Driverless semi trucks in Texas

[JhuntsAlot]

they have had driverless rigs making trips between Houston and Dallas for a while now but they do have a human with them. I recall a video several years back demonstrating a group of car following one another on a highway that had a drive wire in it for the cars to follow and they could follow one another and being all same speed etc traffic "should" be reduced... be less ***hats causing folks to slow down for whatever ... its hard to trust em but i think they will be better than most drivers on the road today

I think I remember the demonstration you are talking about. If I recall, it was a road in California specifically built for that demo and testing.




J

[Bulldawg87]

I kinda have it on my personal truck with GM Super Cruise. Not as advanced but a really nice system. I am much more of a copilot on long trips on the highway. It can watch all the way around me at all times...I can't do that. It can see things in the dark that I can't see. Like a trailer blocking the road with no lights or reflective tape. It can calculate exactly how much breaking is needed to stop instantly, I am reactive. (The trailer is a true story...I hit one going 70mph a few years ago. No lights, reflective, etc...this was just at the start for forward crash prevention systems. That system would have most likely stopped that accident, or greatly reduced it)

In traffic, it hold a center line and normal spacing with the car in front, making that much less stressful...I could almost read a book in stop and go traffic with Super Cruise, if it didn't make me look at the road every 10 seconds.

I have used it from MS to Texas, about 8 hours and around 6 of those, the truck did most of the work...I more or less watched the road and relaxed.

Went elk hunting in Oct, 12 hour drive, most of it down I-10 and I-25. Again, truck did majority of the work. I was much less mentally worn out after letting the truck do most of the driving for 10 hours of that trip.

Personally, I can't wait until I can get in the driver seat and do my work, or take a nap...especially on long trip. When the majority of cars are talking to each other, and distracted drivers are no longer an issue, I think road travel safety will be greatly improved.

Driving is the most dangerous thing most of us do on a daily basis.

[Lawhunter]

Who carries the liability?

I would not be surprised if these companies are self-insured.

[Lawhunter]

Those types of lawyers have really honed in on their target customer base. I bet they go through 100's of consultations before finding 1 that has any legs to stand on.

Actually, they will take almost anything, including parking lot and drive through line accidents.

[D12]

I am not worried about the big rig coming at me without a driver! Hits and kills me then my family will be set for life!! Come on big rig!!

[rolylane6]

I kinda have it on my personal truck with GM Super Cruise. Not as advanced but a really nice system. I am much more of a copilot on long trips on the highway. It can watch all the way around me at all times...I can't do that. It can see things in the dark that I can't see. Like a trailer blocking the road with no lights or reflective tape. It can calculate exactly how much breaking is needed to stop instantly, I am reactive. (The trailer is a true story...I hit one going 70mph a few years ago. No lights, reflective, etc...this was just at the start for forward crash prevention systems. That system would have most likely stopped that accident, or greatly reduced it)

In traffic, it hold a center line and normal spacing with the car in front, making that much less stressful...I could almost read a book in stop and go traffic with Super Cruise, if it didn't make me look at the road every 10 seconds.

I have used it from MS to Texas, about 8 hours and around 6 of those, the truck did most of the work...I more or less watched the road and relaxed.

Went elk hunting in Oct, 12 hour drive, most of it down I-10 and I-25. Again, truck did majority of the work. I was much less mentally worn out after letting the truck do most of the driving for 10 hours of that trip.

Personally, I can't wait until I can get in the driver seat and do my work, or take a nap...especially on long trip. When the majority of cars are talking to each other, and distracted drivers are no longer an issue, I think road travel safety will be greatly improved.

Driving is the most dangerous thing most of us do on a daily basis.

Sounds like you trust yours way more than I trust mine. Mine has made too many mistakes that left me scratching my head. Luckily I didn't trust it from the beginning so I was always ready to grab the wheel. I've had it start into an exit on the highway at 75 mph because it didn't realize it was an exit lane, then suddenly become "confused" and shut off halfway in between exit lane and right lane leaving me to takeover or run into crash barrels. And that's happened more than once. It has also suddenly shut itself off for whatever reason while on a curve on the highway leaving the car to drift into the adjoining occupied lane had I not been ready to immediately take over and steer back into my lane. In my opinion, Supercruise still needs a lot of advancement. I don't trust it and seldom use mine unless I'm on a straight highway with very little traffic.

[cehorn]

Personally, I can't say I'm excited for it. However, there are already talks at work about how it will change roads in the future. If the cars are more perfect, a lot of the design criteria (safety factors, etc.) will go down. If those go down roads won't take up as much space. Think about a 3 lane highway (3-12 foot lanes and say 2 4' shoulders). If these driverless vehicles do what they say, that road can be converted to 4-10' lanes with simple restriping. More capacity, less pavement (less eminent domain, etc.)

Again, I don't necessarily like it and I'll be interested to see how they are programmed. Will the computer driver be the ******* that waits until the last minute to try to merge in when they have passed 5 signs saying lane ends or will they get over when there is an open spot and keep traffic moving? It will be interesting.

[Bulldawg87]

Sounds like you trust yours way more than I trust mine. Mine has made too many mistakes that left me scratching my head. Luckily I didn't trust it from the beginning so I was always ready to grab the wheel. I've had it start into an exit on the highway at 75 mph because it didn't realize it was an exit lane, then suddenly become "confused" and shut off halfway in between exit lane and right lane leaving me to takeover or run into crash barrels. And that's happened more than once. It has also suddenly shut itself off for whatever reason while on a curve on the highway leaving the car to drift into the adjoining occupied lane had I not been ready to immediately take over and steer back into my lane. In my opinion, Supercruise still needs a lot of advancement. I don't trust it and seldom use mine unless I'm on a straight highway with very little traffic.

Any time mine goes Red, you have several seconds where it is still watching. Mine general disables in an exit lane if you get close enough to an exit. It will not take exits.

It has limitations but for what I use it for, it is great.

[justletmein]

Went elk hunting in Oct, 12 hour drive, most of it down I-10 and I-25. Again, truck did majority of the work. I was much less mentally worn out after letting the truck do most of the driving for 10 hours of that trip.

Will it do ~90-95 between cities? Asking for a friend who might be sold on it if so.

[100%TtId]

Sounds like you trust yours way more than I trust mine. Mine has made too many mistakes that left me scratching my head. Luckily I didn't trust it from the beginning so I was always ready to grab the wheel. I've had it start into an exit on the highway at 75 mph because it didn't realize it was an exit lane, then suddenly become "confused" and shut off halfway in between exit lane and right lane leaving me to takeover or run into crash barrels. And that's happened more than once. It has also suddenly shut itself off for whatever reason while on a curve on the highway leaving the car to drift into the adjoining occupied lane had I not been ready to immediately take over and steer back into my lane. In my opinion, Supercruise still needs a lot of advancement. I don't trust it and seldom use mine unless I'm on a straight highway with very little traffic.

“Seldom use mine”, seriously? After your experience, I would never turn the **** thing on ever again no matter how straight the highway.

[Bulldawg87]

Will it do ~90-95 between cities? Asking for a friend who might be sold on it if so.

85 is the max speed on mine for Super Cruise...but it will do that towing a trailer even. Regular cruise with adaptive can be set higher on the same truck however.

It is such a convenience that I don't mind going 5MPH slower at times.

[rolylane6]

Any time mine goes Red, you have several seconds where it is still watching. Mine general disables in an exit lane if you get close enough to an exit. It will not take exits.

It has limitations but for what I use it for, it is great.

Mine doesn't. When it goes red, steering immediately ceases and if it's in a curve that means immediate straightening toward whatever is in front of it. And it doesn't take exits, per say, but it loses its ability to distinguish whether the exit lane is the traffic lane, especially in a curve.

[Bucknaked]

I have mixed emotions on this after all the driver operated trucks I see. A lot of these drivers have no business operating a large vehicle.

I drove heavy trucking for 32 yrs - very heavy trucking and I have to agree with this! It’s a very scary deal both ways.

[Man]

Actually, they will take almost anything, including parking lot and drive through line accidents.

They are no better than their customer base.

[justletmein]

85 is the max speed on mine for Super Cruise...but it will do that towing a trailer even. Regular cruise with adaptive can be set higher on the same truck however.

It is such a convenience that I don't mind going 5MPH slower at times.

That's pretty freaking slick then, hmmmmm.