[kevin_thibedeau]

> Handling yellow lights properly, involves us having to predict how long they will remain yellow for

No. That isn't how yellow lights work in the US. If the light turns yellow and you have enough space/time to make a safe stop you do it. There's no need to predict the remaining time on yellow phase. We don't need robot cars bending these rules.

[travisporter]

Not sure why you're being downvoted, but I think this is a classic example of why self-driving is so hard. They're not bending the rules, just copying what humans do. We also predict how long a light will be yellow for, but do it naturally (if you just saw it turn from green, or it was yellow as soon as it was in your line of sight).

[rrdharan]

In Delaware on Route 1 if you follow this advice you are likely to get rear ended. They have traffic lights on a 50mph route that stay in yellow for a long time.

I often find myself slowing down to a stop then awkwardly realizing I’m stopped with multiple seconds of yellow remaining and drivers honking behind me.

Maybe my brakes (or reflexes) are just too good?

[gpm]

No. That's what the law says but not how you drive.

Suppose your 4 seconds from a yellow light traveling at a high speed. You can slam on your breaks and make a very abrupt stop, or you can cruise through that light and continue on your way.

If the light is about to turn red you should probably slam on your breaks, because you risk being t-boned in the intersection.

If you have time to get through the yellow light/before the cross light turns green, you should keep going because slamming on your breaks is mildly dangerous.

The law isn't nuanced enough to understand this, with good reason. You don't want to make a bad call about the safest action made in good faith illegal.