once we've refactored humans out of driving, the speed limits can go way up

Theoretically, fully automated driving doesn't require traffic signals, as much lighting, guard rails, lane width, rumble strips, reflectors, signage, etc.

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DANmode an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

At minimum increased to what they would be

if driving was a privilege

and not treated as a de facto right,

only withheld as a last-resort due to the curse it can be in the US.

	▲	cindyllm an hour ago \| parent [-]
		[dead]

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cucumber3732842 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I don't think so.

Engineers design a road for 55. Police say make it 40 for $$ and pretext. Public says make it 60. Karen says make it 30. Politician says they don't care as long as Karen stops screeching, the public doesn't hate them and the police doesn't hate them. End result ->45

Refactoring the humans out would only change a couple of the less influential inputs to that equation. It might actually make it way worse if the public loses interest.

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Sohcahtoa82 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Engineers design a road for 55.

Not always.

I think a lot of time, speed limits are set based on the expected amount of traffic, not the curvature or the road. For example, I-5 in the Portland area south of the OR-217 interchange has extremely gentle curves. You could take them at 100 mph and not risk losing grip.

Yet the limit is 55 mph anyways because that area is expected to have considerable traffic, with traffic merging on and off. The limit is kept low to keep collision speeds low.

But if every car was autonomous, that wouldn't be necessary. Autonomous cars can be far more cooperative than human drivers, even without inter-car communication. It's 4 lanes wide. We could let that left lane go 90 mph for the cars that don't need to be exiting any time soon, while the right lane travels slower because cars are either merging on or off. Human drivers suck at this kind of arrangement because we have slow-pokes that think "The limit is just a limit, I don't have to go that fast" and go 5 under the limit in whatever lane they feel like, combined with others that think being overtaken is a personal insult, people that think their lane is a birthright and don't let people merge ("I have to tailgate or else people get in front of me!"), and other toxic human behaviors.

Take the human out of the equation, and we can easily go faster than 55.

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	▲	rootusrootus 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> I-5 in the Portland area south of the OR-217 interchange has extremely gentle curves. Not even that, there is one curve on I-5 south of 217, it is otherwise a straight line until you get to Wilsonville (and before then it goes up to 65 mph at the intersection with 205).

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Barbing 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Might increase as trust grows.

Can’t stop until cross traffic can simultaneously use intersections all at 100 miles an hour with inches to spare

	▲	cucumber3732842 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		>Can’t stop until cross traffic can simultaneously use intersections all at 100 miles an hour with inches to spare Heck I'd just be happy with banked curves.