Can we have drone assisted driverless cars?

Sounds over complicating what is not that difficult a concept.I can’t think of what info a drone could see before the properly equipped car would see.

@zenvelo Maybe around tight corners?

I don’t know about the drones, but we already have driverless taxis in my town. They currently have driver’s, because they are still in a testing phase. The rides are free for the testing.

Could we? Probably. Is it a great idea? Probably not. The more you add to any given system the greater the likelihood of something along the line breaking down and rendering the whole non-functional.

It might be a good idea to have driverless cars come with equipment to electronically communicate with nearby cars and to a traffic monitoring network. Cars would be able to automatically follow detours and to adjust their speed to minimize travel time. I don’t see what further advantage a drone would give.

The drones could see a lot more from the air. Something that would make more sense is having 1 drone per X square miles, rather than a drone for each car. This drone sends information to all of the cars within its radius.

But what is the drone telling the car? Seeing more than 100 yards ahead of the car is no more useful than using Waze, and a lot more expensive.

I wouldn’t want to spend my driving money to fund a drone that is going to tell me there is traffic a mile ahead.

Seeing 100 yards ahead would let the car know that there is a massive pile up in progress. Apparently many humans don’t notice that kind of thing until they’re right on top of it.

It would be nice to have in fog, too.

If a massive pile up is 100 yards ahead then you’re already right on top of it. That’s only around 300 feet. If you can’t see that far ahead then you shouldn’t be driving.

@Dutchess_III Remember, we are talking about driverless cars, not drone assist for current drivers.

If a car’s radar can’t see through the fog, then the drone couldn’t either.

I didn’t think about the car having radar. But wouldn’t being in the air be SOME advantage @zenvelo?

OK, 200 or 300 yards or what ever @Darth_Algar. And I agree. If you can’t see 100 yards in front you shouldn’t be driving. But guess what….

Even at 900 ft (300 yards) one ought to be able to see fine. That’s an average 1–1½ blocks.

@Darth_Algar One should. But many don’t, or, most ikely, they just don’t pay attention. Or they assume there is nothing they can run into in the fog.
You’ve seen the videos. How is it some drivers manage to stop in time, and others just plow into the pile up having never reduced their speed?

The point is, whether the car is driverless or being driven by a human, if it/they can’t notice that pile up 300, 600 or 900 feet ahead then that drone isn’t going to make any difference.

In the case of a car that’s being driven, it’s not that the humans “can’t” notice, it’s that a lot of them simply don’t notice because they aren’t paying attention. However, if there was a drone in the area to call it to their attention it would help.

If the car is driver less I would assume we wouldn’t have the problem with the technology not paying attention.