3 ms·
If cars could talk to each other you'll get better utilization of the road because you could cut follow distance to a few feet.
by adrr 4y ago
If cars could talk to each other you'll get better utilization of the road because you could cut follow distance to a few feet.
- isquaredr 4y agoSounds good in theory. I’m not optimistic about all the car makers cooperating on an industry standard, though. Plus the failure scenario seems pretty catastrophic to overall throughput. I hope some bright thinker figures those problems out; it does seem like a great opportunity
- tshaddox 4y agoIt doesn't seem like you'd need an "industry standard" beyond the actual rules of the road. In the same way that normal human-operated cars with better visibility can change lanes on the highway more safely and efficiently, any improvements in sensor ability, reaction times, etc. in self-driving cars (and even automatic safety features for human-operated cars) should make traffic safer and more efficient.
- ntr-- 4y agowhat do the actual rules of the road say the braking point should be for an 8 person minivan with 5 passengers in dry weather? what about 8 passengers in the wet at night with ice on the roads? old argument i know, but if a human gets that wrong and plows a pedestrian they wear the consequences, will an auto manufacturer do the same? my guess is no, and the result of that is that even if we can get a majority of cars to be self driving they are probably not going to be pushing the limits of road capacity any time soon like GP suggests, more likely they will continue to drive super conservatively and fail fast like the videos in the linked article.
- Gordonjcp 4y agoNo, because physics is not affected.
- adrr 4y agoInstant reaction time to what the car is doing in front of you. What physics are you talking about?
- kryptiskt 4y agoSay the car in front of you runs into a stationary object, or something travelling the other way. Instant reaction time wont help as there is no way to decelerate as fast as a colliding car.
- adrr 4y agoStationary object? Like a tree or a light pole?
- Gordonjcp 4y agoMore like a Tesla that randomly freaks out and emergency brakes to a dead stop in the middle of 70mph traffic for absolutely no reason at all. As happens surprisingly frequently.
- adrr 4y agoWouldn't the car in front detect the stopped tesla, the lead car would hit the brakes and the cars behind it would hit their brakes at the exact same time?