Seems a shame to go for this so shortly after the increase in illegality of mobile use. Maybe install the is-the-driver-awake-and-paying-attention systems alongside it if it takes so long for drivers to re-engage.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
Driverless cars (and buses)
(113 posts)-
Posted 3 years ago #
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Apparent "progress"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53830947
Seems that the ALKS system will be restricted (how? presumably some kind of geofence) to the motorway network but at a maximum of 60 km/h. Traffic jam automation system?
A bit more detail here:
Anyway, assuming (and it's quite a big assumption) the motorway-only restriction works/is obeyed, cyclists have little to fear. For now at least...
Posted 3 years ago # -
Anyway, assuming (and it's quite a big assumption) the motorway-only restriction works/is obeyed, cyclists have little to fear. For now at least...
I fear automated driving far less than human drivers. There may be instances where robot's may not see you but at least they are looking for you. Robots also know their own limits better than humans.
The rare occasions (I can think of 1) where a cyclist has been killed by a robot driver are dwarfed by the regular instances where drivers have killed through a combination of malice and lack of care. The one instance I can think of also had lack of human attention as a factor. The majority of people using Tesla's in a deadly fashion seem to only manage to kill the cars occupants.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Worth remembering:
Automated driving can *never* work in a city. Because driving in a city *requires* that drivers intimidate pedestrians and cyclists out of the carriageway.
Otherwise, knowing that an automated vehicle would always have to act safely and stop for them, pedestrians would simply cross at will, or occupy the carriageway. Same for cyclists.
(I'd like to believe it wouldn't be socially acceptable to create an autonomous vehicle that will knowingly put pedestrians in danger to "keep them out of the way")
The only way round this I can imagine, is that autonomous vehicles carry water-cannon to shoe pedestrians out of the way - which I can also imagine would be met with a riot.
Posted 3 years ago # -
@acsimpson
There was a cyclist killed by a Tesla somewhere in England not that long ago. The Tesla (or driver) failed to deviate from the line of the carriageway when passing the cyclist.
*No* disclosure by the Police or Tesla* (AFAIK) was made as to whether the Tesla was in "autonomous" driving mode or not.
*Tesla can upload records of all driving behaviour of their cars, including whether is was acting autonomously or not.
Posted 3 years ago # -
My concern around semi-automated driving is in its tendency to be an aid to driver distraction.
As others have pointed out, imbecility behind the wheel is commonplace. Nothing should be done to normalize or enable further imbecility.
Hence why I am keen that whatever mechanism they have in place to confine the use of this technology to low speed motorway use actually works.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Also, if they're really that keen on automated tech for safety reasons, why not mandate tech that we already have, like intelligent speed limiters?
Or: as MediumD rightly points out, maybe this is more about allowing drivers to sleep / "fart about" while driving (at least one case of a Tesla driving through an entire American city with the whole family asleep, including the driver)
Posted 3 years ago # -
The "concerns" 'reported' there consisting of four high-scoring gammon-bingo posts on Facebook (e.g. "cyclists who pay no attentions to rules of the road" and "Lycra brigade cyclists*"). And by putting those ahead of the more factual content of the article, they give them undue prominence.
What a depressing rag the Express is.
* Have these people ever looked at cyclists in Cambridge? The majority are students on their way to and from lectures and the like, wearing generic student scruffs.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Perhaps written by an Oxford graduate...
Posted 2 years ago # -
“
Stagecoach have revealed a first glimpse of the UK’s first full-sized autonomous buses which will likely start operating in Scotland in early summer 2022.
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Posted 2 years ago # -
“
Users of self-driving cars should have immunity from a wide range of motoring offences, including dangerous driving, speeding and jumping red lights, Britain’s law commissions have jointly recommended.
The Law Commission for England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission propose creation of an Automated Vehicles Act to reflect the “profound legal consequences” of self-driving cars. The person in the driving seat would no longer responsible for how the car drives; instead, the company or body that obtained authorisation for the self-driving vehicle would face regulatory sanctions if anything went wrong.
“
Posted 2 years ago # -
Yes, we should hold manufacturers responsible for *every* crash, regardless of whether the vehicle was self-driving or not. That'd soon put a stop to 170mph, 0-60 in 3 seconds supercars in our towns and cities
Posted 2 years ago # -
Posted 1 year ago #
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“
At the Tory party conference this week, Ben Houchen, the influential Conservative mayor of the Tees Valley, called for an end to the “villainisation” of car drivers and suggested that within 20 years we may not need trains and buses because of driverless cars.
“
Posted 1 year ago # -
Posted 1 year ago #
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Of course it's easy to blame the malfunction of the technology - the TESLA shouldn't have stopped for no reason, granted.
That said, if *all* of the cars had been self driving would there have been a pile up because of a single car malfunctioning? Probably not.
If anything the incident shows humans inability to be risk aware and leave enough space in front of themselves to stop in an emergency.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Agreed. The first car behind the Tesla managed to stop OK. That's just crap driving from the following cars, not paying attention and driving too close to the car in front.
American drivers are terrible for tailgating. It's like no one has taught them the two-second rule, "only a fool breaks the two second rule!"
Posted 1 year ago # -
American drivers are terrible for tailgating.
The gaps between vehicles in the video wouldn't have been at all out of place on the bypass or the M8, to be fair.
Posted 1 year ago # -
The way I read the videos Vehicle 2 definitely hit the Tesla as the back of it lifts into the air. Driver 2 was maintaining distance until the Tesla swerved in front of it after starting breaking, The tesla was indicating though so perhaps driver 2 should have slowed earlier. Driver 3 then manages to break in time. The pickup truck driver (4) looks like they will stop in time but driver 5 is driving blind as they are so close to a larger vehicle so rear ends them.
Driver 8 is the strangest one. They leave lots of space and appear to break in plenty of time but don't slow down quickly enough and ended up imitating a robot wars wedge.Posted 1 year ago # -
Driver 8 is the strangest one. They leave lots of space
I make it about a 1s gap to the car in front.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Yeah, on review it's closer than it should be and perhaps only a fraction of a second more than the two in front. Any of those who had been looking further up the road than the car in front should have been able to react in my opinion. 5 is driving recklessly though, I doubt they could see anything other than the pickup.
Posted 1 year ago # -
“
The technology allows for vehicles to be controlled remotely, potentially in public spaces. There is currently no UK law for a driver to be in the vehicle they are controlling.
The commission said “difficulties in enforcement” meant remote driving from overseas should be prohibited “until appropriate international agreements are in place”.
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Posted 1 year ago #
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