[lotsofpulp]

They're probably erring on the side of safety so staying far enough so that the car can come to a complete stop if the car in front slams their brakes. The way most people drive, if the car in front slams their brakes, they don't have enough distance to stop, but driving closer to the person in front of you reduces traffic so it's a decision we make to increase risk a little to save time.

The companies making the software of course want to avoid lawsuits so they're going to ignore time savings.

[grogenaut]

yeah I get why they're doing it, it just feels mis-calibrated. Everyone talks about self driving cars packing in as tight as train cars but what I'm seeing currently is them using 4x the space at least. And yes I know it's not L5 driving, but at this rate, 90% of cars in 10-15 years will be this spaced out by default. Rip commute times.

Also get off my lawn.

[seanmcdirmid]

The packing can only occur if all cars are self driving. It is unlikely to occur in the USA for awhile but we will probably see it happen in China where traffic is really bad.