Car stuff (public number: chedongxi)
Author | Alice
Edit |Juice
Autonomous driving will make traffic worse?!
According to foreign media Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently commented on Twitter, acknowledging that self-driving cars may make cars on the road more, because people will no longer regard driving as a physical task.
Musk said solving the traffic problem is a very difficult task, calling it the "ultimate boss battle." Musk added that even the most powerful humans in the world can't beat the heavy traffic.
Musk tweeted
In fact, this is not the first time Musk has complained about traffic congestion. Back in 2016, Musk tweeted during a traffic jam, Musk said, "The traffic jam is driving me crazy, I'm going to build a tunnel, I'm going to start digging now..." And his boring company, the boring company, was founded in 2016.
In addition to choosing to dig tunnels underground, Musk is also further improving the ability of vehicles to drive themselves, and after recent years of development, Tesla's FSD system has become one of the most advanced autonomous driving technologies in mass production car companies.
In the era of autonomous driving, as the traffic flow increases, will the traffic become more and more congested? In fact, the answer is no, self-driving cars can greatly reduce congestion while liberating people's hands and feet.
First, self-driving cars are more compliant with traffic regulations, which will reduce ghost congestion
Musk tweeted: "Self-driving cars will amplify traffic to the point of insanity because you don't feel the pain of driving yourself." ”
In fact, Musk's remarks are also justified, with the advent of self-driving cars will become easier to travel, self-driving cars will allow those who can't drive groups to travel freely. As a result, there will be a significant increase in the number of cars on the road.
This is what Musk describes as "the flow of traffic is magnified to the point of insanity."
Although what Musk said is also true. But the widespread use of self-driving cars could reduce traffic jams. Phantom traffic jams are one of the most annoying situations drivers encounter on the road.
Traffic jams in a new York neighborhood
While driving, the driver may encounter such a situation. There are no accidents, no stopping vehicles, no closed construction lanes, but the road will suddenly and inexplicably become blocked, and after a long time, the traffic will be smooth again without warning, as if blocked by an invisible ghost.
This phenomenon is called ghost braking.
Ghost clogging will only occur on roads with saturated traffic. It looks like the cars are moving at a constant pace, but this state is very unstable. Any slight fluctuation, such as a brief pause due to a driver braking, suddenly changing lanes, or overtaking, can trigger a series of pauses at the rear of the car.
Because drivers have different reaction speeds and processing methods, the length of the pause is constantly amplified and becomes longer and longer during the transmission.
Self-driving cars can alleviate this phenomenon very well, such as Tesla's FSD Beta is designed to follow the rules of the road, which means that when self-driving cars become mainstream, each car can follow the traffic rules, and the system can also operate according to a certain safe distance when overtaking or changing lanes, so the ghost congestion may be greatly reduced.
Second, Tesla's expansion of the FSD beta test range is being launched in Canada
In fact, Tesla is also driving the rapid adoption of autonomous driving, and its FSD Beta version has now moved out of the United States and begun testing in Canada.
▲ Drive Tesla Canada Twitter screenshot
Back in January, Elon Musk tweeted that his company would launch the FSD Beta in Canada "cautiously over the next two to four weeks."
Two days ago, Musk replied to Drive Tesla Canada on Twitter, confirming that about 60 cars are being tested inside Canada for FSD beta testing, and he hopes to have more vehicles tested in the coming days.
Tesla said in its fourth-quarter earnings report that the FSD Beta software was updated seven times in the fourth quarter of 2021, while also revealing that there are currently 60,000 Tesla vehicles testing FSD Bea software in the United States, up from 2,000 in the third quarter of 2021.
Conclusion: There are pros and cons to self-driving cars
As Musk said, the traffic on the road in the era of autonomous driving will increase greatly. But this is not a drawback, because with the advent of self-driving cars, the driving behavior of vehicles on the road may be more standardized, and the congestion caused by humans will be greatly reduced.