* Posts by bemos

3 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Jan 2018

Biker nerfed by robo Chevy in San Francisco now lobs sueball at GM

bemos

My understanding is that "right of way" has to do more with who can proceed in a conflict, but loses value when a collision occurs.

Consider a vehicle that slows to make an illegal u-turn and is struck from behind -- Both drivers are fault, one for impeding the lane for an illegal maneuver and the other for failing to stop.

No "right of way" entitles one vehicle to impact another if the impact can be avoided, if either driver misses the opportunity to avoid a collision then they bare some fault which is why so many vehicle collisions end in "50/50" fault decisions.

bemos

Are self driving cars deaf?

I assume there is video of the accident?

The Bolt started to change lanes, then decided it didn't want to, so went back. One question is at what point is your lane change maneuver complete? Conservatively I think it would be an easy argument so that once both sides of tires are over the lane marker you have changed lanes, but one might argue that once you have mostly cleared the lane marker (maybe 50%?) you've fully committed to the lane change and to veer back over would be yet another lane change.

The more important thing though is, why did the Bolt feel it was OK to head back to center? Shouldn't it be aware of all objects around it and their vectors? This bike was accelerating into the space the Bolt wanted to be in, the Bolt should have recognized that.

...a third consideration--We've probably all heard the excuse that "loud pipes" on motorcycles save lives by making drivers VERY aware of the bikes nearby and based on the pitch/loudness you can tell if they are speeding up quickly, letting off accelerators, etc...

...it raises the question to me of whether self driving cars are "deaf" or not? I know that I certainly become more attentive when I hear the doppler-effect modified sound of a motorcycle racing up behind me... does the Bolt have this same capability?