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No most of congestion is caused by the spacial inefficiency of car based infrastructure. Cars are big and roads have fixed capacity. Autonomous cars will not si

No most of congestion is caused by the spacial inefficiency of car based infrastructure. Cars are big and roads have fixed capacity. Autonomous cars will not significantly change this.

dragonwriter 9y ago
> Autonomous cars will not significantly change this. Autonomous cars (if used exclusively) over time should decrease safe separation, increasing capacity, but there's a limit to the gains from that. Some additional gains if they are networked at routing is optimized to utilize all available roads rather than just the usually-best route.
- Tiktaalik 9y ago
  Right we all expect this sort of thing, but so far it's all theory and I haven't seen anyone seriously test and study the idea based on real world factors. For example I doubt we'll see any benefits of decreased safe separation in cities where there are cyclists and pedestrians and other factors that are hard to predict. My prediction would be that the efficiency gains will be marginal and will be dominated by other factors that affect congestion.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > For example I doubt we'll see any benefits of decreased safe separation in cities where there are cyclists and pedestrians and other factors that are hard to predict. Well, yeah, that applies to roads with exclusive use of autonomous vehicles, which clearly doesn't apply to roads shared with cyclists and pedestrians, but limited access freeways. But even within cities those can serve as arterial routes.
tim333 9y ago
There are a number of ways autonomous could significantly change this including: Platooning https://youtu.be/t9uEPnGI6zA?t=54s https://youtu.be/t9uEPnGI6zA?t=54s Shuttling to and from stations Road pricing to get people to share More road available as there would be less parked cars
randyrand 9y ago
Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wm-pZp_mi0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wm-pZp_mi0

No most of congestion is caused by the spacial inefficiency of car based infrastructure. Cars are big and roads have fixed capacity. Autonomous cars will not significantly change this.

dragonwriter 9y ago

> Autonomous cars will not significantly change this. Autonomous cars (if used exclusively) over time should decrease safe separation, increasing capacity, but there's a limit to the gains from that. Some additional gains if they are networked at routing is optimized to utilize all available roads rather than just the usually-best route.

Tiktaalik 9y ago
Right we all expect this sort of thing, but so far it's all theory and I haven't seen anyone seriously test and study the idea based on real world factors. For example I doubt we'll see any benefits of decreased safe separation in cities where there are cyclists and pedestrians and other factors that are hard to predict. My prediction would be that the efficiency gains will be marginal and will be dominated by other factors that affect congestion.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > For example I doubt we'll see any benefits of decreased safe separation in cities where there are cyclists and pedestrians and other factors that are hard to predict. Well, yeah, that applies to roads with exclusive use of autonomous vehicles, which clearly doesn't apply to roads shared with cyclists and pedestrians, but limited access freeways. But even within cities those can serve as arterial routes.

tim333 9y ago

There are a number of ways autonomous could significantly change this including: Platooning https://youtu.be/t9uEPnGI6zA?t=54s https://youtu.be/t9uEPnGI6zA?t=54s Shuttling to and from stations Road pricing to get people to share More road available as there would be less parked cars

randyrand 9y ago

Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wm-pZp_mi0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wm-pZp_mi0