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Proper "Drafting" Technique?

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I wonder what are people drafting try to accomplish ? Saving a 10 minutes stop at a supercharger ? Saving a few bucks on a trip ? Are you guys so tight on time and money ? Really ?

I hate when somebody is close behind me. I actually tap the brakes to light up the rear lights when it happens. It is just dangerous. Even with the AP. We all know that it is not 100% reliable.

Drafting doesn't necessarily mean tailgating.

I purposely drafted behind a big rig (with big mud flaps!) at roughly an AP distance of 3 on one leg of a road trip since from our departure location we could either back track to a supercharger or try and hit the next supercharger with an estimated <10% battery remaining. So in the beginning part of the leg I took it easy on the speed and stayed behind the big rig at a safe distance until our estimated arrival was above 10%.
 
I wonder what are people drafting try to accomplish ? Saving a 10 minutes stop at a supercharger ? Saving a few bucks on a trip ? Are you guys so tight on time and money ? Really ?

I hate when somebody is close behind me. I actually tap the brakes to light up the rear lights when it happens. It is just dangerous. Even with the AP. We all know that it is not 100% reliable.
I know. I’m a cheap duck but not that cheap.
 
The 3 second rule is obsolete in the era of TACC and AEB. I don't think any following setting in a Tesla is 3 seconds. Eventually you will be able to follow a few feet for very significant energy savings. Find another Tesla or 2 on the highway and draft at 80 mph for the energy use of 60 mph. Teslas won't follow that close yet.
 
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The 3 second rule is obsolete in the era of TACC and AEB. I don't think any following setting in a Tesla is 3 seconds. Eventually you will be able to follow a few feet for very significant energy savings. Find another Tesla or 2 on the highway and draft at 80 mph for the energy use of 60 mph. Teslas won't follow that close yet.

Good luck with this, people have way to much faith in the technology or they are watching too much Nascar. Technology will not change the laws of physics.
 
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Good luck with this, people have way to much faith in the technology or they are watching too much Nascar. Technology will not change the laws of physics.
Laws of physics need not be changed. The car just reacts in a fraction of the time that humans do. At 60 mph the car with a 0.1 sec reaction time need only allow about 10 ft ( 8.8 ) spacing.
 
Laws of physics need not be changed. The car just reacts in a fraction of the time that humans do. At 60 mph the car with a 0.1 sec reaction time need only allow about 10 ft ( 8.8 ) spacing.

Your car, your insurance. However is someone is following me at 10 feet, i'll pull on the side and wait 10 minutes to make sure i don't encounter this person again.
 
Laws of physics need not be changed. The car just reacts in a fraction of the time that humans do. At 60 mph the car with a 0.1 sec reaction time need only allow about 10 ft ( 8.8 ) spacing.

You clearly have no real concept of the amount of data processed by the human brain and how fast it can do it. You have no consideration of the number of variables that can impact stopping distance. The idea of going from 60-0 in 10 ft is pretty funny.
 
The truth about saving energy by following trucks has less to do with drafting, and more to do with driving a slower and consistent speed. You'll save 5-10% on consumption if you follow an 18 wheeler at a safe distance but you're also likely slowing down to do it.

On the way back to TX from FL a few years ago, I was driving through the night so I was able to check this in a controlled manner. I saved about 5% in my Model S by drafting an 18-wheeler even when using the following distance setting of 7, which was far enough back for me to see both of his mirrors, and therefore for him to see me.
 
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You clearly have no real concept of the amount of data processed by the human brain and how fast it can do it. You have no consideration of the number of variables that can impact stopping distance. The idea of going from 60-0 in 10 ft is pretty funny.
The 10 ft is more than the 8.8 ft a car going 60 mph goes in 0.1 sec. The stopping distance of the vehicles in a car train is assumed to be the same. These concepts of car trains are 50 years old. Tesla's also see more than one car ahead. A car train acts as one unit.
The amount of data processed by the human brain is large but the amount of time it takes to react is eons compared to computers. That's the factor here.
 
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The 10 ft is more than the 8.8 ft a car going 60 mph goes in 0.1 sec. The stopping distance of the vehicles in a car train is assumed to be the same. These concepts of car trains are 50 years old. Tesla's also see more than one car ahead. A car train acts as one unit.
The amount of data processed by the human brain is large but the amount of time it takes to react is eons compared to computers. That's the factor here.

What if the lead car impacts a stationary object, either through an unexpected maneuver from another vehicle or through a computer error? Multi-car pileup.

We are still a long way out from cars and trucks traveling as a group in extremely close proximity. We’ll get there eventually, but not now.
 
The 10 ft is more than the 8.8 ft a car going 60 mph goes in 0.1 sec. The stopping distance of the vehicles in a car train is assumed to be the same. These concepts of car trains are 50 years old. Tesla's also see more than one car ahead. A car train acts as one unit.
The amount of data processed by the human brain is large but the amount of time it takes to react is eons compared to computers. That's the factor here.

True story I'm driving through a Canadian mountain highway, I'm following the car in front at a safe distance. As we round the bend I see a rig approaching, my human brain in all its glory instantly detects the truck is very slightly off center. I did not have time to understand what was wrong but just like when watching CG my brain instantly detected something was not right and set off an alarm. The truck had ever so slightly lost traction with the road. I immediately swerved hard right, in the next second the truck visibly started to jack knife completely lost traction and entered our lane and impacted the car in front. His stopping distance was actually negative and the car was driven several hundred meters past the impact point opposite of our direction of travel. I missed them by a hairs width and then entered the stretch of road that caused the truck to break lose and my car lost traction on the black ice. Again my wonderful brain slowed the entire event and drifted the corner and recovered safely. Never in million years could I repeat that maneuver but the human brain can do incredible things when it goes into survival mode. Tesla does not even register on coming traffic and would never even have detected that the rig had lost traction.
 
What if the lead car impacts a stationary object, either through an unexpected maneuver from another vehicle or through a computer error? Multi-car pileup.

We are still a long way out from cars and trucks traveling as a group in extremely close proximity. We’ll get there eventually, but not now.
Cars and trucks already are traveling in extremely close proximity but unsafely because of human reaction time. The lead car of a car train will be autonomous also and will avoid the obstacle. These computers are dual channel and self checking as is every other system on the car. Faults are announced and the system fails operationally/safely. You have been riding in aircraft that autoland for over 50 years. The parameters are well understood. The present efforts are teaching the video, radar and ultrasonic sensors to recognize the objects necessary for autonomous driving. Tesla test cars already do that well. Tesla with it's huge fleet of AP/EAP cars is well positioned to verify the rare events. This will come quickly and the drafting is essentially already here. Pick a Tesla and draft him with AP/EAP spacing 1 at 80 mph.
 
True story I'm driving through a Canadian mountain highway, I'm following the car in front at a safe distance. As we round the bend I see a rig approaching, my human brain in all its glory instantly detects the truck is very slightly off center. I did not have time to understand what was wrong but just like when watching CG my brain instantly detected something was not right and set off an alarm. The truck had ever so slightly lost traction with the road. I immediately swerved hard right, in the next second the truck visibly started to jack knife completely lost traction and entered our lane and impacted the car in front. His stopping distance was actually negative and the car was driven several hundred meters past the impact point opposite of our direction of travel. I missed them by a hairs width and then entered the stretch of road that caused the truck to break lose and my car lost traction on the black ice. Again my wonderful brain slowed the entire event and drifted the corner and recovered safely. Never in million years could I repeat that maneuver but the human brain can do incredible things when it goes into survival mode. Tesla does not even register on coming traffic and would never even have detected that the rig had lost traction.
People shouldn't be living in Canada particularly in the winter. Why weren't you in Florida with all the other Canadians.

Tesla sees ALL the traffic but doesn't currently display oncoming and other items that aren't important.
 
Cars and trucks already are traveling in extremely close proximity but unsafely because of human reaction time. The lead car of a car train will be autonomous also and will avoid the obstacle. These computers are dual channel and self checking as is every other system on the car. Faults are announced and the system fails operationally/safely. You have been riding in aircraft that autoland for over 50 years. The parameters are well understood. The present efforts are teaching the video, radar and ultrasonic sensors to recognize the objects necessary for autonomous driving. Tesla test cars already do that well. Tesla with it's huge fleet of AP/EAP cars is well positioned to verify the rare events. This will come quickly and the drafting is essentially already here. Pick a Tesla and draft him with AP/EAP spacing 1 at 80 mph.
FYI, there is a lot of conditions and limitations in order to autoland an aircraft.
 
People shouldn't be living in Canada particularly in the winter. Why weren't you in Florida with all the other Canadians.

Tesla sees ALL the traffic but doesn't currently display oncoming and other items that aren't important.

Does it really though, I have zero confidence in mine seeing oncoming or stationary vehicles that have accroached into my lane. If it sees them it is perfectly content to run into them. Also to draft a Tesla you would have to be inches from its bumper. You can draft a full sized rig from that distance because of its size and displacement. The draft behind a car is much smaller and the more aerodynamic the car the less beneficial the draft will be.
 
You clearly have no real concept of the amount of data processed by the human brain and how fast it can do it. You have no consideration of the number of variables that can impact stopping distance. The idea of going from 60-0 in 10 ft is pretty funny.

You clearly don't understand the situation being discussed. Nobody said a car can stop in 10 ft.

He said the computer's reaction time means you only need a follow distance of ten feet.

Unless the car in front of you can go from 60 to 0 in zero seconds, you'll have more than 10 feet to stop.