Humans Are Slamming Into Driverless Cars and Exposing a Key Flaw

[MongGrel]

The Tesla thread relates a bit of course.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2451290

 

[Fenixgoon]

one thing that i'm curious about is how autonomous vehicles will handle traffic jams. i think it was the washington post that had an article within the last 2 weeks discussing what an autonomous vehicle would have to do if they hopped on to 395 in DC and then had to get off at an exit a few hundred yards down on the left lane, 3 lanes over. that's not a lot of time and space.

of course, the logic there is that you *have* to make the exit, which most people subscribe to. instead of passing the exit and taking the next available one in order to make safer traffic maneuvers.

i see it all the time. hell, i saw it today when a van missed an onramp but decided it would be a great idea to try and merge from 0mph with traffic that's 60+. and the van was at a ~45degree angle relative to traffic. i honked at that dumbass driver fo sho since there's another ramp within a mile.

 

[Subyman]

Technically it may not be the autonomous car's fault, but if the car was driven by a human then the accidents would be avoided because of the major behavioral difference. A common accident is when the autonomous car stops in the middle of a turn. Think about someone making a right hand turn off of a highway. Most human drivers slow down enough for the person to make it off the road, but if that person making the turn hits the brakes and comes to a complete stop then it would absolutely cause a lot of crashes over a period of time. Going 10mph under the speed limit all the time is a recipe for causing crashes. Having an incident level of twice a normal human means the autonomous car is to blame.

They have a major flow problem.

 

[bradly1101]

one thing that i'm curious about is how autonomous vehicles will handle traffic jams. i think it was the washington post that had an article within the last 2 weeks discussing what an autonomous vehicle would have to do if they hopped on to 395 in DC and then had to get off at an exit a few hundred yards down on the left lane, 3 lanes over. that's not a lot of time and space.

of course, the logic there is that you *have* to make the exit, which most people subscribe to. instead of passing the exit and taking the next available one in order to make safer traffic maneuvers.

i see it all the time. hell, i saw it today when a van missed an onramp but decided it would be a great idea to try and merge from 0mph with traffic that's 60+. and the van was at a ~45degree angle relative to traffic. i honked at that dumbass driver fo sho since there's another ramp within a mile.

I see that all the time here in freeway-land. Better to be dead than miss the exit!

 

[Shlong]

This will never work unless ALL vehicles are driverless and talking to each other.

Well, it'll still work better than having error prone humans at the wheel. Perhaps there will be a quick mass adoption like going from 480i/480p to HDTV.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Well, it'll still work better than having error prone humans at the wheel. Perhaps there will be a quick mass adoption like going from 480i/480p to HDTV.

I for one will not be adopting them.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I for one will not be adopting them.

x2

There is a reason I have a Camaro and not a mundane econobox like a Corolla!

 

[Shlong]

x2

There is a reason I have a Camaro and not a mundane econobox like a Corolla!

I will since my daily commute is 40 miles of dreaded traffic but I can always buy a second car "as my joy ride."

 

[Zodiark1593]

x2

There is a reason I have a Camaro and not a mundane econobox like a Corolla!

My '98 turbo wagon (Volvo V70 GLT) stomps a lot of Corollas out there. :sneaky: