5 ms·

Seeing a firetruck in this made me wonder, how do self driving vehicles deal with emergency services behind them? Detect the flashing lights?

by rhcom2 10y ago

cr0sh 10y ago
Maybe the real question is "do they?" - maybe they don't? Or maybe it's a problem being worked on. I can't say I've heard of anything in this domain; it might be one of those problems/challenges which could be worked on, a paper written up, and some kind of solution presented that might net a win for whomever tried.
jboggan 10y ago
Given all the crazy corner cases I know they have covered I cannot imagine they don't deal well with emergency vehicles. For example, I know Waymo has put a ton of work into just covering the cases when motorcycles are lane-splitting and overtaking them at high speed [0]. I'm sure they deal with ambulances just fine. 0 - http://extremepowersportssa.com/google-self-driving-car-project-considers-lane-splitting-motorcyclists/3859 http://extremepowersportssa.com/google-self-driving-car-proj...
- scurvy 10y ago
  Not to be pedantic, but it's lane sharing, not lane splitting. Lane splitting, aka riding the dots, is illegal even in CA
  - hyperbovine 10y ago
    Illegal or not it totally happens all the time, so I assume they are engineering for it.
  - Plough_Jogger 10y ago
    No, this is legal in CA. California Highway Patrol guidelines: http://lanesplittingislegal.com/assets/docs/CHP-lane-splitting-guidelines-California.pdf http://lanesplittingislegal.com/assets/docs/CHP-lane-splitti...
    - rconti 10y ago
      Well, we're probably missing the point, and you probably both know, but I'll continue anyway. The reason lane sharing is legal in California is because there is not a prohibition against multiple vehicles in the same lane adjacent to each other. The other states, one presumes (since we know it's only legal in CA), specify that vehicles may not drive side-by-side in the same lane. I'm not sure what CA law has to say about riding between lanes (or, probably more accurately, occupying 2 lanes at the same time which would be what you were doing if your wheels were going right down the line), but all this business is why we call it lane SHARING; in theory, any time spent on the white line is during a lane change (properly signalled, of course, except for those who want to point out that CA state law is pretty vague on whether you even need to signal a lane change). So the fact that the CHP guideline calls it splitting does nothing to change the legality of splitting versus sharing. But the motorcycle community typically prefers to call it lane sharing, as that's the circumstance under which it's definitely legal (assuming you are not breaking any other laws at the same time). And yes, I saw a demo from Google a number of years ago where the car very gracefully handled a motorcycle lane sharing past it.
      - e28eta 10y ago
        Your comment matched my understanding from ~10 years ago (from discussions on CA motorcycling forums). However, AB-51 passed last August and it's added "lane splitting" to the vehicle code (which I just found out about 10 minutes ago). https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB51 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtm... Anecdotally, I'd heard of motorcyclists cited for violating the CA Vehicle Code if they occupy two lanes: "Existing law requires ... that a vehicle be driven as nearly as practical entirely within a single lane and not be moved from the lane until the movement can be made with reasonable safety." This resulted in the semantic distinction. It's not illegal for two vehicles to share a lane. It is illegal (and still is) to drive in two lanes or to drive "between" the lanes.
      - jboggan 10y ago
        Literally every motorcyclist I know here in California calls it lanesplitting or just splittin'. We're not very good at sharing which is why we are riding single person vehicles in the first place.
  - jcranmer 10y ago
    http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH&sectionNum=21658.1 http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.... begs to differ.
    - dragonwriter 10y ago
      The definition of "lane splitting" there is not what GP referred to, so this is just equivocation.
  - Neliquat 10y ago
    Totally legal in CA.
    - scurvy 10y ago
      Technically riding the dots is still illegal in CA even with the new "lane splitting" law. If you don't ride, you see everything as lane splitting. If you ride, you damn sure know the difference between lane sharing and riding the dots.
  - scurvy 10y ago
    Reminder to never bring up motorcycle topics of discussion to people who don't ride. There's jargon and terms that cagers just don't get. (Example)
    - grzm 10y ago
      Or just take your audience into account and use language that will be commonly understood or take the time to explain terms that might cause difficulty.

Seeing a firetruck in this made me wonder, how do self driving vehicles deal with emergency services behind them? Detect the flashing lights?

by rhcom2 10y ago

Seeing a firetruck in this made me wonder, how do self driving vehicles deal with emergency services behind them? Detect the flashing lights?

cr0sh 10y ago

Maybe the real question is "do they?" - maybe they don't? Or maybe it's a problem being worked on. I can't say I've heard of anything in this domain; it might be one of those problems/challenges which could be worked on, a paper written up, and some kind of solution presented that might net a win for whomever tried.

jboggan 10y ago

Given all the crazy corner cases I know they have covered I cannot imagine they don't deal well with emergency vehicles. For example, I know Waymo has put a ton of work into just covering the cases when motorcycles are lane-splitting and overtaking them at high speed [0]. I'm sure they deal with ambulances just fine. 0 - http://extremepowersportssa.com/google-self-driving-car-project-considers-lane-splitting-motorcyclists/3859 http://extremepowersportssa.com/google-self-driving-car-proj...

scurvy 10y ago
Not to be pedantic, but it's lane sharing, not lane splitting. Lane splitting, aka riding the dots, is illegal even in CA
- hyperbovine 10y ago
  Illegal or not it totally happens all the time, so I assume they are engineering for it.
- Plough_Jogger 10y ago
  No, this is legal in CA. California Highway Patrol guidelines: http://lanesplittingislegal.com/assets/docs/CHP-lane-splitting-guidelines-California.pdf http://lanesplittingislegal.com/assets/docs/CHP-lane-splitti...
  - rconti 10y ago
    Well, we're probably missing the point, and you probably both know, but I'll continue anyway. The reason lane sharing is legal in California is because there is not a prohibition against multiple vehicles in the same lane adjacent to each other. The other states, one presumes (since we know it's only legal in CA), specify that vehicles may not drive side-by-side in the same lane. I'm not sure what CA law has to say about riding between lanes (or, probably more accurately, occupying 2 lanes at the same time which would be what you were doing if your wheels were going right down the line), but all this business is why we call it lane SHARING; in theory, any time spent on the white line is during a lane change (properly signalled, of course, except for those who want to point out that CA state law is pretty vague on whether you even need to signal a lane change). So the fact that the CHP guideline calls it splitting does nothing to change the legality of splitting versus sharing. But the motorcycle community typically prefers to call it lane sharing, as that's the circumstance under which it's definitely legal (assuming you are not breaking any other laws at the same time). And yes, I saw a demo from Google a number of years ago where the car very gracefully handled a motorcycle lane sharing past it.
    - e28eta 10y ago
      Your comment matched my understanding from ~10 years ago (from discussions on CA motorcycling forums). However, AB-51 passed last August and it's added "lane splitting" to the vehicle code (which I just found out about 10 minutes ago). https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB51 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtm... Anecdotally, I'd heard of motorcyclists cited for violating the CA Vehicle Code if they occupy two lanes: "Existing law requires ... that a vehicle be driven as nearly as practical entirely within a single lane and not be moved from the lane until the movement can be made with reasonable safety." This resulted in the semantic distinction. It's not illegal for two vehicles to share a lane. It is illegal (and still is) to drive in two lanes or to drive "between" the lanes.
    - jboggan 10y ago
      Literally every motorcyclist I know here in California calls it lanesplitting or just splittin'. We're not very good at sharing which is why we are riding single person vehicles in the first place.
- jcranmer 10y ago
  http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH&sectionNum=21658.1 http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.... begs to differ.
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    The definition of "lane splitting" there is not what GP referred to, so this is just equivocation.
- Neliquat 10y ago
  Totally legal in CA.
  - scurvy 10y ago
    Technically riding the dots is still illegal in CA even with the new "lane splitting" law. If you don't ride, you see everything as lane splitting. If you ride, you damn sure know the difference between lane sharing and riding the dots.
- scurvy 10y ago
  Reminder to never bring up motorcycle topics of discussion to people who don't ride. There's jargon and terms that cagers just don't get. (Example)
  - grzm 10y ago
    Or just take your audience into account and use language that will be commonly understood or take the time to explain terms that might cause difficulty.