Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Germany plans highway test track for self-driving cars

blog.a9t9.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 38 posts

Re: Germany plans highway test track for self-driving cars

#21

Post by jacquesm »

pgeorgi wrote: post #16
saosebastiao wrote: post #2

A test highway ? I thought the highway was the solved problem. Google's car handles the highways so well that they don't even bother testing it on the highways anymore.

But not for Volkswagen (Audi is in Ingolstadt, which the A9 passes), BMW (Munich, also passed by the A9) and Daimler (they're further away, but still close). I guess they're not interested in sharing their livelyhood with Google, so they have to reinvent that particular automatic wheel...

They've been at it since (long) before google even existed and have had self driving cars for nearly two decades. The thing that needs to be done is to expand the conditions under which it works and to improve the reliability because an intervention is a lot worse than having to do an evasive maneuver when you're already driving.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VaMP

Re: Germany plans highway test track for self-driving cars

#22

Post by jacquesm »

rndn wrote: post #4
leowinterde wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A highway is not a German Autobahn.

In my experience there is no significant difference between an Autobahn and a North American highway regarding the difficulty of navigation. The tricky parts are the ramps, exits, construction zones and merging, and they occur roughly with the same frequency. I think the test track is more about testing technology which will be installed at the roadside.

Speed.

Going 100 mph plus in the left lane on the German autobahn you'll be the recipient of flashing signals of grandmothers passing you at 120 if you don't get out of the way fast enough.

Re: Germany plans highway test track for self-driving cars

#23

Post by lttlrck »

TkTech wrote: post #7
cjbenedikt wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is though: there is no speed limit on German Autobahns

This doesn't matter at all to Google's cars. They are designed to ignore the speedlimit in favour of the real speed of traffic around it[1], as it has been proven to be far safer than slowing down. It's currently caped at 16km/h over but this is an arbitrary limit. 1: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28851996

It must matter when there are only Google cars present.

Re: Germany plans highway test track for self-driving cars

#24

Post by peterjancelis »

ccozan wrote: post #15

I am driving A96 everyday to work. It's a waisted hour. I would like to do the following: - tell the car to drive to work - actually autonomously drive on the HW, while I work ( I have 5Gb included on my LTE VF abo so I can do all my work remotely) - keep all the speed limits ( I am personally driving like crazy, in order to minimize the driving time ) - drop me on the curbside - go find a parking place :) After work…

Would you still want to own your personal car when cars can do all that?

I think what you describe is the future but we'll be renting luxury vehicles from Uber (or equivalent) for very little money.

Re: Germany plans highway test track for self-driving cars

#25

Post by pests »

lttlrck wrote: post #23
TkTech wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't matter at all to Google's cars. They are designed to ignore the speedlimit in favour of the real speed of traffic around it[1], as it has been proven to be far safer than slowing down. It's currently caped at 16km/h over but this is an arbitrary limit. 1: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28851996

It must matter when there are only Google cars present.

That is actually a pretty interesting point you've made.

Re: Germany plans highway test track for self-driving cars

#26

Post by mikeash »

pests wrote: post #25
lttlrck wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It must matter when there are only Google cars present.

That is actually a pretty interesting point you've made.

Yeah, it's a good one to think about. I imagine massive swings in traffic speed with a frequency of a few minutes as the cars get into various interesting feedback loops.

Re: Germany plans highway test track for self-driving cars

#27

Post by axx »

ccozan wrote: post #15

I am driving A96 everyday to work. It's a waisted hour. I would like to do the following: - tell the car to drive to work - actually autonomously drive on the HW, while I work ( I have 5Gb included on my LTE VF abo so I can do all my work remotely) - keep all the speed limits ( I am personally driving like crazy, in order to minimize the driving time ) - drop me on the curbside - go find a parking place :) After work…

I'm sorry to tell you that, but maybe you should think about remote work? If you can work on the road, why not stay at home completely?

Sure, doesn't work for everbody and every job, but if more companies would allow remote, work many people would live better lifes! :)

Re: Germany plans highway test track for self-driving cars

#28

Post by huuu »

Since this week the Dutch national road traffic agency (RDW) is allowed to grant exemptions to companies that want to do tests with self driving cars and trucks on Dutch roads.

So the Netherlands is also going for self driving cars.

I won't be surprised if our grandkids will laugh at us when we tell them we drove cars ourselves ;)

Re: Germany plans highway test track for self-driving cars

#29

Post by DasIch »

joezydeco wrote: post #18
DasIch wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking as a German who spend quite some time driving in other European countries with speed limits, the difference is massive. Elsewhere most people tend to drive at more or less at the maximum speed allowed. This makes for a very relaxed, easy albeit boring experience. In Germany the difference in speed between the cars are a lot bigger, even in areas with a speed limit. In combination with the Rechtsfahrgebot (a…

At least German drivers are predictable when it comes to Rechtsfahrgebot. Contrast with American drivers, who will stay in whatever lane they want and/or pass at high speed in any lane they deem open.

Maybe my standards are too high but whenever I'm driving on the autobahn I get the expression that some drivers didn't get the memo about the Rechtsfahrgebot.

Re: Germany plans highway test track for self-driving cars

#30

Post by Argorak »

joezydeco wrote: post #19
this_user wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no general speed limit but most portions do actually have specific limits.

And it's dynamic. Portions will switch from unlimited to limited speed based on weather, construction, or accidents far ahead, giving everyone time to slow down and merge away from a blocked lane. And drivers actually follow the signs . As an American driver it's an amazing thing to see.

> And drivers actually follow the signs. As an American driver it's an amazing thing to see.

Speed control flashes are a common sight :).

Post reply on HN