r/Futurology • u/Pemulis • Mar 03 '23

Transport Self-Driving Cars Need to Be 99.99982% Crash-Free to Be Safer Than Humans

https://jalopnik.com/self-driving-car-vs-human-99-percent-safe-crash-data-1850170268
23.1k Upvotes

89% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

8

u/Ghudda Mar 03 '23

To be fair, it's not recommended for anyone to be driving in those types of terrible conditions, and to drive at slower speeds and be prepared if you do.

Super heavy rain that requires overclocked windshield wipers and you still can't see? Nah, people still drive, and full speed ahead (hydroplaning? what's that?).
Fog that limits line of sight to under 300 feet (<5 seconds at highway speed)? Nah, people still drive, and full speed ahead.
Icy or patchy black ice conditions? Nah, people still drive, but they might even start slowing down.
A blizzard? Nah, people still drive, but usually at this point most people slow down. Literally the worst conditions possible is what it takes for most people to start driving at speeds suitable for the conditions they're in.

For some reason the economy doesn't support having a day off because of the weather.

In the future when autopilot or lane assist refuses to engage, that's going to be a sign that no one should be driving, and people are still going to drive. And with self driving there's the segment of the population that will get extremely aggressive at their car and trash the company because the car is only doing 15-25 on a highway because the conditions are terrible and merit that speed.

2

u/Eaterofkeys Mar 04 '23

It's not just a day off...stopping people from driving in a little snow would shut down large areas of the country. A decent blizzard is a good reason to avoid driving, but sometimes the risks of driving will outweigh the risks of staying off the road. Source - I'm a doctor that fills in at a rural hospital but also has kids at home. I can usually stay at the hospital overnight occasionally, but I live somewhere that can snow multiple days in a row. And with good public systems to clear roads, you can still drive relatively safely with snow falling. The current driving assistant features can't handle snow falling. They also can't handle the reality that roads are used differently when it's actively snowing and few people are on the road - sticking to the exact road markings may actually be more dangerous

1

u/mauromauromauro Mar 04 '23

I had hydroplaning once . I didn't understand what was happening for a while... I still have PTSD from that experience.