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0 pointstedajax9y ago0 comments

Seems a little premature to require this as we don't necessarily know that this would help.

0 comments

I think we do know it would help. If your car can't physically see the car 1/4 mile ahead, but gets info that it has slammed on its brakes, thats very useful.

If you've ever driven in bumper to bumper traffic on a highway you know how invaluable this info would be, even to a human driver.

Plus info about road conditions (icy spots ahead!), etc..

Unklejoe9y ago

Agreed. This is exactly why I hate driving behind SUVs. I like to be able to see the car in front of the car in front of me. It gives some additional reaction time.

jrockway9y ago

I also feel like if you know where every car on the road is, you can also optimize the traffic light timing.

There is no reason to sit at a red light at 2:00 in the morning when there are no other vehicles, pedestrians or bicycles on the road. But the law currently requires it.

mantas9y ago

So bicycles would have to carry the car-to-bicycle communication device too?

2 more replies

Animats9y ago

Chris Urmson, back when he headed Google's self driving car effort, said car to car communication was unnecessary. The car has to have good enough sensors and decision-making to deal with all the things that aren't communicating, from pedestrians to deer.

anchpop9y ago

It could still be helpful, however. If your car gets a signal that there are an unusual amount of cars stopped half a mile ahead of it, it might be able to deduce that there has been an accident or something else stopping traffic and navigate away before it becomes an issue. Sort of like an automatic version of Waze

joezydeco9y ago

Google is about platforms. The auto industry will need a common standard and platform if V2V is going to happen.

Wouldn't Google want to be first in line to get something out into the field? Morphing Waymo into a V2V base would be a smart thing to do IMO.

XaspR8d9y ago

I agree that you shouldn't assume any information will necessarily improve performance, but I feel that, naively, inter-car communication would have tons of useful applications.

If anything else, during the transition to fully-automated, it would be wonderful if human drivers were able to visualize the intent of the automated vehicles around them. To know that a car is going to merge into my lane in 50m, or is attempting a U-turn, is so much more useful than simply seeing a turn signal.

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