4 ms·

There is though: there is no speed limit on German Autobahns

TkTech 12y ago
This doesn't matter at all to Google's cars. They are designed to ignore the speedlimit in favour of the real speed of traffic around it[1], as it has been proven to be far safer than slowing down. It's currently caped at 16km/h over but this is an arbitrary limit. 1: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28851996 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28851996
- lttlrck 12y ago
  It must matter when there are only Google cars present.
  - pests 12y ago
    That is actually a pretty interesting point you've made.
    - mikeash 12y ago
      Yeah, it's a good one to think about. I imagine massive swings in traffic speed with a frequency of a few minutes as the cars get into various interesting feedback loops.
arrrg 12y ago
The only hard part about that is avoiding cars coming at high speeds from behind. (Though usually these people will be used to slowing down and they actually have to slow down if the car in front of them is legitimately overtaking another one The main responsibility to keep everyone save lies with the fast driving car on the left lane and with cars changing lanes to insure that they are not blocking someone else. Since autonomous cars have no blind spot and should be quite good at estimating distance and speed, presumably better than humans, that should really not be an issue.) It's not as though you have to drive fast. Most people actually don't drive super fast, they stick to 130 to 160 km/h. You will only occasionally encounter someone going way beyond that. Just because there's no limit doesn't mean people drive at speeds they are uncomfortable with … extended periods at 160 or beyond make me queasy and I tend to stick to 140 or so. That also gets better mileage.
this_user 12y ago
There is no general speed limit but most portions do actually have specific limits.
- joezydeco 12y ago
  And it's dynamic. Portions will switch from unlimited to limited speed based on weather, construction, or accidents far ahead, giving everyone time to slow down and merge away from a blocked lane. And drivers actually follow the signs. As an American driver it's an amazing thing to see.
  - Argorak 12y ago
    > And drivers actually follow the signs. As an American driver it's an amazing thing to see. Speed control flashes are a common sight :).
    - joezydeco 12y ago
      You mean the ones that result in a ticket being sent to the rental car agency in the driver's name? Never heard of them. =)

This doesn't matter at all to Google's cars. They are designed to ignore the speedlimit in favour of the real speed of traffic around it[1], as it has been proven to be far safer than slowing down. It's currently caped at 16km/h over but this is an arbitrary limit. 1: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28851996 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28851996

lttlrck 12y ago
It must matter when there are only Google cars present.
- pests 12y ago
  That is actually a pretty interesting point you've made.
  - mikeash 12y ago
    Yeah, it's a good one to think about. I imagine massive swings in traffic speed with a frequency of a few minutes as the cars get into various interesting feedback loops.

arrrg 12y ago

The only hard part about that is avoiding cars coming at high speeds from behind. (Though usually these people will be used to slowing down and they actually have to slow down if the car in front of them is legitimately overtaking another one The main responsibility to keep everyone save lies with the fast driving car on the left lane and with cars changing lanes to insure that they are not blocking someone else. Since autonomous cars have no blind spot and should be quite good at estimating distance and speed, presumably better than humans, that should really not be an issue.) It's not as though you have to drive fast. Most people actually don't drive super fast, they stick to 130 to 160 km/h. You will only occasionally encounter someone going way beyond that. Just because there's no limit doesn't mean people drive at speeds they are uncomfortable with … extended periods at 160 or beyond make me queasy and I tend to stick to 140 or so. That also gets better mileage.

this_user 12y ago

There is no general speed limit but most portions do actually have specific limits.

joezydeco 12y ago
And it's dynamic. Portions will switch from unlimited to limited speed based on weather, construction, or accidents far ahead, giving everyone time to slow down and merge away from a blocked lane. And drivers actually follow the signs. As an American driver it's an amazing thing to see.
- Argorak 12y ago
  > And drivers actually follow the signs. As an American driver it's an amazing thing to see. Speed control flashes are a common sight :).
  - joezydeco 12y ago
    You mean the ones that result in a ticket being sent to the rental car agency in the driver's name? Never heard of them. =)