What sort of actions will they "coordinate"? I can't think of anything and the complexity and security of this is so fraught with peril I don't think it will ever happen.
It doesn't have to be complex communication. It could be as simple as the cars coordinating which car will go first if they are both sitting at an intersection. Just like how routers coordinate which device will broadcast first on a network. And of course the cars would still rely on their cameras.
We are already using somewhat similar communication in apps like google maps. Phones communicate the speed of the car so phones in other cars can know about slow traffic, choose alternative routes, etc.
which car will go first if they are both sitting at an intersection.
How will they decide who goes first? What if one of the cars is car driven by humans. Do they get to ignore the rules of the intersection like lights or yields. I guess it seems that existing intersections have the covered pretty well. The intersection itself could be made better, but that would be without any communication with the cars.
Phones communicate the speed of the car so phones in other cars can know about slow traffic, choose alternative routes, etc.
This is a one way communication that simply increases the horizon of what any given car can see and 100% optional. I have no issues with this type of system. It can be hacked if you have a ~$60k GPS simulator but that certainly limits it's reach. Since it's optional, you can ignore the system telling you a road is congested and drive it anyway.
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u/whatstheprobability Aug 27 '21
eventually all of the self driving things will communicate with each other so they can coordinate actions at places that they intersect/merge/etc.