Watch just a few self-driving cars stop traffic jams

Anyone can start a traffic jam—all it takes is tapping on your brakes. The driver behind you will brake, as will the next driver, starting a shock wave of stop-and-go reactions that can travel backward for kilometers. Now, scientists have shown that a few self-driving cars can prevent such jams—and in some cases double the average speed of surrounding vehicles.

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“Keep your distance, and brake less.”

Correct.

I see it all the time around here. People driving too close to the car ahead. Their brake lights flash on and off, on and off, on and off.

I’m driving behind them, at a slightly greater distance, and not having to use my brake pedal at all. I’ve seen times when the brake lights of the car ahead come on a dozen times, and i’ve not felt the slightest need to use my brakes.

Dunno how people drive on planet AI, but here on Earth, any gap large enough to absorb a shock wave will immediately fill with three cars.

Rule 303 said:

Dunno how people drive on planet AI, but here on Earth, any gap large enough to absorb a shock wave will immediately fill with three cars.

Yes, this. It’s annoying to those of us who’d like to see traffic flow without using our brakes.

Tau.Neutrino said:

Watch just a few self-driving cars stop traffic jams

Anyone can start a traffic jam—all it takes is tapping on your brakes. The driver behind you will brake, as will the next driver, starting a shock wave of stop-and-go reactions that can travel backward for kilometers. Now, scientists have shown that a few self-driving cars can prevent such jams—and in some cases double the average speed of surrounding vehicles.

more…

There are a heck of a lot of news articles about self driving cars. That’s a good one.

But “in city grids where the AI controls traffic lights rather than cars, the improvement is 7%” is rubbish. The improvement is more like 1000%. Their error is first in letting only a couple of cars through with each change of traffic lights and second in assuming that the flow is fast even without AI control. And they have the distance between traffic light on.

They also say “by keeping a constant distance from the car in front and not braking. But most people don’t do this”. I do this, and it doesn’t require a majority of cars, just a few cars following this rule suffices.

Some other articles are:

What Can the Trolley Problem Teach Self-Driving Car Engineers?

How the EU commission got tunnel vision on self-driving cars

Ford Plans a Self-Driving Service—But Tech Problems Still Loom

Delivering groceries with self-driving cars may be even trickier than …

We’ve Been Talking About Self-Driving Car Safety All Wrong

The Road to Self-driving Cars Is Full of Speed Bumps

Tesla’s Navigate on Autopilot Shows the Promise and Problems of …

Self-Driving Cars Still Can’t Handle Snow, Rain, or Heavy Weather

The crucial flaw of self-driving cars? They will always need human involvement

Here’s how Ford’s autonomous vehicles will shake up ride hailing and delivery services

Self-driving car – Wikipedia

Rule 303 said:

Dunno how people drive on planet AI, but here on Earth, any gap large enough to absorb a shock wave will immediately fill with three cars.

No.

There are no shock waves of this type in Australia.

The only shock waves we have in Australia are caused by traffic lights and road work. Very rarely from other causes such as speed limit reductions and merging.

Even in Britain, this type of shock wave is sufficiently rare that it only occurs on a couple of roads such as the London ring road.

I can’t speak for continental Europe or the USA.

mollwollfumble said:

Rule 303 said:

There are no shock waves of this type in Australia.

Do much capital city driving, moll? I used to drive around Sydney a lot in the 1970s and 80s, and it was a phenomenon that was easy to find even then. I’m thinking Old Canterbury Road at about 4pm on a Friday, as a prime example.

I can’t contradict the traffic lights thing. Once, in Bundaberg, a blackout knocked out most of the traffic lights in the central area of town, and people had to fall back on to ‘give way to the right’. Never seen traffic move better in that town.

Don’t forget trucks. Again in Sydney – some may recall the so-called ‘truckies strike ‘ decades back. Practically no heavy vehicles on NSW roads. Parramatta Road flowed like an expressway.

mollwollfumble said:

Rule 303 said:

Dunno how people drive on planet AI, but here on Earth, any gap large enough to absorb a shock wave will immediately fill with three cars.

No.

There are no shock waves of this type in Australia.

The only shock waves we have in Australia are caused by traffic lights and road work. Very rarely from other causes such as speed limit reductions and merging.

Even in Britain, this type of shock wave is sufficiently rare that it only occurs on a couple of roads such as the London ring road.

I can’t speak for continental Europe or the USA.

OK, what is it called when a lane or several lanes come to a halt in a shock-wave-like pattern for no reason? We certainly get them. I see them almost every time I’m driving on a freeway.

Rule 303 said:

Dunno how people drive on planet AI, but here on Earth, any gap large enough to absorb a shock wave will immediately fill with three cars.

especially when merging. people in wa don’t know how to merge. the forrest hwy traffic jam is a classic example.

In this day an age they should have iMerging or at least eMerging.

I watched a TV show about this once, they reckon the wave could be stopped or mitigated when it reached an experienced driver like a taxi or courier. They didn’t react the same way as ordinary drivers and twended to damp out and smooth the wave.

I have not seen the wave thing happen here, there isn’t a long enough stretch of road without entries or exits. This is where the congestion happens here, as cars try to merge into the flow. The left lane speeds up approaching the exit as a few cars leave the traffic, then flows under the intersection smoothly before slowing down again as a fresh batch of joins wants to merge in, and the right lane catches up. Of course there’s a few cars that want to switch lanes each time.

Michael V said:

Rule 303 said:

Dunno how people drive on planet AI, but here on Earth, any gap large enough to absorb a shock wave will immediately fill with three cars.

Yes, this. It’s annoying to those of us who’d like to see traffic flow without using our brakes.

Yes, People are not being taught the finer points of driving.

Keep your distance, no tailgating, brake less, don’t rush to fill gaps in front of the car in front.

mollwollfumble said:

Rule 303 said:

Dunno how people drive on planet AI, but here on Earth, any gap large enough to absorb a shock wave will immediately fill with three cars.

No.

There are no shock waves of this type in Australia.

The only shock waves we have in Australia are caused by traffic lights and road work. Very rarely from other causes such as speed limit reductions and merging.

On what planet is this “Australia” of which you speak?

mollwollfumble said:

Even in Britain, this type of shock wave is sufficiently rare that it only occurs on a couple of roads such as the London ring road.

I can’t speak for continental Europe or the USA.

On what planet is this “Britain” of which you speak?

Tau.Neutrino said:

Michael V said:

Rule 303 said:

Dunno how people drive on planet AI, but here on Earth, any gap large enough to absorb a shock wave will immediately fill with three cars.

Yes, this. It’s annoying to those of us who’d like to see traffic flow without using our brakes.

Yes, People are not being taught the finer points of driving.

Keep your distance, no tailgating, brake less, don’t rush to fill gaps in front of the car in front.

I like to keep a reasonable distance (not huge, but adequate) simply because it’s less stressful for me. Some of those brake-light-flashing tailgaters must be nervous wrecks by the time they get where they’re going.

you know we are all top drivers here

The Rev Dodgson said:

mollwollfumble said:

Rule 303 said:

Dunno how people drive on planet AI, but here on Earth, any gap large enough to absorb a shock wave will immediately fill with three cars.

No.

There are no shock waves of this type in Australia.

The only shock waves we have in Australia are caused by traffic lights and road work. Very rarely from other causes such as speed limit reductions and merging.

On what planet is this “Australia” of which you speak?

mollwollfumble said:

Even in Britain, this type of shock wave is sufficiently rare that it only occurs on a couple of roads such as the London ring road.

I can’t speak for continental Europe or the USA.

On what planet is this “Britain” of which you speak?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NF6Qa84mno

Arts said:

you know we are all top drivers here

and you try telling the cops of today that and they wont believe you.

Tau.Neutrino said:

Michael V said:

Rule 303 said:

Dunno how people drive on planet AI, but here on Earth, any gap large enough to absorb a shock wave will immediately fill with three cars.

Yes, this. It’s annoying to those of us who’d like to see traffic flow without using our brakes.

Yes, People are not being taught the finer points of driving.

Keep your distance, no tailgating, brake less, don’t rush to fill gaps in front of the car in front.

>>>don’t rush to fill gaps in front of the car in front.

Who has set their driving space.

captain_spalding said:

I like to keep a reasonable distance (not huge, but adequate) simply because it’s less stressful for me. Some of those brake-light-flashing tailgaters must be nervous wrecks by the time they get where they’re going.

I reckon! Not to mention the excessive wear on their vehicle, dramatically increase crash involvement, increased fuel use, and passenger comfort.

MrsRule drives too close at high speed. I often find myself just closing my eyes of shielding my view from the car right in front of us because I can’t bear to watch.

Tau.Neutrino said:

Keep your distance, no tailgating, brake less, don’t rush to fill gaps in front of the car in front.

Allowed an adequate gap, and finding that gap is being filled by cars, also means you’re moving backward with regards to the rest of the traffic, which is dangerous in and of itself.

Rule 303 said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Keep your distance, no tailgating, brake less, don’t rush to fill gaps in front of the car in front.

Allowed an adequate gap, and finding that gap is being filled by cars, also means you’re moving backward with regards to the rest of the traffic, which is dangerous in and of itself.

True, but I’ve learned to live with that. It also occurs only in a narrow band of road speeds. Heavy traffic and nobody can change lanes. Light traffic and nobody wants to change lanes. It’s only in mildly heavy traffic that it occurs.

captain_spalding said:

I like to keep a reasonable distance (not huge, but adequate) simply because it’s less stressful for me. Some of those brake-light-flashing tailgaters must be nervous wrecks by the time they get where they’re going.

Good strategy. Missy does that. I’ve never quite mastered it, I try to keep a constant distance from the car in front, which can also be somewhat stressful when there’s a lot of lane changing.

Tau.Neutrino said:

Yes, People are not being taught the finer points of driving.

Keep your distance, no tailgating, brake less, don’t rush to fill gaps in front of the car in front.

I agree with that, except for the no tailgating bit. Being deliberately slow slows everyone else up. I find that different drivers have radically different definitions of “tailgating”.

Rule 303 said:

OK, what is it called when a lane or several lanes come to a halt in a shock-wave-like pattern for no reason? We certainly get them. I see them almost every time I’m driving on a freeway.

Which freeway? Which state? NSW? I haven’t experienced it even once in the last 20 years in Vic.

Before then, when I lived in NSW, I used to call it a “car accident”. The traffic comes to a halt until the accident has cleared. By the time you pass, the evidence of the accident has been cleared away or ground into dust by the wheels of the vehicles ahead.

captain_spalding said:

Don’t forget trucks. Again in Sydney – some may recall the so-called ‘truckies strike ‘ decades back. Practically no heavy vehicles on NSW roads. Parramatta Road flowed like an expressway.

You’re right. I forgot trucks. Caravans can be even worse, here.

Peak Warming Man said:

In this day an age they should have iMerging or at least eMerging.

snigger

Rule 303 said:

Dunno how people drive on planet AI, but here on Earth, any gap large enough to absorb a shock wave will immediately fill with three cars.

the dynamics of traffic conformity, details of, are meant to be a secret.

you know, tending toward near the speed limit, riding it, and the traffic compression that comes from the situational forces involves in getting your speed from near vehicles in front and behind.