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Comment by GoOnThenDoTell | Hacker News Reader

37mph seems low, I had assumed autobahn was highways

I saw this news somewhere else, in a much better article which I’m having trouble finding in my browser history.

The purpose of the system is basically to take over in bad traffic, doing everything for you, until things are good enough to drive again yourself.

This makes a certain amount of sense. Obviously the slower the car goes the more time it has to react to situations. It will also cause less damage if it makes a mistake.

Driving on the highway isn’t bad at all, especially with radar cruise control. I think I would rather have a system capable of handling bad traffic for me totally.

Just a tangent: why do a transport-related website list this in mph? It should be km/h before mph in this instance because it's the native speed measurement in the Autobahn.

Knowing nothing about the site I would assume they target an American (or British?) audience.

It seems to be a new trend where people think that translating to English means using imperial. This is the same thing in YouTube video, they feel compelled to use inch, lbs and whatever unknown measure

half of all the driving I did on the autobahn on my way to France this summer was crawling slowly through trafficjams so it makes sense. Also who would want to let a autopilot do +100k h while manual drivers whizz by at double that speed?

Seems best to start low until the system proves itself. At 60 km/h on the Autobahn, the minimum speed, you don't need a system that can overtake or even switch lanes.

You don’t need it. But you will be overtaken - by everything including the heaviest trucks. 60 is not a safe speed to drive on the Autobahn. It forces others to overtake and take the left/middle lane, which can impact vehicles there driving at much higher speed.

But I think driving 60 on the right lane is also not the scope of the system - it’s about handling traffic jams.

37 mph = 60 km/h

Driving in traffic jam takes a lot more physical and mental toll than in a smooth running traffic.

It is, the minimum allowed speed of which is 37 mph

Note quite, rather, if your vehicle can't reliably sustain that, you aren't allowed on the Autobahn. There is no minimum allowed speed as-such, though there might be problems if you drive slower than that for no reason.

It is.

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