Boy racers cut me up on A303 today

[Alan_uk]

Doing 60mph on A303 where 2 lanes reduces to 1 lane and got over taken by 2 boy racers bumper to bumper almost clipping my wing mirror. Then they cut in right in front of me. Made me think how an autonomous car would handle this. Would the car think that there is now too little distance and slam on the brakes and cause a rear end shunt?

Get home and read that taxi ride company Waymo One in Phoenix is now going autonomous to reduce Covid-19 risk and that GM Cruise has receive the received the greenlight to operate a fleet of true driverless Chevy Bolt EVs. Not too sure how they would cope with UK roads and UK boy racer drivers!

 

[audifan]

This is where a dash cam can be useful. Save the footage and send it into the local constabulary. Most now encourage drivers to submit footage, something about doing there job for them being understaffed. If track and trace is anything to go by I for one will not be travelling in a driverless taxi for many years yet.

 

[Alan_uk]

Yes, must get a dash cam. I agree re not using taxis. The justification for Waymo One going autonomous (vs having a hands-off safety driver) was no risk of C-19 from the driver but it relies on customers wearing masks, using sanitisers etc. so as not to contaminate the vehicle. Unlikely to be 100% compliance,

 

[Phil FSI]

Yes, must get a dash cam. I agree re not using taxis. The justification for Waymo One going autonomous (vs having a hands-off safety driver) was no risk of C-19 from the driver but it relies on customers wearing masks, using sanitisers etc. so as not to contaminate the vehicle. Unlikely to be 100% compliance,

Maybe it flushes itself each time ?

 

[Evripidis]

Doing 60mph on A303 where 2 lanes reduces to 1 lane and got over taken by 2 boy racers bumper to bumper almost clipping my wing mirror. Then they cut in right in front of me. Made me think how an autonomous car would handle this. Would the car think that there is now too little distance and slam on the brakes and cause a rear end shunt?

Get home and read that taxi ride company Waymo One in Phoenix is now going autonomous to reduce Covid-19 risk and that GM Cruise has receive the received the greenlight to operate a fleet of true driverless Chevy Bolt EVs. Not too sure how they would cope with UK roads and UK boy racer drivers!

An everyday phenomenon and not an unusual experience here in the sh**hole that Cyprus is. I thought about getting a helmet/dash cam and posting the comedy/horror on youtube. The 95% is texting while driving during the daytime whereas during the evening they are usually either drunk or under the influence. The kind you are hoping that COVID does take out.

Not a chance with the police either; ain't nobody got time for bad drivers video footage or not!

 

[Kleynie]

I can answer your question. My Macan has active cruise control and lane keeping assist, I can take my hands off the steering wheel for 30 seconds before it starts bonging at me as it assumes I'm asleep. Anyhow, if someone cuts in front of me as suggested above, it does indeed slam the anchors on until a safe distance between my car and the one in front is maintained. Its the one thing I hate about active cruise. I assume this is how an autonomous car would work.

Ian

 

[Guest 4123]

An everyday phenomenon and not an unusual experience here in the sh**hole that Cyprus is.

You should try driving in Russia! Don't! Come to think of it, there are a lot of Russians in Cyprus. Safest way to get around in a Russian city is a bus or trolleybus. You'll see accidents that have just happened, are happening or about to! Taxi drivers are usually drunk, especially at night! My wife got her Russian driving licence without driving on a public road! Her friend on the same course, somehow contrived to fail but passed by bribing the instructor! Standards have since improved, I believe!

RAB

 

[Alan_uk]

I can answer your question. My Macan has active cruise control and lane keeping assist, I can take my hands off the steering wheel for 30 seconds before it starts bonging at me as it assumes I'm asleep. Anyhow, if someone cuts in front of me as suggested above, it does indeed slam the anchors on until a safe distance between my car and the one in front is maintained. Its the one thing I hate about active cruise. I assume this is how an autonomous car would work.
Ian

Thanks Ian for your insight re cruise control behaviour. I read yesterday about the new ID.3 Emergency Assist option:

Emergency Assist –This potentially life-saving feature in the Assistance “Plus” package brakes the car to a standstill if the person behind the ID.3’s steering wheel is no longer capable of doing so. If possible, it also guides the vehicle to the edge of the road. As soon as the sensors detect no steering, braking or acceleration activity, the system activates various escalation stages. Initially, Emergency Assist attempts to alert or wake the driver by steering jerks and, if this fails to generate a response, an emergency stop is initiated. The hazard warning lights are activated automatically and the car completes some minor steering manoeuvres within its lane to draw the attention of other road users to the hazardous situation. ACC prevents collisions with the traffic ahead, while the system brakes the vehicle continuously to a standstill

I'm in two minds about the automation in cars. Full autonomous is OK - I can do something else - but semi autonomous might be both boring and stressful as one has to constantly think "has the computer seen this situation? Will it react? How will it react?" I see the ID.3 as standard automatically brakes for roundabouts and speed limits, not that I noticed it on my test drive.