Driving Near To Big Trucks And Other Vehicles Is A Dicey Predicament For Self-Driving Cars

Dr. Lance Eliot, AI Insider

[Ed. Note: For reader’s interested in Dr. Eliot’s ongoing business analyses about the advent of self-driving cars, see his online Forbes column: https://forbes.com/sites/lanceeliot/]

I was on a mountainous highway that large trucks use to haul goods from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

Numerous passenger cars were zipping along nearby and passing the trucks, though those car drivers efforts at doing so were frequently being dangerously performed.

Some people don’t put much thought into the act of passing a truck.

Let’s consider some of the dangers involved.

Dangers When Passing A Truck

The moment that your car begins to pass a truck, you are now adjacent to a large and “immovable” object.

You then are continuously at risk as you proceed alongside the truck.

In my case, while being in the leftmost lane and passing a large truck to my right, it meant that I had a large vehicle to my right that blocked any possibility of my being able to go to my right as an evasive driving tactic.