Technology

59287 readers

5168 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

203

Turquoise taillights tell you this Mercedes is driving autonomously (arstechnica.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

39 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Turquoise taillights tell you this Mercedes is driving autonomously::California and Nevada have approved a test of the new light color.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (2 children)

It's a genuine thought, but it is that as it stands, autopilot may behave erratically and it would be good to inform drivers both in front and to the rear. Emergency collision avoidance brake systems are already known to trigger at random

For something that requires far more complex decisions a special colour light in the rear can alert other drivers that various maneuvers could be taken automatically, such as a decision to change into your lane, normally or in an emergency.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I guess I'm not seeing it as being all that different from emergency collision avoidance systems in cars with drivers in terms of drivers behind them. I hate to be dense about this, but I'm just not seeing why any of those maneuvers would make a difference to the driver behind the car driving autonomously if it was being driven by a human or not. Don't you have to take the same actions regardless? I'm not suggesting Mercedes not do it. I'm sure people much smarter than me have figured out why this is important.

Maybe all cars with collision avoidance need to have these lights too?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Some indicator of automated collision avoidance (a small "AEB-equipped" sticker) would make sense for that.

The light would be to indicate the self-driving mode is active.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Emergency collision avoidance brake systems are already known to trigger at random

So? They also brake suddenly when a kid runs out onto the road in front of them. Anyone following should have enough of a space cushion to get hard on the brakes and avoid hitting them. Or at least avoid hitting them very hard.

If you plough into them at speed, you'll push the stopped car forwards and kill the kid.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I mean I agree with what you're saying, but the light is a helpful reminder to keep a safe distance away. I think AEB should have some sort of notice as well on the back of the car be it a logo, or "AEB-equipped" etc. Make it a size that if you can read it you're too close.