3 ms·

Here's the semi-annual reminder to everyone that you are probably following too closely, and this is exactly why you shouldn't. The rule of thumb is that you w

Here's the semi-annual reminder to everyone that you are probably following too closely, and this is exactly why you shouldn't. The rule of thumb is that you want 3-4 seconds between cars, which at highway speeds is 80-100 meters or yards. Yes, almost no one leaves that much room. That's part of why so many accidents happen. It's easy for you to do better.

Swizec 6y ago
I leave plenty of space for this exact reason. Doubly important on a motorcycle because we have less grip. My point was more that the gif looks choppy and I don’t think that’s how the car actually drives. Imagine being a passenger in a car that brakes hard and accelerates every 2 meters while approaching an intersection.
- jeffbee 6y ago
  Waymo does not drive like that. It's smooth, actually. Watch this guy's channel for daily videos of how the driver behaves in practice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq-QndXs-nI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq-QndXs-nI
  - saalweachter 6y ago
    Worth noting these are also animations of exceptional circumstances. There's that little qualifier that "in the vast majority of events" it drove smoothly while avoiding the simulated fatal crash. Now ideally, they'll be able to iterate to go from "vast majority" to "all" ... but if my future self-driving car drives smoothly most of the time, but I occasionally experience it braking suddenly or swerving without warning, and it is avoiding a fatal crash by doing so, I'm not going to complain. Of course, if it periodically slams on the brakes because an empty plastic bag blows into the road or some other false positive for a potentially fatal collision ... I'n a little curious what the acceptable false positive rate is on potentially fatal car crashes. Would I (or others) accept 10 random brakings per necessary braking? More, less?
ufmace 6y ago
Maybe not so easy. In my experience, in any even moderately heavy traffic, if you try to stay that far behind anyone, then other cars will constantly move into that empty space.
- tonyedgecombe 6y ago
  That's fine.
Bancakes 6y ago
"We suck at driving, you should compensate." Nope. It's normal to expect technology to outdrive humans, not struggle to reach us.

Swizec 6y ago

I leave plenty of space for this exact reason. Doubly important on a motorcycle because we have less grip. My point was more that the gif looks choppy and I don’t think that’s how the car actually drives. Imagine being a passenger in a car that brakes hard and accelerates every 2 meters while approaching an intersection.

jeffbee 6y ago
Waymo does not drive like that. It's smooth, actually. Watch this guy's channel for daily videos of how the driver behaves in practice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq-QndXs-nI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq-QndXs-nI
- saalweachter 6y ago
  Worth noting these are also animations of exceptional circumstances. There's that little qualifier that "in the vast majority of events" it drove smoothly while avoiding the simulated fatal crash. Now ideally, they'll be able to iterate to go from "vast majority" to "all" ... but if my future self-driving car drives smoothly most of the time, but I occasionally experience it braking suddenly or swerving without warning, and it is avoiding a fatal crash by doing so, I'm not going to complain. Of course, if it periodically slams on the brakes because an empty plastic bag blows into the road or some other false positive for a potentially fatal collision ... I'n a little curious what the acceptable false positive rate is on potentially fatal car crashes. Would I (or others) accept 10 random brakings per necessary braking? More, less?

ufmace 6y ago

Maybe not so easy. In my experience, in any even moderately heavy traffic, if you try to stay that far behind anyone, then other cars will constantly move into that empty space.

tonyedgecombe 6y ago
That's fine.

Bancakes 6y ago

"We suck at driving, you should compensate." Nope. It's normal to expect technology to outdrive humans, not struggle to reach us.