View Single Post
Old 01-27-2018, 11:37 PM   #37 (permalink)
Hersbird
Master EcoModder
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Missoula, MT
Posts: 2,653

Dark Egg - '12 VW Touraeg
Thanks: 301
Thanked 1,177 Times in 807 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5 View Post
Exactly my thoughts Red.

In my travels to Montana a couple weeks ago, a deer off the road to my right, facing away from me caught my attention at dusk.

My reaction was to begin slowing down and check the other side of the road since they usually are found in herds. Sure enough, another deer jumped onto the road and stopped in front of me. I applied maximum braking, slightly screeching the tires, and must have stopped just inches from the deer.

Automated systems can view in 360 degrees, not grow sleepy, lose focus, and respond in fractions of a second. A good automated system would have identified the deer in the low light well before I could perceive it and more gradually slow down. Had someone been tailgating me, they would have hit me for sure... unless they had automated braking that can react in milliseconds.
I think you did better than a computer could have. The computer won't be able to tell a deer from a cow say, or even some mailboxes for that matter. So those other things won't jump out in front of you, but the others are more common. Is it going to slam on the brakes for a mailbox on a sawhorse, or everytime you go past a pedestrian? Like you said, you saw one and got ready for more, a computer will never be able to do that effectively. How many other places do you become aware of potential problems before they happen? I remember watching the video where a self driving Tesla avoided a crash on a merge situation with a massive last minute brake event. They put it up as a win, but I could see what was happening 10 seconds before the Tesla did and a simple lift off the throttle would have avoided braking at all. My wife sometimes freaks out a bit while I'm driving and somebody cuts us off. I always tell her to relax, I could see that coming 3 cars back and I gave them just enough room to be an idiot.
  Reply With Quote