5 ms·
It may result in the opposite effect though: pedestrians more willing to cross the street in front of you, and other cars trying to mess with you. (A friend of
by gregschlom 10y ago
It may result in the opposite effect though: pedestrians more willing to cross the street in front of you, and other cars trying to mess with you. (A friend of mine was telling me how he tried going really fast then braking hard behind a self driving car in front of him). The car swerved into the bike lane and almost hit a bicyclist before the driver regained manual control of the car)
- WillPostForFood 10y agoThe same irresponsible behavior likely would have a similar effect on a human driven car.
- tsomctl 10y agoGood thing California requires license plates on the front of vehicles. That way, if the bicyclist was hurt/killed, the video recorded by the self driving car would show your friend was the one liable.
- jacquesm 10y agoI'm not sure that's correct. The self driving car should have stayed in its lane because an accident between two cars is preferable to an accident between a cyclist and a car, especially if the cyclist is not otherwise involved. Self driving cars should protect the weaker traffic participants, not use their space as a 'get out of the way' option if that space is occupied.
- jfoster 10y agoI think you're right about how the car should ideally respond, but I think most courts would find that aggressive or negligent driving that leads to an accident makes that driver responsible, even if another car makes an accidental breach of rules in response to the threat.
- tsomctl 10y agoNot entirely sure, but my point was that the accelerating and sudden deacceleration was a dick move.
- jacquesm 10y agoAbsolutely but your friend may have exposed a pretty dangerous bug in the software of that self driving vehicle.
- driverdan 10y agoPerhaps the car calculated that it could safely enter the bike lane. It doesn't matter if it was close.
- jacquesm 10y agoI don't buy that. It could never have predicted how the cyclist would react.
- sumedh 10y agoIsn't the driver who hit from behind usually at fault. It does not matter if the car ahead of you hits the break for fun or not, you should always be aware and brake accordingly.
- briandear 10y agoThat's Texas law for sure: the car that rear-ends another car is always at fault -- and rightfully so: maintaining correct following distance is a fundamental driving skill, one that is sadly ignored in France where I live now.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- petecox 10y ago> pedestrians more willing to cross the street in front of you I'd be more afraid of crossing in front of a driver-less car. An automatic vehicle may have better reaction times than a human but I wouldn't want to be the first road fatality from a software bug.
- ianamartin 10y agoI don't know what it's like in the bay area, but in NYC, everyone is an enemy to cyclists. Granted, it's not all our fault. We have our fair share of wannabe lance armstrongs. But most of us are just trying to get to/from work in a healthy way. People who drive hate us, and people who walk hate us too. It's a shitty situation here.
- konradb 10y agoLondon is very much the same. The recent large expansion of cycle routes along the Thames and the resultant roadworks has increased the us vs them sentiment unfortunately :(
- notliketherest 10y agoIt's the same everywhere. I bike to work and hate people in cars. I drive around and hate bicyclists just as much.