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Comment by shadowtree | Hacker News Reader

I hope they roll out augmented driving.

I don't need full autonomy everywhere, but there are a few things that definitely could be rolled out now.

Give me a virtual bumper. Never let me get closer than a meter to the car in front of me. If it stops, stop my car too. Get moving again? Go.

Stay in the lane at low speeds. Combine with above, get a far more relaxed experience in stop and go rush hour traffic.

Extend the virtual bumper to parking. Rather than video and beeping or full autonomy, just stop the car from hitting anything, 5cm distance control.

Or does this exist? Haven't seen it in my Tesla test drive.

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>Give me a virtual bumper. Never let me get closer than a meter to the car in front of me. If it stops, stop my car too. Get moving again? Go.

This is Honda's Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with Low-Speed Follow

http://owners.honda.com/vehicles/information/2018/CR-V/featu...

I have ACC, and it’s great. But adding the Low-Speed Follow makes it SO much nicer. I’ve driven a Bonda like that.

Otherwise ACC is only useful on freeways that aren’t too crowded. Nice, but not nearly as nice as being able to hassle traffic jams.

I'd like this to be simple, watching the video this only starts at low speeds. Virtual bumper would be there, always.

But, ACC seems way better than adaptive cruise control in my KIA, which disengages at crawl speed rather than stopping.

Most of these features exist already in vehicles that have adaptive cruise control and parking assistance. I don't think any of them are fully flushed out but they are getting better.

A lot of cars have Lane Keep Assist and Automatic Cruise Control, but most are not nearly good enough to rely on.

Comma.ai ships a plug and play device that will override the cars software with better software and allow you to do just what you are asking. It's wonderful for stop and go traffic.

Works right now on most newer Hondas and Toyotas, as well as a random assortment of other vehicles. You can even port your own car if it's not supported and has the appropriate hardware.

A lot of cars have Lane Keep Assist and Automatic Cruise Control, but most are not nearly good enough to rely on.

Yes. Here's a road test, from 2013, of three anti-collision systems.[1] These things are all over the place on performance. As many Tesla crashes and deaths have demonstrated, Tesla's system won't stop for stationary obstacles. (Road barrier, street sweeper, stalled car, fire truck - the list goes on.)

There needs to be a minimum performance standard for these things. A reasonable minimum goal is to mitigate collisions down to a 35MPH difference or less. With seat belts, air bags, and crush depth, almost anything below 35 MPH is survivable now.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzHM6PVTjXo

All the features you described are available right now. E.g. VW Golf has them off the shelf, and I‘m pretty sure the same is true for 2018 Kia/Hyundai cars. Honda is notorious for lots of assistance systems, I guess they don’t lag behind.

And those things also brake for other cars and pedestrians if they project that a collision would happen. There will be a lot less deaths caused by road accidents once everybody upgraded their cars. Exciting times!

One thing I'd add: Head-up-display. Project the most important information up to the bottom of the windshield so I don't have to look away.

This would be particularly useful with a lane-keeping solution, where it could show exactly where it thinks the lane is - overlaid right on top of the actual lane, using perspective skew to match the driver's view.

I don't know how well it works in stop-and-go traffic, but a friend's 2-year-old subaru has the ability to follow the car in front and keep itself in its lane. And i can't imagine subaru is the only one with that technology.

Subaru's tech is fine, but lacks the radar that Teslas bounce underneath the car in front of you to get a heads up that traffic is either moving or not ahead, which is essential for eliminating the jerky stop and go behavior.

Subaru's system was designed for maximum safety at minimum cost. I don't think comfort was a primary design goal.

There’s that subaru commercial that implies it can see 2 cars ahead

All exists already. "Virtual bumper" so you don't hit pedestrians, too.

One thing I dislike with Tesla hype is that practical technology from other companies are buried. Not Teslas fault...really the media.

I'm in the market for a new car. Many manufacturers have similar tech, here is Toyota. https://www.toyota.com/safety-sense/animation/lda

I'd like to see self-driving first appear for limited-access highways: the driving environment there is far simpler than other places and requires far lower computation. Just get on the on-ramp, hit "self-drive", and lie back and relax or sleep while your car drives to your exit.

Features that add extra security are great, but I am against any feature that lets you stop paying attention. When it comes to self driving, it must be all or nothing. Half self-driving doesn't work.

Adaptive cruise is a life changer.

Sure but adaptive cruise only helps you relax your leg, you're still paying attention to the road. I'm specifically talking about anything that lets you not pay attention for some time.

That's rather surprising because pretty much everything you are asking for is already available in Tesla cars (it has been in mine for quite a while).

Will a Tesla (or any car) really prevent you from running your car into something if you try to?

I think what the comment was about would be trying to park your car and as soon as your bumper is 6 inches from theres, stopping you completely. If you push down on the accelerator, nothing would happen. Inertia aside, it would be impossible to hit another car.

>Will a Tesla (or any car) really prevent you from running your car into something if you try to?

I guess it depends on what you mean by "try to".

I drive a VW; if I'm inching out of a parking spot, it will automatically stop the car if it detects traffic. I suppose I could tromp on the gas at that moment and blast out into oncoming cars, but I'm not sure why I'd want to...

Same with catching up with slow moving traffic at highway speeds. It will detect the vehicle (or object) in front and apply the necessary braking pressure. The slower the object in front is moving, the faster it will apply harder pressure (and flash a warning to apply the brakes manually).

Essentially, if you don't react, the car will. You can then override it.

I know first hand that my car will not prevent a crash if I press on the gas pedal near an obstacle (that's how I hit my garage wall).

The GP was asking about a scenario of stop and go traffic (if I understood it correctly). I've used autopilot on a couple of occasions on I-5, and indeed, my car stopped when the car ahead did, then it resumed when the car ahead moved forward, maintaining distance and keeping lanes.

It's a different use case from the one you are describing.

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