Drivers are supposed to use horns for emergency signalling such as imminent collision. I always thought it was a failing not to include a bell or something for non-emergency signalling.
There is the problem of escalation, where people might simply ignore the bell, but its availability as an alternative to horn would clarify horn use is an expression of aggression, and willful contribution to noise pollution.
That said, I still think autonomous cars can’t come too soon, even if we should be looking to vastly reduce car traffic with public transit and urban archipelagos.
@uriel238@youpie I don’t know. Safety record is somewhat mixed - Waymo *appear* to know what they’re doing, while a lot of the low end semi-autonomous stuff is downright dangerous, but there were rumours about visibility problems with cyclists etc.
But my main worry is that full autonomy will lead to people driving further. If so, that’ll lead to more carbon emissions.
It’s certainly a technology in development, and yes the semi-autonomous stuff is dangerous, bu I think that is specifically because the human driver is held responsible when a semi-autonomous car fails. If a Waymo vehicle in Phoenix is involved in a traffic violation, then it’s a malfunction of the vehicle. Right now those are handled by the taxi service, but ultimately it would have to be regarded as a product defect, like a sudden unintended acceleration or a Pinto exploding.
(Note the gas tank placement in the Ford 1971 Pinto was not unusual for car designs at the time, and the Pinto model had a lower rate of tank ruptures or explosions due to rear-end collisions, compared to the general population of subcompact cars at the time.)
Drivers are supposed to use horns for emergency signalling such as imminent collision. I always thought it was a failing not to include a bell or something for non-emergency signalling.
There is the problem of escalation, where people might simply ignore the bell, but its availability as an alternative to horn would clarify horn use is an expression of aggression, and willful contribution to noise pollution.
That said, I still think autonomous cars can’t come too soon, even if we should be looking to vastly reduce car traffic with public transit and urban archipelagos.
@uriel238 @youpie I don’t know. Safety record is somewhat mixed - Waymo *appear* to know what they’re doing, while a lot of the low end semi-autonomous stuff is downright dangerous, but there were rumours about visibility problems with cyclists etc.
But my main worry is that full autonomy will lead to people driving further. If so, that’ll lead to more carbon emissions.
It’s certainly a technology in development, and yes the semi-autonomous stuff is dangerous, bu I think that is specifically because the human driver is held responsible when a semi-autonomous car fails. If a Waymo vehicle in Phoenix is involved in a traffic violation, then it’s a malfunction of the vehicle. Right now those are handled by the taxi service, but ultimately it would have to be regarded as a product defect, like a sudden unintended acceleration or a Pinto exploding.
(Note the gas tank placement in the Ford 1971 Pinto was not unusual for car designs at the time, and the Pinto model had a lower rate of tank ruptures or explosions due to rear-end collisions, compared to the general population of subcompact cars at the time.)