Would you travel in them?
Yesterday I drove home for my cottage in Wellfleet, I don’t know what I did but I threw out my back on Monday. I still is very sore but at least I can get around. I knew I was going to hit a lot of traffic and I did. It was backed up all the way until around the Orleans rotary to the Sagamore Bridge. A normal 30 – 45 minute drive turned in to two hour drive moving along at around 15 mph but at times it was stop and go.
So what does that have to do with self-driving cars?
My car has what Toyota calls “Full-Speed Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC)” and it turns out that it is great in a traffic jam.
I set it for 55 and it will keep me a safe distance behind the car in front of me up until 55. If the car ahead slows down to 5 mph the cruise control will adjust the speed to match the car in front. And what is neat the distance between cars decrease accordingly.
Just about all the way from the Orleans rotary to the bridge my car was on cruise control (I had my right foot just inches from the brake, about the same distance if it was on the gas pedal). There were times where I had to override it.
When a car was taking an exit you knew did have to put the brakes on because he would be off the right travel lane in time you got near him, but the cruise control would start slowing down when it wasn’t needed. I also had to go manual when cars were coming on at an entrance to allow them to merge.
I was concerned when a motorcycle pulled in front of me, would the radar spot the motorcyclist? It did! The car slowed down and increased the gap again.
When the car came to a complete stop I had to tap the gas pedal to get the car going again, but if it was going 1 mph and the car ahead accelerated to 55 my car would follow and keep increasing the distance between us. Then decelerate again to 5 mph if the traffic slowed way down (That is scary! When I had to slow like that I had my foot hovering over the brake pedal.).
They was a white BMW convertible behind me most of the way, it must have had dynamic cruise control also because it kept a fixed distance behind me.
The other safety features it has is collision avoiding braking and lane change warning. I would have liked to get blind spot warning.
I would like to get a simple self-driving car with the “Full-Speed Dynamic Radar Cruise Control” and if it kept you in the lane.
What about you?
Yesterday I drove home for my cottage in Wellfleet, I don’t know what I did but I threw out my back on Monday. I still is very sore but at least I can get around. I knew I was going to hit a lot of traffic and I did. It was backed up all the way until around the Orleans rotary to the Sagamore Bridge. A normal 30 – 45 minute drive turned in to two hour drive moving along at around 15 mph but at times it was stop and go.
So what does that have to do with self-driving cars?
My car has what Toyota calls “Full-Speed Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC)” and it turns out that it is great in a traffic jam.
I set it for 55 and it will keep me a safe distance behind the car in front of me up until 55. If the car ahead slows down to 5 mph the cruise control will adjust the speed to match the car in front. And what is neat the distance between cars decrease accordingly.
Just about all the way from the Orleans rotary to the bridge my car was on cruise control (I had my right foot just inches from the brake, about the same distance if it was on the gas pedal). There were times where I had to override it.
When a car was taking an exit you knew did have to put the brakes on because he would be off the right travel lane in time you got near him, but the cruise control would start slowing down when it wasn’t needed. I also had to go manual when cars were coming on at an entrance to allow them to merge.
I was concerned when a motorcycle pulled in front of me, would the radar spot the motorcyclist? It did! The car slowed down and increased the gap again.
When the car came to a complete stop I had to tap the gas pedal to get the car going again, but if it was going 1 mph and the car ahead accelerated to 55 my car would follow and keep increasing the distance between us. Then decelerate again to 5 mph if the traffic slowed way down (That is scary! When I had to slow like that I had my foot hovering over the brake pedal.).
They was a white BMW convertible behind me most of the way, it must have had dynamic cruise control also because it kept a fixed distance behind me.
The other safety features it has is collision avoiding braking and lane change warning. I would have liked to get blind spot warning.
I would like to get a simple self-driving car with the “Full-Speed Dynamic Radar Cruise Control” and if it kept you in the lane.
What about you?
Since I don't know a thing about driving and never had a license I think this type of car would be ideal for me as long as it did all the driving and I could look out the window. Maybe I can take a nap in the back seat.
ReplyDeleteBeing 70 I hope that self-driving cars will extend my mobility.
ReplyDelete