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Trucking companies aren't interested because we are still a long ways off in technology to make it work. Electric trains could be done far quicker.
Agreed! But the first "heavy duty" electric locomotives were developed over eighty years ago, and self-propelled passenger cars up to thirty years before that, Two systems, the Pennsylvania and the Milwaukee, maintained electrically-powered lines intended primarily for freight, but the cost of maintaining, and limited mobility imposed by the umbilical cord of overhead catenary (wiring) eventually doomed these efforts, and the last of them was deactivated in the spring of 1982.
I don't live in a city so using them like an driverless uber won't work for me. I have kids so using it as a rental model won't work for me. I don't care if you've found a clever way to make it work with the kids, I ain't doing it. I need car seats and they leave a mess that I might not want to clean up til next week. I'm also not ride sharing. With my luck I'll end up sitting next to some Indian guy who smells like curry and doesn't realize that in America we shower daily. Or my daughter or wife will get stuck alone in a car with a sex offender. Maybe one who doesn't realize that in America we shower daily.
If any of those ideas will work for you and your lifestyle then great. It's when people start trying to get all clever and find ways to force that lifestyle on those of us who have no interest in it that I start to become concerned. You leave me to my thing and I'll leave you to yours.
Automated cars will have quick and easy automated battery exchange. Pop out battery, replace with fully charged battery, place the removed battery on the solar charger then put it into the next car. Done by robots.
I wouldn't count on that happening any time soon, although I don't have objections to the autonomous vehicle as a general concept. The problem, as I see it, is that a gullible, non- or anti-technical public is being led to believe that the transition will be far faster, and more "seamless" than is likely to be the case.
I very much agree with that sentiment. No doubt it will happen... someday. But predictions of having autonomous fleets on the road within five years are too optimistic. I see test vehicles driving around Phoenix area and they are nowhere near ready to be cut loose, IMO. And this is an area where the roads are clean, dry, and well marked.
In addition to the technical challenges, there are of course the issues of insurance and liability to sort out. Not trivial.
Nobody’s giving up car ownership...ever.
Nobody’s carpooling or taking Uber to work now. They’re not going to start just because there’s no other human to talk to in the car.
Cars and parking lots will still be there long enough for it to matter to anybody alive now.
yep, nobody is going to want to give up a car? You would have to live 5 miles from your neighbor to believe that.
yep, nobody is going to want to give up a car? You would have to live 5 miles from your neighbor to believe that.
Well, that's a faulty sentiment. Obviously, somebody will give it up when it becomes a viable option. How many and how soon who knows? It's not going to be tomorrow but someday within the next decade or so it probably will happen.
Well, that's a faulty sentiment. Obviously, somebody will give it up when it becomes a viable option. How many and how soon who knows, but someday in the next decade or so probably
Someday in the next decade what? Some people in specific circumstances will give up cars and give autonomous cars a chance? Sure, if the tech is ready. All or most people will? Not a chance, even if the tech is ready.
Someday in the next decade what? Some people in specific circumstances will give up cars and give autonomous cars a chance? Sure, if the tech is ready. All or most people will? Not a chance, even if the tech is ready.
That's a lot more people than "nobody." Tech wise I think it will be pretty close by then. I never said everybody is going to give to give up there cars either. It only takes a segment of society to make it feasible.
I'm sure lots of folks didn't think the horse and buggy whip would be replaced either.
Last edited by biggunsmallbrains; 10-18-2017 at 11:56 AM..
Today I know several people who do not own cars. They are able to walk, bicycle, Uber, and/or rent cars by the minute for most of their needs. I'm not sure their lives will be all that much better once autonomous cars become available. And for suburban dwellers I seriously doubt autonomy will be very cost effective, as the car may need to drive itself many miles out of the way just to pick up one fare.
I think probably the biggest potential WRT autonomous transportation would be better use of freeway systems. Human drivers exhibit all manner of reckless behavior on the freeway, causing unnecessary accidents and congestion. However, I'd guess the big improvements would not happen until essentially all of the cars are autonomous. The period of mixed use will be very messy, IMO. So probably the first use on a large scale will be on private toll roads that can more easily (maybe??) restrict use to autonomous only.
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