According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), rear-end collisions make up the majority of crashes on the road. Stop-and-go traffic is one of the situations that can lead to a rear-end crash, as people can become distracted, misjudge the distance between themselves and a lead vehicle, or not have time to react to a lead vehicle suddenly braking.
It is our hope that autonomous technology and connected infrastructure will create a future without traffic jams. Still, self-driving cars need to be able to navigate stop-and-go traffic with human driver behavior in mind. Our self-driving car is developed to avoid and mitigate rear-end collisions with human drivers by ensuring it keeps a safe following speed and distance, as well as avoiding abrupt braking, giving humans behind it time to react.
This video shows a few scenarios of the Torc self-driving car successfully maintaining appropriate following distance between cars in stop-and-go traffic. The Torc car accelerates and brakes smoothly with the flow of traffic, fills gaps created by cars leaving the lane, and adjusts speed as the lane moves forward.
We’re showcasing the capabilities of our autonomous car system on real public roads with real scenarios the car has encountered. To get updates on the latest videos, check back on our blog or subscribe to our YouTube channel.