How will self driving cars handle all of the variations in state driving laws

[DCal430]

Contrary to what many think, there is no uniform traffic law in the U.S, each state has its own traffic laws, and their are can significant differences. Differences such as turning right on a red arrow, wide turns, left passing lanes. These laws can be very different between two States.

From what I have read self driving cars currently can NOT handle these variations, they are programmed for a specific jurisdiction only. So how will this probablem be fixed?.

 

[Homerboy]

I dunno... GPS tells it what state it's in and then it follows that set of rules?
Computers are generally smart...

 

[LikeLinus]

Contrary to what many think, there is no uniform traffic law in the U.S, each state has its own traffic laws, and their are can significant differences. Differences such as turning right on a red arrow, wide turns, left passing lanes. These laws can be very different between two States.

From what I have read self driving cars currently can NOT handle these variations, they are programmed for a specific jurisdiction only. So how will this probablem be fixed?.

A database built into each car that needs to be updated yearly (i.e. like GPS) that holds local traffic laws. It can be wireless in nature and update over your home network. Or they updated it during routine scheduled maintenance.

Really, how hard was that?

 

[soulcougher73]

I don't think we'll see these mainstream. I think it would have to be an all or nothing proposition. 100% all self driving fleet for whole US is probably the only truly safe way to do this.

 

[Homerboy]

I don't think we'll see these mainstream. I think it would have to be an all or nothing proposition. 100% all self driving fleet for whole US is probably the only truly safe way to do this.

I'll take that bet.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I don't think we'll see these mainstream. I think it would have to be an all or nothing proposition. 100% all self driving fleet for whole US is probably the only truly safe way to do this.

That. If self-driving is optional most will pass and little will be accomplished. And trying to make it mandatory would be political suicide. You think going after guns or medicare would be a bad career move? Any lawmaker that tried to legislate away control of our cars would be strung up in the town square 10 seconds later.

 

[Midwayman]

I image there will be a push for standardization to some extent. NHTSA is going to publish guidelines for self driving cars.

 

[Midwayman]

That. If self-driving is optional most will pass and little will be accomplished. And trying to make it mandatory would be political suicide. You think going after guns or medicare would be a bad career move? Any lawmaker that tried to legislate away control of our cars would be strung up in the town square 10 seconds later.

Anyone who wants to drive their own car will be seen as a sociopath within a couple decades of them being released. Same stigma as drunk drivers, etc.

 

[SMOGZINN]

That. If self-driving is optional most will pass and little will be accomplished.

Almost everyone will allow the car to drive itself most of the time.
Think about it, lets say you have a 20 minute commute in the morning. You can either take control of the car and sit in bumper to bumper traffic going 10mph paying attention to the break lights of the car in front of you for 20 minutes, or let the car take over and eat breakfast, do your makeup, take a nap, text your friends, or watch TV for 20 minutes. Which do you think most people will choose?

 

[SMOGZINN]

Anyone who wants to drive their own car will be seen as a sociopath within a couple decades of them being released. Same stigma as drunk drivers, etc.

Right. After all those people let the cars start driving themselves in the morning we will see that traffic accidents, and therefore traffic jams, plummet. Most of traffic is caused by people doing stupid things because they get impatient. A few years of that and people will curse anyone they see driving their own car because they will know that those people are just slowing the rest of us down.

 

[TwiceOver]

Almost everyone will allow the car to drive itself most of the time.
Think about it, lets say you have a 20 minute commute in the morning. You can either take control of the car and sit in bumper to bumper traffic going 10mph paying attention to the break lights of the car in front of you for 20 minutes, or let the car take over and eat breakfast, do your makeup, take a nap, text your friends, or watch TV for 20 minutes. Which do you think most people will choose?

My "commute" is maybe 15 minutes which includes dropping my son off at school. I can't wait for this reality. Everyone gets a little more sleep, less road rage, less accidents. Sounds like heaven.

And when everything is self driving then we can eliminate stop signs and stop lights.

Really hope to see this all in my lifetime.

 

[Markbnj]

From an information architecture perspective the body of driving rules will be more alike than not across the 50 states and Canada, at least, and there will be large areas of commonality with other countries as well, due to the strong similarities in the use cases.

So there could be a core set of rules, and then overlays with specific updates for specific locations. Geofencing is a fairly well-understood problem and the challenge of building a database, geofencing algorithms, and code to select rules based on location are altogether less to overcome than the basic challenges of getting a car to navigate itself safely through the physical world, imo.

 

[Homerboy]

I doubt it will ever (at least not in the foreseeable future) be EVERY car on the road -- you forget about all the people that want to drive their classic cars and/or motorcycles.

But, the "normal" driver will most certainly adapt rather quickly to a self-driving car. Why wouldn't you? If your commute is even 10-15mins, that's time to look at your phone, play a game, read the paper.... whatever. It's like riding the bus (which I do and love for the reasons just stated) but you don't have to sit with the unwashed masses.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Driving laws? That's the very least of the worries.

 

[poofyhairguy]

And trying to make it mandatory would be political suicide.

Quite the opposite.

Major cities in the US (where more and more people are living) are becoming more and more congested with no end in sight. Just building more roads doesn't fix the problem, and even if it did that requires years of planning years ago just to keep up with traffic increases today.

I think soon we will see large cities (and states) do everything they can to smooth out regulatory hurdles to get more self-driving cars before other places do, kinda like how companies that move to a new city/state can get a negotiated tax break for a while for creating jobs.

It will start with self-driving only lanes on the highway, and when those turn out to be WAY more efficient than regular lanes we will see self driving roads. Hopefully by the time I am old driving yourself is a luxury that rich people do on pay-for roads (kind like golf is today).

 

[Carson Dyle]

I think soon we will see large cities (and states) do everything they can to smooth out regulatory hurdles to get more self-driving cars before other places do, kinda like how companies that move to a new city/state can get a negotiated tax break for a while for creating jobs.

It will start with self-driving only lanes on the highway, and when those turn out to be WAY more efficient than regular lanes we will see self driving roads. Hopefully by the time I am old driving yourself is a luxury that rich people do on pay-for roads (kind like golf is today).

Where does the efficiency come from? Self-driving cars can't drive closer together. Their braking distance isn't any shorter. They're likely to be programmed to drive much more conservatively.

That woman who refuses to make a left turn in front of an oncoming car, when there's clearly time? That's a self-driving car. That string of drivers driving the exact speed limit? Self-driving cars. That old guy who takes 1/4 mile slowing down to 5 MPH before making a right turn? Self-driving car.

 

[Homerboy]

Where does the efficiency come from? Self-driving cars can't drive closer together. Their braking distance isn't any shorter. They're likely to be programmed to drive much more conservatively.

That woman who refuses to make a left turn in front of an oncoming car, when there's clearly time? That's a self-driving car. That string of drivers driving the exact speed limit? Self-driving cars. That old guy who takes 1/4 mile slowing down to 5 MPH before making a right turn? Self-driving car.

For starters, and to keep on topic of the OP, every driverless car will be following the EXACT same set of rules. There will be no guessing, no illegal U-Turns, no lane switching without checking a blind spot everything will be on the same level. If everyone is marching to the same drum, then there are less hiccups.

 

[Rakehellion]

Contrary to what many think, there is no uniform traffic law in the U.S, each state has its own traffic laws, and their are can significant differences. Differences such as turning right on a red arrow, wide turns, left passing lanes. These laws can be very different between two States.

From what I have read self driving cars currently can NOT handle these variations, they are programmed for a specific jurisdiction only. So how will this probablem be fixed?.

They would have to get it approved individually for each state, eventually working towards federal guidelines for self-driving cars.

 

[Rakehellion]

I don't think we'll see these mainstream. I think it would have to be an all or nothing proposition. 100% all self driving fleet for whole US is probably the only truly safe way to do this.

They're a lot safer than human drivers so far.

 

[Carson Dyle]

For starters, and to keep on topic of the OP, every driverless car will be following the EXACT same set of rules. There will be no guessing, no illegal U-Turns, no lane switching without checking a blind spot everything will be on the same level. If everyone is marching to the same drum, then there are less hiccups.

Unless they cause accidents, the bending of those rules probably result in much more efficient traffic flow rather than less. If some guy cuts me off to make a turn at 2nd Street, I don't get to 49th Street any slower. On the other hand, if everyone in front of me is travelling the exact speed limit of 40 instead of the usual 50, I'll get their much later.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Where does the efficiency come from?

Fewer wrecks plus no slowdowns for curves in the road or for merging. Everyone driving at 50 is faster than some people going 70 and some people going 40 because they got scared by the guy going 70.

Also you have to assume that self driving cars will know traffic conditions eventually and avoid congestion via an alternate route which leads to higher road utilization. Some humans do a terrible job changing their daily commute even when the situation warrants it.

 

[Carson Dyle]

And what happens in the interim period (of, say, 50 or 100 years) where you have a mix of human and self-driving cars?

 

[K1052]

And what happens in the interim period (of, say, 50 or 100 years) where you have a mix of human and self-driving cars?

There will be fewer dead people?

Also lol @ 100 years.

 

[ControlD]

Quite the opposite.

Major cities in the US (where more and more people are living) are becoming more and more congested with no end in sight. Just building more roads doesn't fix the problem, and even if it did that requires years of planning years ago just to keep up with traffic increases today.

I think soon we will see large cities (and states) do everything they can to smooth out regulatory hurdles to get more self-driving cars before other places do, kinda like how companies that move to a new city/state can get a negotiated tax break for a while for creating jobs.

It will start with self-driving only lanes on the highway, and when those turn out to be WAY more efficient than regular lanes we will see self driving roads. Hopefully by the time I am old driving yourself is a luxury that rich people do on pay-for roads (kind like golf is today).

I bet we STILL see the same pompous left lane living assholes in those lanes too.

 

[Carson Dyle]

There will be fewer dead people?

Also lol @ 100 years.

Having the vast majority of cars on the road self-driving, I can easily see. Removing people who WANT to drive cars, not so much.