[OP]
Contributor
Cars with self driving should react faster to the car ahead braking. So do they still follow the following distance rules recommended for humans. Like one car length for every ten miles per hour etc. Or because they are so much better drivers do they just tailgate as close as possible and annoy the human drivers in front of them.
Bill D
Moderator
You can set the following distance.
Contributor
And my guess is, if you set it too close, the system will override your input and keep a safe distance.Originally Posted by Prashun Patel
Contributor
My brother is (was) a sports car enthusiast. He had several little light cars: MG midget and B, Lotus Europa, Sabb Sonnet, various Triumphs, VW Karman Ghia, ... He used to love to get behind a semi real close and let it pull us along. I was often his passenger. I still get the hebbie jeebies when I approach a semi and remember those rides. I have accidentally gotten into the bubble behind a semi in the Prius. It drafts almost as well as the Sabb and the Lotus. Most semi's have cameras in the back these days.
Last edited by Maurice Mcmurry; 10-23-2023 at 6:01 PM.
Contributor
You can set the following distance, but at least the Tesla Autopilot (glorified TACC, not FSD) won't let you get as close as is normal practice in Boston traffic. You can spot the guys using self driving, they have a stream of cars cutting in front of them because of the gigantic space left open. I think the closest setting approximates the one car length per 10 mph rule.
Contributor
Boston and its outskirts is where I became re-familiarized with drafting. Every one going 80 MPH or more. Re-familiarized against my will. It is impossible to keep space open in front in Boston traffic. I don't like it.
Last edited by Maurice Mcmurry; 10-24-2023 at 8:52 AM.
Best Regards, Maurice
Member
Hondas allow you to set the follow distance.
Networked caravanning could save upwards of 40% if the vehicle in front has a large frontal surface area. All vehicles would act as one braking at the same time (within the latency specs of connection) since they are networked together. Under most circumstances, the savings would be 25-30% with improved safety over the typical driver. The more cars and the more time the caravan stays intact, the better the overall efficiency of all vehicles within the caravan.
Contributor
I haven't heard the "one car length of every ten MPH" in a long time. Most people are better at counting of two seconds (or three) than the are at judging distance.
It is likely if the self driving cars followed too close there would be a lot of opportunists exploiting this to create income from law suits.
In San Francisco protesters are disabling the driverless cars > https://www.npr.org/2023/08/28/11962...riverless-cars
jtk
Last edited by Jim Koepke; 10-23-2023 at 10:09 PM.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
Not sure I follow your logic here.
Contributor
Thats a spooky and intriguing news story. I have a friend who's job includes being a member of the NPR staff. I trust her.
Last edited by Jim Becker; 10-24-2023 at 4:17 PM. Reason: fixed quote tagging
Best Regards, Maurice
Member
That is a funny story! I suspected they were going to surround the car with cones but one cone does the trick. I'm guessing it messes with their lane departure cameras like those that sometimes have to be recalibrated after windshield replacement.
Member
In a networked caravan, if your network isn't known to be up to snuff, you can't join the party. You'll have to wait to join another one that more closely matches your network parameters. If you have low latency, you can afford closer following distances and achieve higher efficiency. As your latency increases, you have to increase following distance and lose efficiency. At some point, you won't be allowed to caravan until you fix your network issue.
[OP]
Contributor
Several decades ago San Francisco got some new trolley busses. teen age gangs soon found they had big off switches on the side behind a unlocked door. They would run out at a stop and switch off the bus. Then they climb aboard and rob all the folks on board. The Muni system soon added a lock to that access door.
Bill D
Contributor
Some opportunist might "allow" (or cause) a rear ender by a driverless car in the hopes of collecting a nice settlement.
Surely the lawyers at the companies trying to get more driverless cars out on the streets have explained this to the designers.
I moved away from the San Francisco area 15 years ago and I still get news alerts when a driverless car has a problem on the streets of San Francisco.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
I guess some idiots might try that but realistically you probably have a greater chance of ending up with long term pain than big money. I know a few people who have been involved in relatively minor accidents and spent years taking physiotherapy to fully recover. None of them got big payouts but of course our legal system probably isn't as easily abused. Plus I'd be willing to bet self driving cars are full of cameras and sensors that could be used to prove what really happened or better yet avoid the accident. If you wanted to try getting rear ended so you could sue you'd be better off looking for someone texting than looking for a driverless car.
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