4 ms·
If we can get fully autonomous public transit by driving slower, but it eliminates traffic, I think that is an absolute win.
by honkycat 2y ago
If we can get fully autonomous public transit by driving slower, but it eliminates traffic, I think that is an absolute win.
- panick21_ 2y agoThe idea that autonomous cars lead to no traffic is delusional.
- xnx 2y agoTraffic barely matters when you don't have to drive. Most traffic is caused by human behavior: running lights, rubbernecking, shockwaves, not noticing when a light changes (too busy looking at phone) etc.
- lobsterthief 2y agoMaybe that’s true where you live but not where I do. A big part of traffic around here is caused by the pure number of vehicles being routed through intersections via traffic signals. Human behavior has little impact there.
- xnx 2y agoTraffic signals are one of the areas where human drivers add the most delay. I've definitely been in situations where each car takes 3 additional seconds to notice that a light has changed, and cars continue to run the light (e.g. making left turns) long after it has changed. I'm too lazy to run the simulation (https://traffic-simulation.de/intersection.html https://traffic-simulation.de/intersection.html), but I'm guessing throughput is much better when every driver is obey the rules and paying total perfect attention.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Cpoll 2y agoI wonder about this. Certainly this is true about the current state of autonomous cars, but... Hypothetically, if all the cars are synced, you eliminate certain congestion effects. E.g. traffic congestion travels backwards like a wave. But if all cars stop and start in unison, that's eliminated. Likewise, synchronized cars can drive closer to each other, merge more efficiently, and reserve alternate routes.
- xnx 2y agoIt's nothing but a dream for now, but in a distant future, self-driving cars wouldn't need to obey any human traffic controls because they could seamlessly weave through intersecting traffic.
- c22 2y agoA dream for pedestrians...
- xnx 2y agoI'm guessing you're being sarcastic, but as someone who primarily walks and bikes it absolutely is my dream. Self-driving vehicles will obey all traffic laws, have super-human attention and focus, show absolute deference toward vulnerable road users, never road-rage, never "roll coal", and will probably honk only in the most unusual of circumstances.
- c22 2y agoI was being sarcastic. Perhaps in the future I'll have enough trust in autonomous digital systems (and their designers) to close my eyes and walk across a street while high-speed traffic seamlessly weaves around me, but the sum of my experiences to date don't give me confidence that these sorts of systems wont occasionally fail in extremely catastrophic ways. At least when I cross in front of a human driver I can ensure that they're looking me in the eye while they run me over.
- 2y ago
- dyauspitr 2y agoThere will be traffic due to obstructions but it has been shown in many studies that even unobstructed traffic will result in traffic jams. The latter will absolutely be resolved with autonomous cars.
- c22 2y agoIf autonomous cars reduce traffic-light response from 3s to 3ms there may be some temporary improvement. But a 3ms delay is still a delay and as traffic speeds and volume increase this delay will again become problematic. The realities of physics ensure that there will always be a delay and it will always lead to congestion as the pipe fills. We route internet packets at around the speed of light and still experience traffic congestion on those networks.
- dyauspitr 2y agoMany things in life have a threshold beyond which they become a problem and 3ms might be good enough (most probably) to not hit it.