Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

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[XAP]Bob
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Re: Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

Post by [XAP]Bob »

I suggest that the recognition of a gap is one thing that computers can do pretty well, and can see when speed is being adjusted, therefore growing a gap. You don't need to rely on vague and/or ambiguous signals - although they can assist, the gap is what is important.

The advantage of not being limited to video, but using detection and ranging, along with doppler shift for speed measurements is that you get many different readings of the vehicle speed and therefore a good approximation of behaviour. And you've been looking at each vehicle in a queue and watching it's response time/style to each movement in the queue.
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
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Thermostat9
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Re: Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

Post by Thermostat9 »

[XAP]Bob wrote:I suggest that the recognition of a gap is one thing that computers can do pretty well, and can see when speed is being adjusted, therefore growing a gap. You don't need to rely on vague and/or ambiguous signals - although they can assist, the gap is what is important.

The advantage of not being limited to video, but using detection and ranging, along with doppler shift for speed measurements is that you get many different readings of the vehicle speed and therefore a good approximation of behaviour. And you've been looking at each vehicle in a queue and watching it's response time/style to each movement in the queue.

Also, presuming the car sensors are suitably configured, then the 'space' often filled by a bicycle or motorcycle and used by drivers who fail to notice them to pull out into, will be reduced to zero. :D
TonyR
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Re: Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

Post by TonyR »

Bonefishblues wrote:Exactly that - it'd be an interesting test case, wouldn't it, as in, "But he/she flashed me to let me out and then ran into me!" versus "I flashed him/her to make them aware of my presence as per the HC because I thought he/she might pull out, but despite this they pulled out and I hit them."


Don't think so. I was taught to ignore such signals because you won't know what they are trying to tell you and the legal onus is on you, the driver, to make sure its safe. The classic which affects us cyclists is the car in the queue that flashes for someone coming the other way to turn right through the queue only for them to find a cyclist or motor cyclist filtering up the inside
Bonefishblues
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Location: Near Bicester Oxon

Re: Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

Post by Bonefishblues »

TonyR wrote:
Bonefishblues wrote:Exactly that - it'd be an interesting test case, wouldn't it, as in, "But he/she flashed me to let me out and then ran into me!" versus "I flashed him/her to make them aware of my presence as per the HC because I thought he/she might pull out, but despite this they pulled out and I hit them."


Don't think so. I was taught to ignore such signals because you won't know what they are trying to tell you and the legal onus is on you, the driver, to make sure its safe. The classic which affects us cyclists is the car in the queue that flashes for someone coming the other way to turn right through the queue only for them to find a cyclist or motor cyclist filtering up the inside

Funnily enough we were debating just these scenarios 30+ years ago as part of my degree. Custom and practice on the roads vs the law vs the Highway Code, and the interplay between the two. I don't remember it being quite so clear cut.
beardy
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Re: Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

Post by beardy »

So you are approaching a junction with a car waiting at it. You let off the accelerator a bit as it is there, just in case it pulls out on you. It detects that and starts to move, so you apply the brakes harder and it thinks "great" plenty of space.
Possibly even another can come out. So rather like some drivers you have to aim at them with all signs of not giving way for anything. Especially on a motorcycle where a bit of hard braking can always have you off.
ANTONISH
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Re: Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

Post by ANTONISH »

Maybe I have missed something or there is something on another thread but I read an article in "The Times" recently describing proposed trials for driverless vehicles.
One of these schemes was for a "Pod" with a speed of 7mph to be trialled in Milton Keynes. It was envisaged that the "Pod" would use the cycle paths :?
I know Milton Keynes was built with an extensive cycle network but I wonder if the paths are wide enough to allow these vehicles to pass each other - or cyclists using the path.
How would priority be established?
pwa
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Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

Post by pwa »

Worry ye not! Driverless vehicles stop when they sense that there is insufficient room to pass safely. They take no chances. On a busy route I would expect one to spend most of its time motionless.
ANTONISH
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Joined: 26 Mar 2009, 9:49am

Re: Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

Post by ANTONISH »

pwa wrote:Worry ye not! Driverless vehicles stop when they sense that there is insufficient room to pass safely. They take no chances. On a busy route I would expect one to spend most of its time motionless.

7mph is a bit optimistic then :)
fluffybunnyuk
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Joined: 1 Sep 2013, 10:58pm

Re: Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

Post by fluffybunnyuk »

lol why would you take a pod at 7mph when you can ride a rusty piece of steel (or nasty cheap aluminium) with 2 wheels significantly faster?
It sounds like reinventing the c5...
ANTONISH
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Joined: 26 Mar 2009, 9:49am

Re: Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

Post by ANTONISH »

fluffybunnyuk wrote:lol why would you take a pod at 7mph when you can ride a rusty piece of steel (or nasty cheap aluminium) with 2 wheels significantly faster?
It sounds like reinventing the c5...

But think of the effort of forcing this contraption along at 7mph :(
Mentioning the C5 - I remember visiting a cycle show a few years ago where the same genius had invented a bicycle with very small wheels. Something like a child's scooter with a drive train and pedals. I asked the enthusiastic young person how it would deal with a pothole :?
Ron
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Re: Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

Post by Ron »

Would there need to be changes in law to restrict pedestrian freedom before these driverless cars come in to general use?
It would appear that militant pedestrians could cross roads where and when they liked and the driverless cars would stop to let them cross safely.
Vorpal
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Re: Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

Post by Vorpal »

Ron wrote:Would there need to be changes in law to restrict pedestrian freedom before these driverless cars come in to general use?
It would appear that militant pedestrians could cross roads where and when they liked and the driverless cars would stop to let them cross safely.

What's wrong with that, and why should we restrict pedestrian freedom to prevent it?
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
Bonefishblues
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Re: Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

Post by Bonefishblues »

Why can't we all just get along :)
irc
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Location: glasgow

Re: Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

Post by irc »

Ron wrote:Would there need to be changes in law to restrict pedestrian freedom before these driverless cars come in to general use?
It would appear that militant pedestrians could cross roads where and when they liked and the driverless cars would stop to let them cross safely.


Like present day Glasgow then. I'm still amazed despite decades living here at peds who walk across busy roads without looking at traffic and just trust that nobody will hit them.
Ron
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Joined: 5 Jan 2007, 9:07pm

Re: Sunday Times: drivers should pass close

Post by Ron »

Vorpal wrote:What's wrong with that, and why should we restrict pedestrian freedom to prevent it?

I'm all in favour of the pendulum swinging in favour of the pedestrian, but just wonder how long pedestrians would continue to use the Highway Code advice, look right look left etc. , once they had discovered the driverless cars would stop to allow them to cross safely.
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