FSD Use Case 1 - Single Lane Bridge

[dckiwi]

I decided it might be fun to start posting interesting 'edge cases' we encounter in daily driving, and discuss how/whether/when we think Tesla's FSD will be able to handle them without driver intervention, based on what we know today about their approach to autonomous vehicles.

My first example is a one lane bridge that I cross on my way home from work every day. This is a fairly busy road, and as you'll see in the video, traffic backs up in both directions waiting their turn to cross the bridge. There is an interesting flow to the traffic - sometimes one car from each direction goes at a time, other times a group of two or three cars will go across at once (which then prompts a similar number to cross from the other side). There are all kinds of non-obvious clues and patterns as to whose turn it is to cross the bridge.

How would a self-driving car handle this situation? First of all, how would it know that this was a one lane bridge that allowed traffic in both directions? The 'Yield to Oncoming Traffic' sign might give it a clue, assuming FSD will eventually be able to read and interpret these signs. If it were approaching the bridge and there was no traffic coming the other way, presumably it would recognize the bridge as drivable space and cross with no issue. What if a car was coming the other direction? Would it know that they both couldn't 'fit'? If cars were taking turns, would it know to wait when it was at the front of the line?

I think about these use cases whenever Elon makes casual remarks about 'removing the steering wheel' within the next few years.....

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[Fiver]

This is a great example of an edge case! I'm also intrigued as to how FSD will handle this.

 

[willow_hiller]

I imagine FSD might act a bit like the Jeep did. Slow down for the yield sign, nudge forward, come to a stop when an incoming vehicle blocks the drivable space, continue when the drivable space is free again.

 

[Daniel in SD]

in Hawaii you let 5-7 cars go at a time. 2 cars is super inefficient. Doing FSD without maps and location specific etiquette rules seems very hard.

 

[RDoc]

I'd think that it would be pretty simple compared to a car ferry.

 

[RDoc]

More seriously, how about a police officer directing one way traffic?

 

[golfpilot]

The freeway I drive everyday has been getting resurfaced. We are talking about 4-5 lanes all going one way with NO markings and lots of cones for construction. EAP just goes crazy. Following the car ahead doesn't seem to help it much

 

[banned-66611]

I'd say this is a relatively easy one, not much of an edge case really as there are lots of situations where only one vehicle can pass, such as narrow roads with parked cars.

 

[AntoniusJR]

A lot of the navigation use cases will emerge no doubt, like this "the ferry just left" in 1998 which happpened to an overconfident BMW driver. Understood later from a con-colleague that also in Stuttgart at Daimler, some telephone calls were made to their supplier....

Pre - internet time photo!

 

[Alset4S]

Elon has stated that when FSD is fully functional the steering wheel will be removed. I attend several functions a year where parking is on a temporary lot to catch a shuttle bus. Parking is by hand signals from humans. Wondering how that's gonna work?

 

[Daniel in SD]

Elon has stated that when FSD is fully functional the steering wheel will be removed. I attend several functions a year where parking is on a temporary lot to catch a shuttle bus. Parking is by hand signals from humans. Wondering how that's gonna work?

Cruise and Waymo vehicles do take hand signals from humans but yeah that does sound very challenging!
My guess is that a FSD vehicle would only work on mapped roads, drop you off, and then go somewhere else to park.

 

[ckoval7]

Another edge case I often wonder about, and seems to be a common scenario here in MD:
You're second in line at a stop light. The light turns green, but the driver in front of you is too busy texting to notice. Will the self driving car honk, or will it sit indefinitely behind the distracted driver? You could program the car to honk automatically after 10 or so seconds, but what if the person in front of you is stopped for a legitimate reason, like something is obstructing their path? If the self driving car doesn't know that, then it's just being a rude piece of machinery.

 

[favo]

OK, I guess we are posting tricky cases in this thread, so I'll bite.

The other day I saw a bus turning right onto a two-way street (one lane each way) that had a left-turn lane in the center (just near the intersection). There were cars in both the right lane and the left-turn lane of street the bus was trying to turn onto. The car in the left-turn lane was blocking the bus from turning, but the bus initiated the turn anyway, forcing the car in the left-turn lane to back up to get out of the bus's way. Fortunately, there were no other cars behind the single car in the left-turn lane. Otherwise, it would have been even more ugly. Of course, the human driver did the right thing and backed up, allowing the bus to complete its turn.

I wonder when autonomous cars will be able to handle that scenario. You could argue that the bus should have waited until the way was clear to initiate its turn. As long as there are human drivers, we know that will not always happen.

 

[banned-66611]

Car parks will be a big challenge. Because they are not public roads they don't adhere to the standards for public roads, meaning there could be all sorts of random signs, road markings, odd turnings... And of course a mix of parked and moving vehicles, and pedestrians, and tight corners flanked by concrete.