Proper "Drafting" Technique?

[Darscot]

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.

As I already posted cars on the highway can have a negative stopping distance. Its those pesky laws of physics, mass and velocity. The minuscule benefit of drafting is far out weighed by the increased danger.

 

[mike123abc]

You can draft at a safe distance on autopilot. This doe not mean that you go to sleep and expect automatic braking to handle all problems. I have successfully drafted behind 18 wheelers, large pickup trucks and SUVs. Yes even a moderate sized SUV will break up the air flow enough to improve your mileage when you follow 2-3 seconds behind.

The adaptive cruise control is a safety net, odds are it will react quicker than a human can to slow/stop the vehicle in case of problems. But, of course it is not full self driving and the driver needs to be aware of the circumstances and also react as fast as possible. It might not recognize problems in an adjacent lane that could flip into your lane... Unless you rate a closed highway and escort vehicles like the president, you will always have vehicles around you that could at any moment cause a problem for you. Just because you are following one does not mean that it is more likely to suddenly crash...

 

[lolder]

FYI, there is a lot of conditions and limitations in order to autoland an aircraft.

FYI I flew them and the one I flew only had a crosswind limitation. Most of them are "fail-operational" which means that they can have major system failures and still complete the landing. That is Tesla's intent. Autonomous driving is harder but we are 50 years past mastering autoland.

 

[duanra]

FYI I flew them and the one I flew only had a crosswind limitation. Most of them are "fail-operational" which means that they can have major system failures and still complete the landing. That is Tesla's intent. Autonomous driving is harder but we are 50 years past mastering autoland.

No tail wind limitation ? No head wind limitations ?
With all kinds of approaches ?
Single AP landing ?
My point is, yes, we master autoland in some restricted conditions and under close human supervision. I won't trust one bit AP on a car yet specially without any infrastructures built for thise cars. Again planes can do safely it with a very specific set of environment.

 

[lolder]

It had dual autopliots same as Tesla. ILS approach. I don't remember any headwind or tailwind limitation other than the aircraft 10 kt. tailwind limit. Whichever AP was turned on first flew the aircraft. You turned on ( armed ) the second AP for autoland only. It was Cat III c. It steered the nosewheel and put on the brakes and stopped on the runway. There were ground equipment requirements but I don't know why. It needed nothing but a good ILS. You could not over-ride the AP in autoland. You could only push a go-around or disconnect button. Teslas have similar redundancies. Two electric steering systems, dual FSD computer channels, braking, Three forward facing cameras, wiring for additional front radar. They have done their homework. My Tesla sees and avoids bicycles and pedestrians on unmarked roads already. There are many YouTube videos showing what Teslas see and identify. What you see on the screen is sometimes a tenth of what the cars are presently identifying.

Teslas do not need external aids like ILS systems. They work on all roads. They are not in need of Geo-fencing or precision mapping like all the other competitors. They currently usually need one lane line to engage but there is a dirt road YouTube clip where it will engage on some turns.

This is coming fast.