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It seems like the vast majority of collisions with google's AVs are rear-end collisions at intersections. I'm surprised that they haven't put any technology in

It seems like the vast majority of collisions with google's AVs are rear-end collisions at intersections. I'm surprised that they haven't put any technology in place to attempt to avoid, or at least reduce the impact of these collisions. Clearly, predicting the trajectory of other vehicles should be second nature for the AVs. In the video, there appears to be a shoulder with plenty of escape room. Is there any attempt made to un-distract the driver? Flashing brake lights? Horn? The June report from Google (http://www.google.com/selfdrivingcar/reports/ http://www.google.com/selfdrivingcar/reports/) contains some interesting language: "The Google AV had been stopped for about 11 seconds at the time of the impact" The cynic in me thinks they are intentionally avoiding technology to address these types of accidents so that they can unequivocally prove the the AV had no fault (i.e., had been stopped for x seconds).

300bps 11y ago
Is there any attempt made to un-distract the driver? Flashing brake lights? Horn? This sounds too similar to victim blaming. In my opinion any action taken by someone who is about to be hit from behind in a low speed crash is likely to make the problem worse. I don't think that is the time to have a quick jerky motion into the shoulder of the road. Even honking the horn could distract or panic another driver that then causes a crash. To me the solution is to eliminate distracted driving.
- daviddumenil 11y ago
  There's a middle ground here where the car sees it's about to be rear-ended and softens the hold on the brakes just enough to convert some of the impact energy to forward motion. It knows the distance to the car in front and has a good idea of the rear car's speed. The only real variable is the weight of the approaching car but a pessimistic estimate could leave more margin to avoid touching the car in front.
  - thrownaway2424 11y ago
    That's the total opposite of what the car should do if it knows it's going to be rear ended. It should lock the brakes and tension the seat belts.
    - NathanKP 11y ago
      It depends on how fast the incoming car is travelling. If you are about to be rear ended by someone traveling 60 miles an hour (happens sometimes in rural areas where people don't pay attention and are traveling highway speeds on narrow two lane roads), then it would actually be safer to accelerate the car to 30mph and crash into the person in front of you so that it is a 30mph impact to front and 30mph impact to rear rather than a massive 60mph impact to the rear of the car.
      - thrownaway2424 11y ago
        You're demonstrating perfectly the urgent need for self-driving cars.
  - mvid 11y ago
    If this is happening at intersections, releasing the brakes would potentially push your car into oncoming traffic and add a t-bone collision that would not have happened otherwise.
- seszett 11y ago
  You're being way too dismissive here. When stopped in a place other drivers might not expect, just flashing the brake lights does wonders. Probably because human eyes and brains notice change much more readily than a solid light.
  - DanBC 11y ago
    > stopped in a place other drivers might not expect You should expect drivers to stop at intersections. You should normally leave enough space between you and the car in front to avoid rear-end collision, even if that car stops suddenly. And there's already a signal the car in front has slowed - their brake lights come on. (Maybe that's not a US thing though?)
    - seszett 11y ago
      Well, for one people do not expect drivers to stop at a green light, like was the case here. You might wish everybody was well aware of their environment, but the fact is, a green light is a strong signal that makes people assume the other drivers are moving or are going to. The second point is completely off-topic, as the car in question had plenty of space between them and the Google car's rear-end. It just failed to notice it was not moving. The last point is already addressed in my previous comment: a solid brake light is much less noticeable than a brake light coming on. In some countries in Europe it's relatively common to have blinking brake lights, but I don't think that's the case in the US. These points are just basic human behaviour, and they aren't going away, no matter how contemptuous you are and how much you look down on other people.
      - killwhitey 11y ago
        >Well, for one people do not expect drivers to stop at a green light, like was the case here. You might wish everybody was well aware of their environment, but the fact is, a green light is a strong signal that makes people assume the other drivers are moving or are going to. Watch the video. The self-driving car braked because the two cars in front of it did.
kisstheblade 11y ago
When I went to driving school they tought us to leave quite some room in fornt of us when stopiing at lights etc. Then when the other car stops behind you you close the gap (or if the car behind you is going to rear end you you have some escape room, ie. always also check for space to get out of the line.) The point being was that also check for trafic behind you when stopping.

300bps 11y ago

Is there any attempt made to un-distract the driver? Flashing brake lights? Horn? This sounds too similar to victim blaming. In my opinion any action taken by someone who is about to be hit from behind in a low speed crash is likely to make the problem worse. I don't think that is the time to have a quick jerky motion into the shoulder of the road. Even honking the horn could distract or panic another driver that then causes a crash. To me the solution is to eliminate distracted driving.

daviddumenil 11y ago
There's a middle ground here where the car sees it's about to be rear-ended and softens the hold on the brakes just enough to convert some of the impact energy to forward motion. It knows the distance to the car in front and has a good idea of the rear car's speed. The only real variable is the weight of the approaching car but a pessimistic estimate could leave more margin to avoid touching the car in front.
- thrownaway2424 11y ago
  That's the total opposite of what the car should do if it knows it's going to be rear ended. It should lock the brakes and tension the seat belts.
  - NathanKP 11y ago
    It depends on how fast the incoming car is travelling. If you are about to be rear ended by someone traveling 60 miles an hour (happens sometimes in rural areas where people don't pay attention and are traveling highway speeds on narrow two lane roads), then it would actually be safer to accelerate the car to 30mph and crash into the person in front of you so that it is a 30mph impact to front and 30mph impact to rear rather than a massive 60mph impact to the rear of the car.
    - thrownaway2424 11y ago
      You're demonstrating perfectly the urgent need for self-driving cars.
- mvid 11y ago
  If this is happening at intersections, releasing the brakes would potentially push your car into oncoming traffic and add a t-bone collision that would not have happened otherwise.
seszett 11y ago
You're being way too dismissive here. When stopped in a place other drivers might not expect, just flashing the brake lights does wonders. Probably because human eyes and brains notice change much more readily than a solid light.
- DanBC 11y ago
  > stopped in a place other drivers might not expect You should expect drivers to stop at intersections. You should normally leave enough space between you and the car in front to avoid rear-end collision, even if that car stops suddenly. And there's already a signal the car in front has slowed - their brake lights come on. (Maybe that's not a US thing though?)
  - seszett 11y ago
    Well, for one people do not expect drivers to stop at a green light, like was the case here. You might wish everybody was well aware of their environment, but the fact is, a green light is a strong signal that makes people assume the other drivers are moving or are going to. The second point is completely off-topic, as the car in question had plenty of space between them and the Google car's rear-end. It just failed to notice it was not moving. The last point is already addressed in my previous comment: a solid brake light is much less noticeable than a brake light coming on. In some countries in Europe it's relatively common to have blinking brake lights, but I don't think that's the case in the US. These points are just basic human behaviour, and they aren't going away, no matter how contemptuous you are and how much you look down on other people.
    - killwhitey 11y ago
      >Well, for one people do not expect drivers to stop at a green light, like was the case here. You might wish everybody was well aware of their environment, but the fact is, a green light is a strong signal that makes people assume the other drivers are moving or are going to. Watch the video. The self-driving car braked because the two cars in front of it did.

kisstheblade 11y ago

When I went to driving school they tought us to leave quite some room in fornt of us when stopiing at lights etc. Then when the other car stops behind you you close the gap (or if the car behind you is going to rear end you you have some escape room, ie. always also check for space to get out of the line.) The point being was that also check for trafic behind you when stopping.