Driverless cars honking at each other at night waking up residents.

[MT]

Who is the engineer who came up with the idea robot cars should honk at each other during parking? 

[Simon]

Programmers. It's the age old problem of thinking you have solved a problem because in a certain situation you take a particular decision that is deemed a solution. Only to discover that what you thought needed that decision every time is actually much more nuanced and can't be dealt with in a binary way.

I guess they forgot about the scenario where there are multiple self driving cars in proximity to each other as they assume the cars will always be surrounded by human driven cars and of course these cars can't possibly make a mistake.

[Siwastaja]

I remember how already many years ago some crappy plug-in hybrid "Opel Ampera" aka "Chevy Volt" car I used at a workplace had this excellent feature of automagically honking when one opens the fuel/charging door. Very nice when you want to fuel or charge during night. Honking is actually regulated by law and unnecessary honking illegal, but clearly some useless managers at car companies are free to invent a self-honking-for-no-reason-whatsoever car because it feels good in a power point coffee meeting in their twisted minds.

I still have absolutely no idea how one's mind operates to invent stuff like that.

[Halcyon]

Honking is actually regulated by law and unnecessary honking illegal, but clearly some useless managers at car companies are free to invent a self-honking-for-no-reason-whatsoever car because it feels good in a power point coffee meeting in their twisted minds.

I still have absolutely no idea how one's mind operates to invent stuff like that.

I don't either, and arguably those kinds of vehicles wouldn't be able to legally operate in countries, like Australia, with such rules. If I was still in the cops, I'd be sending the ticket/court summons straight to the company, let them explain why their vehicles aren't compliant.

For those playing along at home, in Australia, it's illegal to use a horn, except when:
(a)  it is necessary to use the horn, or warning device, to warn other road users or animals of the approach or position of the vehicle, or
(b)  the horn, or warning device, is being used as part of an anti-theft device, or an alcohol interlock device, fitted to the vehicle.

An autonomous vehicle doesn't meet the definition of either an "animal" or "road user".

[MT]

No need for honking and blinking, and what about a simple Round-robin.


3000 years later, robot battle field commando uses waves from air pressure to give commands.

[David Hess]

Seems like a good excuse to test their flammability because no rational reaction could provide relief in the courts.

[PlainName]

(a)  it is necessary to use the horn, or warning device, to warn other road users or animals of the approach or position of the vehicle, or

Seems to cover this. The self-driving car doesn't know the car it is reversing towards, or that is approaching, is another self-driver. It's "another road user", and unless there is some law that says a road user must be human then I think it matches. Plus, as I said at the start, how would it know? (Rhetorical question - the could all be programmed to recognise each other, but since they aren't they can't.)

[EPAIII]

People who write computer programs KNOW what is the best way to do everything. There is NO WAY to convince them otherwise. They may seem to agree with you in the meeting, but they still do it the way they KNOW is best regardless of the stated needs of the project.

I once had a project that needed only the very simplest computer program. It could have been written in a few days. I could have written it in a few days. But the company structure dictated that their computer people had to be the ones to write it. It took OVER A YEAR. And still didn't have the functionality that I had asked for.

If you have a project that requires programming, either be d@## sure you write it yourself or quit and find another job. That's my advice and I AM sticking to it.

[tszaboo]

People who write computer programs KNOW what is the best way to do everything. There is NO WAY to convince them otherwise. They may seem to agree with you in the meeting, but they still do it the way they KNOW is best regardless of the stated needs of the project.

And everyone working on the project before them is an idiot, wo wrote garbage code, only for them to rewrite it.
And everyone working on the project after them is an loser, for staying with this company.
If only we could sell the personality disorders of programmers, we would be rich.

[RJSV]

Hahaha !
   I think it's CUTE !
and, hahaha, clap clap clap, hahaha, here in the U.S. we don't get 'uptight' over someone (else's) problem ...we just gaslight it away ....

Hahahahahahahaha,  clap clap clap.

(get used to it)

[Marco]

If you have eye contact with a driver you don't honk when you make a close turn, you non verbally communicate who goes.

There needs to be some international standard for autonomous cars to tell each other "you stop, I go". With a visual indicator that the stopped car will stay stopped for X seconds (hazard lights and only move 10 seconds after disabling them?). Also useful for law enforcement, road workers and ambulance etc. A magic wand to wave at an autonomous car to make it stop has some danger as well, but you can let the remote control or local driver override it.

PS. It will introduce one new way for them to pile up and get into a busy loop when the algorithm interacts in unexpected ways, but they readily do that to begin with.

[Andy Chee]

This brings a whole new mechanical dimension to the networking protocol CSMA/CA.  Driverless vehicles have to sense when the road is "idle" (channel vacant) and avoid collisions!

[tom66]

There is an international standard for this, V2X (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle-to-everything).  It looks like Waymo haven't implemented it yet.  My ID.3 has it... it's used for traffic warnings ahead and things like that. 

[Marco]

V2X gives them a communication method, it doesn't set a protocol for stop/go negotiation/mandates.

[Psi]

It's always the edge cases, the things you didn't expect or didn't think of.

[RJSV]

   I would be wary, of putting 10 seconds wait, after turning off warning lights, mainly just because that's an eternity both with fast moving cars, but also gives (humans) a relatively long time, to maybe get into a rear-ender collision.
Maybe, unless brake lights stay on.   I bet, statistically, many (human) drivers STILL often drive straight into any stopped vehicle, lights or not.  Distracted drivers and all.

[artag]

Honking is actually regulated by law and unnecessary honking illegal, but clearly some useless managers at car companies are free to invent a self-honking-for-no-reason-whatsoever car because it feels good in a power point coffee meeting in their twisted minds.

I still have absolutely no idea how one's mind operates to invent stuff like that.

I don't either, and arguably those kinds of vehicles wouldn't be able to legally operate in countries, like Australia, with such rules. If I was still in the cops, I'd be sending the ticket/court summons straight to the company, let them explain why their vehicles aren't compliant.

For those playing along at home, in Australia, it's illegal to use a horn, except when:
(a)  it is necessary to use the horn, or warning device, to warn other road users or animals of the approach or position of the vehicle, or
(b)  the horn, or warning device, is being used as part of an anti-theft device, or an alcohol interlock device, fitted to the vehicle.

In the UK, there's a rule specifically to avoid honking at night.

https://highwaycode.org.uk/rule-112/

[SiliconWizard]

Pretty hilarious. But I'm sure it can get even worse.

[Psi]

I find it funny that those driverless cars are probably honking at each other more times a day than they honk at cars with drivers.

[Stray Electron]

I find it funny that those driverless cars are probably honking at each other more times a day than they honk at cars with drivers.

   The relevant question is; do driverless cars even have any kind of honk detector?  Or is all of that honking completely wasted, other than annoying all of the humans in the area.

   Honking has long been an accepted form of communication among human drivers (in certain circumstances) and I would think that driverless car would be required to detect honking and somehow access the situation and react to it.  Many states in the US even have laws against automobile drivers wearing headphones for the same reason, they need to be able to hear other drivers honking and other warning signals such police and fire department sirens, etc.  Driverless cars should be required to do the same.

[PlainName]

they need to be able to hear other drivers honking and other warning signals such police and fire department sirens, etc.

How does that work for deaf drivers? Or are they banned from the roads?

[Stray Electron]

  I don't know, the next time that I see one driving I will ask them.