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Supposing autonomous cars actually drive extremely safely and this results in them going 20 km/h under the speed limit. Are drivers going to be happy about the

Supposing autonomous cars actually drive extremely safely and this results in them going 20 km/h under the speed limit. Are drivers going to be happy about the length of their commute increasing while regular car drivers (due to human recklessness) wiz by in the left lane at 130 km/h? I think you'd see a lot of human drivers get frustrated and turn off the AI.

pekk 10y ago
Laminar flow might actually be faster than turbulent flow where everyone perceives they are "getting ahead". Particularly when this "getting ahead" behavior results in accidents that require road closures that back up highways for hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic.
matt_wulfeck 10y ago
i think it's a little early in the self driving cycle to be upset at their speed. There's no limitation keeping them going slow. In fact they could easily and safety drive much faster.
ygjb 10y ago
Yes, once they get past the initial adjustment, assuming we have actual autonomous cars, and not 95% autonomous that require a completely alert individual driving them, then the commute is not lost time, it can be time spent working, relaxing, or doing something besides simply staring at the bumper of the person ahead of them.
lisivka 10y ago
We are already have fully automatic transportation machines: lifts. Are you happy with them? Do you want to use faster lifts at exchange of higher risk of injure or death? Do you want such faster lifts for others or for your family? IMHO, safety will win. Human life is much more valuable than wasted time. 50km/h is consider as safe speed for human driver in city. Computers are faster, so 60-70km/h will be safe for them.
- Tiktaalik 10y ago
  If our society was actually that concerned with safety we would have backtracked from automobile infrastructure a long time ago, but we've allowed them to dominate our public space despite the dangers they pose.
- bryanlarsen 10y ago
  The maximum safe speed on any street where there is the possibility of a kid hidden behind a parked car is 30 km/h, no matter human or robot driver. A 30 kph collision with a pedestrian is almost always survivable. Anything faster isn't. Robots can react faster, but cars still take time to stop. Most streets don't have more than a couple of feet of distance between moving traffic and parked cars. Reaction time is meaningless there.
  - lisivka 10y ago
    Robots can adjust speed of the car according to situation, especially on electric cars with recuperation of energy in brakes. Robots can use statistics or history of incidents to improve safety. Robots can use also other things to improve safety, which cannot be used by human driver because (s)he is busy with driving, e.g. "laser" pointers of car direction of drive at road, like "mark my lane" light used by bicyclist; or directed audio/video/vibration alarms to warn of potential crash; or safety hands at front of car (like human hands), which will be released by computer to pickup child right before hit, or to to take hit from larger distance, slowly, or to change direction of car, or remove something from the road. Humans cannot do that but robots can.
kenshaw 10y ago
Actually, I'd predict the opposite -- that people will purposefully start to increase their commute times and tell the car to "take the scenic route." People are frustrated with commuting because they have to be mentally engaged doing it. When that's no longer a requirement, people will watch movies/tv, read books / news articles, do their makeup/prep their hair, give each other massages/have sex, play video games, etc. etc. instead of driving their cars. I wouldn't put it entirely out of the question (except for the issue of fuel costs) that people will start buying bigger cars (akin to RVs or campers) so that they can take all their crap with them. I can almost guarantee you that people will basically want to roll out of bed into their offices / place of work, assuming the driving can be done all automatically.
- CM30 10y ago
  Depends what they're commuting for. A lot of businesses want you to be there even day at 9pm on the dot, no exceptions. For people working at companies like this, minimising their daily commute is basically essential, since their bosses will not negotiate on things like start times, end times and the amount of work done in the day. Do people really want to lose their remaining time with their family just to spend it commuting and doing the same stuff they could be at doing at home in the car? How about losing their sleep in the morning because their car takes longer to get them to work than it used to? Some people might want to roll straight out of bed and into their offices/workplace. A lot of others would rather minimise the time spent going to/leaving work and spend it in their own home doing stuff they want to be doing.

pekk 10y ago

Laminar flow might actually be faster than turbulent flow where everyone perceives they are "getting ahead". Particularly when this "getting ahead" behavior results in accidents that require road closures that back up highways for hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic.

matt_wulfeck 10y ago

i think it's a little early in the self driving cycle to be upset at their speed. There's no limitation keeping them going slow. In fact they could easily and safety drive much faster.

ygjb 10y ago

Yes, once they get past the initial adjustment, assuming we have actual autonomous cars, and not 95% autonomous that require a completely alert individual driving them, then the commute is not lost time, it can be time spent working, relaxing, or doing something besides simply staring at the bumper of the person ahead of them.

lisivka 10y ago

We are already have fully automatic transportation machines: lifts. Are you happy with them? Do you want to use faster lifts at exchange of higher risk of injure or death? Do you want such faster lifts for others or for your family? IMHO, safety will win. Human life is much more valuable than wasted time. 50km/h is consider as safe speed for human driver in city. Computers are faster, so 60-70km/h will be safe for them.

Tiktaalik 10y ago
If our society was actually that concerned with safety we would have backtracked from automobile infrastructure a long time ago, but we've allowed them to dominate our public space despite the dangers they pose.
bryanlarsen 10y ago
The maximum safe speed on any street where there is the possibility of a kid hidden behind a parked car is 30 km/h, no matter human or robot driver. A 30 kph collision with a pedestrian is almost always survivable. Anything faster isn't. Robots can react faster, but cars still take time to stop. Most streets don't have more than a couple of feet of distance between moving traffic and parked cars. Reaction time is meaningless there.
- lisivka 10y ago
  Robots can adjust speed of the car according to situation, especially on electric cars with recuperation of energy in brakes. Robots can use statistics or history of incidents to improve safety. Robots can use also other things to improve safety, which cannot be used by human driver because (s)he is busy with driving, e.g. "laser" pointers of car direction of drive at road, like "mark my lane" light used by bicyclist; or directed audio/video/vibration alarms to warn of potential crash; or safety hands at front of car (like human hands), which will be released by computer to pickup child right before hit, or to to take hit from larger distance, slowly, or to change direction of car, or remove something from the road. Humans cannot do that but robots can.

kenshaw 10y ago

Actually, I'd predict the opposite -- that people will purposefully start to increase their commute times and tell the car to "take the scenic route." People are frustrated with commuting because they have to be mentally engaged doing it. When that's no longer a requirement, people will watch movies/tv, read books / news articles, do their makeup/prep their hair, give each other massages/have sex, play video games, etc. etc. instead of driving their cars. I wouldn't put it entirely out of the question (except for the issue of fuel costs) that people will start buying bigger cars (akin to RVs or campers) so that they can take all their crap with them. I can almost guarantee you that people will basically want to roll out of bed into their offices / place of work, assuming the driving can be done all automatically.

CM30 10y ago
Depends what they're commuting for. A lot of businesses want you to be there even day at 9pm on the dot, no exceptions. For people working at companies like this, minimising their daily commute is basically essential, since their bosses will not negotiate on things like start times, end times and the amount of work done in the day. Do people really want to lose their remaining time with their family just to spend it commuting and doing the same stuff they could be at doing at home in the car? How about losing their sleep in the morning because their car takes longer to get them to work than it used to? Some people might want to roll straight out of bed and into their offices/workplace. A lot of others would rather minimise the time spent going to/leaving work and spend it in their own home doing stuff they want to be doing.