Objectively, this shouldn't be too hard. In regular non-self-driving cars, your Traction Control already detects these things like slipping tire traction and automatically closes your throttle and reduces tire speed to try to save your life in rain/snow/mud.
traction control just reduces power when you spin the wheels. you have to spin the wheels first for it to detect it. (it's basically the reverse of anti-lock brakes.)
MannerSaurus posted...
You don't touch the brakes going downhill in low traction. You, ideally, should never touch the brakes while going down hill in the first place...
this wasn't like I *hit* the brakes and had this happen, I put them on extremely gently only to try to keep from gaining more speed.
the fundamental problem that I don't see a solution for is that you can't tell how slippery things are until you're slipping. there's a particular condition with slushy wet snow on a warm road that can make things *extremely* slippery, about as bad as sheer wet ice. when you're in that situation, you need to go like half-speed or less and do things like brake and steer with *insane* caution. but you can't tell you're in that situation until you've already slipped on it. I don't see how the computer can detect the road slipperiness *in advance* and go the appropriate speed and use the appropriate pressures.
also, you mention traction control, but keep in mind that things like anti-lock and traction-control, which are already a form of self-driving, are already *worse* than doing them manually. threshold braking is so much better than anti-lock, in fact anti-lock is almost dangerous in slippery enough conditions, because you end up with basically zero braking. pressing the gas lightly is also better than traction-control.
ABS pulses brakes a thousand times faster than any human being can dream of, but you are right... that in certain conditions, these computer safeties aren't an end-all solution and can actually be dangerous.
By the way, I'm against self-driving cars, for the most part. I'm just having an objective debate on certain ideas pertaining to it with you. At the end of the day, I'm on your side. I just don't think it's too farfetched to calculate some of these things. ---
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