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Comment by comeonseriously | Hacker News Reader

After several officers where nearly injured/injured/killed because drivers ran into them as they were stopped on the side of the road, some states instituted laws that say you either slow down to 45 or you move over a lane.

Is that built into AutoPilot and whatever it's called on other brands? Humans have to do it, so cars should have to as well.

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A couple weeks ago Tesla pushed an update that causes autopilot to brake and alert the driver when emergency vehicle lights are detected.[1]

1. https://twitter.com/Analytic_ETH/status/1440537502272536581

Every lane change is a possible collision. I wonder if that was taken into account.

Considering how far away flashing lights can be sensed (in both humans and cars), that shouldn't be a problem.

Can autopilot even change lanes? It seems like that would be impossible to code for freeways in cities in California. You have to muscle your way into the lane and force people to back down or get hit or else they aren't ever letting you in.

Except it's not. Every lane change in semi-dense and dense traffic is a possible collision; I'd say if you have a car moving in the same direction as you are, and it's closer than ~50 feet, then it's a non-negligible possibility, other than that you just have nobody to collide with during lane change . We're talking highway speeds, of course, not racetrack

Yes, that's why slowing down is the other action you can take.

> I wonder if that was taken into account.

It was, but as the moral accounting stands, it is better for ten 'civilians' to be hurt, than for one police officer.

If all lanes are full, in practice you don't need to, and shouldn't, evacuate the right lane. If there's space for you to change lanes safely, then do so.

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