Autonomous Vehicles

[jfkbengals]

(04-19-2018, 08:27 AM)Au165 Wrote: A computer with high speed processing powers and 20+ sensors is more likely to react correctly to humans being unpredictable than other humans are for a variety of reasons. Computer don't fatigue as humans do, they don't get distracted, they have more information to make decisions with at any given time. Let's say you are coming over a hill at 45 MPH and there is something in the road. At 45 MPH you'll need about 196 feet to stop if you make the decision when you see it, however a computer would only need roughly 130 feet to stop if the correct course of action is in fact to stop. 

Let's change the scenario and say the correct course of action is to swerve because the object is coming at you now. A human within a second has to decide left or right and how hard to swerve to miss the object as well as maintain control without hitting anyone else. The issue is there is no time to check both left and right of you and to calculate this, so people's general reaction is to swerve to the right. An autonomous car with it's complete 360 degree sensing network can know all obstacles around it and then choose the most favorable action based on having all info infinitely quicker than a human could compile it.

I think mixing autonomous cars into our current roadway system as soon as possible is the best possible solution. By mixing in rolling computers that can make better, more calculated, decisions while avoiding fatigue and distractions that lead to most vehicular accidents I think we can see the number of roadway fatalities drop quickly.

I don't disagree with your statements.

Where I was coming from is the concept that the computerized vehicles will most likely have the ability to communicate amongst each other, integrating the destinations and routes of other vehicles into their own navigation plan to keep vehicles flowing at the highest rate with the lowest amount of congestion.  This could easily mean scenarios where four or more vehicles are changing lanes and re-ordering their layout on the road with only a few inches of space amongst them, all happening at an instant.

But then there is that jackass that we all have to deal with from time to time on the road who decides he/she can't be behind or around those vehicles, and thus is going to try and find a way to cut through those vehicles, in the process causing a pile up that brings traffic to a stand still.  Just like the good ol' days of non-autonomous vehicles.

In other words, humans will screw up the efficiency and safety factor if allowed to share the roadways with them, so they really need to be free from human intervention to really shine.