Driverless cars on UK roads soon.

[Over The Hill]

But a lot of people think that keeping the revs low means good fuel economy. I remember working out that the best way to drive one of my cars economically was keep the revs above 2300 but bellow 3000 rpm on the 'flat' but once the gradients got over 8% the engine should be kept between 4000 & 5500rpm the steeper the gradient the higher the rpm going up or down didn't matter.

Blimey, are you Italian?
My diesel Merc will sit on the motorway at 70mph on 1500 revs. If I put my foot down to speed up normally on a road it changes gear at about 2500 and I have not seen it over 3000 revs. It has six gears and I am not sure I have ever had it up to 6th,



On the driverless cars, point. I think it would work fine if all the cars were driverless, as they would probably talk to each other and sort out passing or overtaking arrangements. It is when you get a computer up against an unpredictable human that problems arise.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

Blimey, are you Italian?
My diesel Merc will sit on the motorway at 70mph on 1500 revs. If I put my foot down to speed up normally on a road it changes gear at about 2500 and I have not seen it over 3000 revs. It has six gears and I am not sure I have ever had it up to 6th,



On the driverless cars, point. I think it would work fine if all the cars were driverless, as they would probably talk to each other and sort out passing or overtaking arrangements. It is when you get a computer up against an unpredictable human that problems arise.

Re gearing, figures regarding the most efficient RPM will vary from car to car depending on individual engine characteristics. Diesels will generally have their sweet spot at lower RPM than petrol engines because of the greater low down torque. The art is to know your own car so you use the gears in the most efficient manner to get the best from it.

Driverless won't be an overnight blanket adoption, it will probably be first rolled out on motorways where the current technology is well able to cope with the more or less straight line driving. The early cars with the system are bound to be dual mode, switchable between driver control and computer control. We already have cruise control, automatic lane correction and automatic braking available.

 

[classic33]

So far two of the earliest to hit British roads require a push button start.
Does that make that person the "driver"?
And if they blindly follow a satnav there may be one or two getting lost.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Will it keep the barstards off the bloody pavements and cycle tracks though?

GC

 

[Brains]

I suspect cyclists will be "recommended" to fit a sensor to the bike so that the driverless cars can "see" them. it would be like fitting a light to your bike and remembering to keep it charged

 

[summerdays]

I suspect cyclists will be "recommended" to fit a sensor to the bike so that the driverless cars can "see" them. it would be like fitting a light to your bike and remembering to keep it charged

I think it would be unsafe to have it based on something that needed recharging to keep the person safe.

 

[GrasB]

Blimey, are you Italian?
My diesel Merc will sit on the motorway at 70mph on 1500 revs. If I put my foot down to speed up normally on a road it changes gear at about 2500 and I have not seen it over 3000 revs. It has six gears and I am not sure I have ever had it up to 6th

Assuming you have a 2.2 turbo diesel 1500rpm = 149.3m/min of piston travel & 2500 rpm is 247.5m/min. Now compared to that high revving engine, those piston speeds equate to 2288rpm & 3813rpm respectively.

 

[mcshroom]

There shouldn't be any issues with fitting sensing systems that can see at least as far as the stopping distance of the car, and the thinking time would be a lot shorter. TO be honest I would probably trust road-ready driverless cars around me more than the meatware controlled alternatives.

 

[Brandane]

I suspect cyclists will be "recommended" to fit a sensor to the bike so that the driverless cars can "see" them. it would be like fitting a light to your bike and remembering to keep it charged

Pedestrians would need to carry a sensor too, then?
The cars are going to have to be able to detect and avoid obstructions and hazards without them having sensors attached.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

You might find sensors are a 'suggested upgrade' although probably because it makes the cars life easier rather than the sensor carrier. They operate on a mix of GPS and a mesh of information from other cars around them so the more information they can be fed the better a picture they can put together. I agree they will probably be rolled out on controllable roads first, possibly even with their own version of high occupancy lanes, although it depends how widespread the technology is. The bigger the percentage of cars that are driverless the more benefits they can reap from them because they can operate closer together. Throw something without the technology in to the mix and everything will slow down as they have a lot more variables to contend with.

There's a possibility that they could legislate cars without that technology off of some roads (like the LEZ has done in London for certain vehicles on emission grounds) and if they are doing it to cars then bikes _could_ follow. It'll be a trade off though, cars will never been greener than bikes, let alone people, and the general move is to integration not segregation with various road users so it'd be a bit of an own goal to suddenly U-turn on that.

 

[summerdays]

I agree they will probably be rolled out on controllable roads first, possibly even with their own version of high occupancy lanes, although it depends how widespread the technology is. The bigger the percentage of cars that are driverless the more benefits they can reap from them because they can operate closer together. Throw something without the technology in to the mix and everything will slow down as they have a lot more variables to contend with.

The news item said they were inviting CITIES to bid to be the test sites.

 

[laurence]

considering most cars i see only ever have the driver in the, then the roads will be full of empty cars!

anyway, what's new, Herbie was doing this years ago.

 

[mcshroom]

I'm hoping for something more like KITT than Herbie

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I wonder how they work. I anticipate they won't run over cyclists, else they couldn't be on the road - but can they safely overtake them? I worry that the car will simply never overtake, and thus we will end up infuriating people 'stuck' behind us...

What? You mean they'll actually be programmed to follow the road rules? That would be a refreshing change.

 

[classic33]

What? You mean they'll actually be programmed to follow the road rules? That would be a refreshing change.

Unless http://www.shodanhq.com/search?q=vehicles