6 ms·

Reducing speed is great, but isn't a swerve called for in that situation?

by TurdF3rguson 9mo ago

0xDEFACED 9mo ago
not if the swerve would put you headlong into oncoming traffic
- TurdF3rguson 9mo ago
  It wouldn't be headlong, possibly sidelong though. Seems worth it to save a kid, no?
  - dekhn 9mo ago
    neither cars nor humans are expected to solve trolley problems during real-time incidents.
    - mothballed 9mo ago
      Cars, no, but truckers have been damned for not just sacrificing themselves when their brakes failed. There was a recent incident where a truck had its brakes fail on its way into Denver from the Rockies and killed several people. They should have taken an off ramp, but IIRC, both in public opinion and in court it was argued that failing that they should have just committed suicide by going off the road before they hit a family.
      - unsnap_biceps 9mo ago
        There's a difference in expectation between the reactions of a person that has under 10 seconds to react and a truck driver that had minutes of time to plan, including bypassing an emergency ramp designed specifically for runaway trucks. After passing the Genesee exit, Aguilera Mederos's truck began to smoke as he passed a runaway truck ramp, without taking it, and instead drifted into the left lane nearly clipping a white Chevy Silverado, and passed the next exit as well. For the next few minutes, Aguilera Mederos reached speeds upwards of 100 miles per hour (161 km/h)[6] and passed the next four exits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Lakewood_semi-truck_crash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Lakewood_semi-truck_crash
      - TurdF3rguson 9mo ago
        An AI driver would have done it, that's one point for autonomous driving.
      - dekhn 9mo ago
        I'm not sure how that's relevant to the discussion. it sounds like there were a lot of heated emotions going around in that court case. (I try not to pay close attention to lawyer's arguments when they are histrionic)
unsnap_biceps 9mo ago
Do we know if there was space to swerve? I'm wondering if there was a vehicle next to the car, would swerving into it help slow down the Waymo or would it cause lose of breaking power and end up hitting the person at a faster speed?
- TurdF3rguson 9mo ago
  A human doesn't have time to consider all that, it just seems to me that the instinctual move is to swerve. Hopefully the other cars are paying attention and swerve too.

Reducing speed is great, but isn't a swerve called for in that situation?

0xDEFACED 9mo ago

not if the swerve would put you headlong into oncoming traffic

TurdF3rguson 9mo ago
It wouldn't be headlong, possibly sidelong though. Seems worth it to save a kid, no?
- dekhn 9mo ago
  neither cars nor humans are expected to solve trolley problems during real-time incidents.
  - mothballed 9mo ago
    Cars, no, but truckers have been damned for not just sacrificing themselves when their brakes failed. There was a recent incident where a truck had its brakes fail on its way into Denver from the Rockies and killed several people. They should have taken an off ramp, but IIRC, both in public opinion and in court it was argued that failing that they should have just committed suicide by going off the road before they hit a family.
    - unsnap_biceps 9mo ago
      There's a difference in expectation between the reactions of a person that has under 10 seconds to react and a truck driver that had minutes of time to plan, including bypassing an emergency ramp designed specifically for runaway trucks. After passing the Genesee exit, Aguilera Mederos's truck began to smoke as he passed a runaway truck ramp, without taking it, and instead drifted into the left lane nearly clipping a white Chevy Silverado, and passed the next exit as well. For the next few minutes, Aguilera Mederos reached speeds upwards of 100 miles per hour (161 km/h)[6] and passed the next four exits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Lakewood_semi-truck_crash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Lakewood_semi-truck_crash
    - TurdF3rguson 9mo ago
      An AI driver would have done it, that's one point for autonomous driving.
    - dekhn 9mo ago
      I'm not sure how that's relevant to the discussion. it sounds like there were a lot of heated emotions going around in that court case. (I try not to pay close attention to lawyer's arguments when they are histrionic)

unsnap_biceps 9mo ago

Do we know if there was space to swerve? I'm wondering if there was a vehicle next to the car, would swerving into it help slow down the Waymo or would it cause lose of breaking power and end up hitting the person at a faster speed?

TurdF3rguson 9mo ago
A human doesn't have time to consider all that, it just seems to me that the instinctual move is to swerve. Hopefully the other cars are paying attention and swerve too.