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The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, programmed a small fleet of miniature robotic cars to drive on a multi-lane track and observed how the traffic flow changed when one of the cars stopped.
When the cars were not driving cooperatively, any cars behind the stopped car had to stop or slow down and wait for a gap in the traffic, as would typically happen on a real road. A queue quickly formed behind the stopped car and overall traffic flow was slowed.
However, when the cars were communicating with each other and driving cooperatively, as soon as one car stopped in the inner lane, it sent a signal to all the other cars. Cars in the outer lane that were in immediate proximity of the stopped car slowed down slightly so that cars in the inner lane were able to quickly pass the stopped car without having to stop or slow down significantly.
Additionally, when a human-controlled driver was put on the 'road' with the autonomous cars and moved around the track in an aggressive manner, the other cars were able to give way to avoid the aggressive driver, improving safety.
The results, to be presented today at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Montréal, will be useful for studying how autonomous cars can communicate with each other, and with cars controlled by human drivers, on real roads in the future.
Sources:
- https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/driverless-cars-working-together-can-speed-up-traffic-by-35-percent
- https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-48326428
- https://www.autofutures.tv/2019/05/20/miniature-cars/
- https://techerati.com/news-hub/driverless-car-fleet-can-reduce-traffic-by-at-least-35-percent-research-suggests/
[Editors Comment: The submitter is linked professionally to the last of the listed sources. Additional source material, including the original paper from Cambridge University as primary source, is also listed.]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 23 2019, @04:06PM (2 children)
The summary and the headline say very different things...
The headline says "Driverless car[s] ... can reduce traffic by ... 35 percent" which literally means that there will be 35% fewer vehicles on the road. As far as I can see, there is no reason to believe that autonomous cars will cause any reduction in the number of vehicles on the road unless they cause massive lifestyle changes across the population, and any gains here is likely to be lost to population growth in short order.
The summary, on the other hand, simply suggests that autonomous cars can more efficiently share road space, suggesting instead that the traffic capacity of our existing roads could be increased by 35%. This seems very reasonable, but I fear this nice idea may fall quickly to the tragedy of the commons, when someone realizes that the "polite" autonomous cars all make space and driving aggressively results in shorter travel times... until everyone does this and we are back to the old way...
Perhaps that won't happen though if nobody owns their own cars (which may be a given if even "purchased" cars are really on lease because all the computers are locked down with DRM and proprietary software).
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday May 23 2019, @07:14PM (1 child)
My fellow rush hour commuters tend to pack in with less than 0.5 second following distance at 15mph over the speed limit, except for the 1/100 who aren't playing the game and let 1/4 mile of empty asphalt grow in front of them. Any way at all you can get rid of those 1/100 who leave the big gaps will be a tremendous increase in roadway carrying capacity.
Even if automated drivers could follow at 0.2 second distance 80+mph, I wouldn't want to be on a road operating like that, one glitch from Windows attempting to update and getting blocked by network congestion could result in a nasty 100+ car pileup.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday May 23 2019, @09:09PM
Clippy: "I see you are trying to get your Windows car to stop aiming for that retaining wall. Do you need help with tha-"
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---