. This is no where near as subtle as the janky video makes it out. You can say you might have missed this at night but either you don't pay enough attention when you're driving, or you're giving tesla a pass here they don't deserve.
Changing a 75mph collision into a 35mph collision is a world of difference in terms of the total energy.
I think it's important not to view "collision" as a binary event. With human drivers, it's pretty rare not to heal the squeal of breaks just before an impact. I suspect with automated driving (at least for a while) these kinds of "full speed" impacts will be more common than with human drivers.
You might not have been able recognise it was a pickup, but you would have at least braked earlier.