Rise of the Machines

[RainMan303]

Pretty soon? Hmmm I would think not. There's too much tied up in ownership pride for one thing. Cars to a lot of people are status symbols, reflections of their personality, objects of passion, objects to aspire to, objects to dream about and work hard to achieve, projects, labours of lust, long hours and sweat.

Hate to tell you this, but we're in the minority anymore. Motorcyclists by default are the types that you're talking about. Most younger people today are not petrol heads. People used the same logic when automatic transmissions were becoming popular. Remember the talk of how automatics take the joy of driving away? And where are we now? Maybe cars that you can drive will still be available.... but it will cost you extra to put in a steering wheel and the pedals in it much like it does for a manual transmission today for some cars. It'll be called "The Retro Package" lol

Then there's also an entire industry built around selling them and modifying them.

Who would have ever thought General Motors would ever have to file for bankruptcy!?



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[onearmedbandit]

Hate to tell you this, but we're in the minority anymore. Motorcyclists by default are the types that you're talking about. Most younger people today are not petrol heads. People used the same logic when automatic transmissions were becoming popular. Remember the talk of how automatics take the joy of driving away? And where are we now? Maybe cars that you can drive will still be available.... but it will cost you extra to put in a steering wheel and the pedals in it much like it does for a manual transmission today for some cars. It'll be called "The Retro Package" lol

Hate to tell you this, but having been involved in car sales for longer than I care to remember I still see buyers making emotive decisions. Whether it's a $5000 car or a $50,000, people will or won't buy it because of the colour/wheels/engine/interior/styling/'flashness' etc etc. In fact no one I've dealt with has ever said 'I just need a car to get me from A-B, here's my money, surprise me'.

[R650R]

Just had a though re the sharing of these electric/self drive vehicles... if you've ever had shared vehicles in a large workplace you'll know where im coming from...
Other peoples pic crumbs, ciggy ash and god knows what else seat stains etc....
As it will be pointless owning your own vehicle if they will all perform the same....

Got new jandals for the cage today, tyre companies will be hit hard. There will be no market for performance tyres or even different sizes if we are all forced to use the same self driven vehicles.

[RainMan303]

Just had a though re the sharing of these electric/self drive vehicles... if you've ever had shared vehicles in a large workplace you'll know where im coming from...
Other peoples pic crumbs, ciggy ash and god knows what else seat stains etc....
As it will be pointless owning your own vehicle if they will all perform the same....

Got new jandals for the cage today, tyre companies will be hit hard. There will be no market for performance tyres or even different sizes if we are all forced to use the same self driven vehicles.

Yes, the world will be very different. Tire companies, muffler manufacturers, fuel injection manufacturers, the whole drivetrain of an Electric is different. Companies will have to adjust or die.


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[jonbuoy]

Current cars can already tell the difference between a cardboard box and a pedestrian. I went to a Audi Q7 launch a little while ago and one of the displays was showing how the city assist systems work. An empty cardboard box (small fridge size) was thrown out in front of the Q7, it ran this down as it recognized it as cardboard box and as the safest thing to do is to run it over so it did so. But when one of the people running the display stepped out in front of the Q7 it first pulsed the brakes and shook the steering wheel to wake the driver up and if you did nothing it braked the Q7 to a stop. link below to an description of the different city assist systems.

https://audi-illustrated.com/en/a4-a...stance-systems

That's pretty impressive, I wonder how it would cope with a kid in a Halloween costume made from Cardboard boxes. Still must be a very smart system.

[Akzle]

That's pretty impressive, I wonder how it would cope with a kid in a Halloween costume made from Cardboard boxes. Still must be a very smart system.

different thermal and radar signatures.
teh laserscanning happens at pace too.

[F5 Dave]

Maybe if your in a remote location - in which case you would need a personal car. If every single car currently on the roads was an autonomous vehicle you wouldn't have to wait long. I can see it being more like private train carriages that pick you up from your door. On motorways cars can be linked up taking less space and sharing power. You can be shuffled around to make sure you hit your exit correctly. Maybe not in our lifetimes but it will come.

We all like Riding or Driving for "fun" on empty roads but how many people enjoy trudging along in heavy traffic nose to tail? Does anyone actually enjoy driving to the shops or would you rather a car just took you there while you read a book, watched a movie or just chatted and passed the time of day?

Yes so it pisses on the dramatically fewer cars argument.

For it to work in the suburbs where most people live you would be stopping outside to pick people up. I guess if they were all organised and considerate it might be OK. Good luck with that..

[Voltaire]

Hate to tell you this, but having been involved in car sales for longer than I care to remember I still see buyers making emotive decisions. Whether it's a $5000 car or a $50,000, people will or won't buy it because of the colour/wheels/engine/interior/styling/'flashness' etc etc. In fact no one I've dealt with has ever said 'I just need a car to get me from A-B, here's my money, surprise me'.

I'm a petrol head but I think I have looked under the bonnet of my Subaru about twice in the last year.Other than a service I've spent $0 on it... I think its because although its powerful/fast with a 5 speed manual box pretty boring to drive around Auckland in.
I did waste a lot of hours researching it.
If it got stolen tomorrow I would not shed a tear.

I even ..gasp... catch the train if I'm working in the city, give me time to read the paper on my phone.
I think self drive will catch on the congested cities pretty fast.

[jonbuoy]

Yes so it pisses on the dramatically fewer cars argument.

For it to work in the suburbs where most people live you would be stopping outside to pick people up. I guess if they were all organised and considerate it might be OK. Good luck with that..

No - you will order a car and tell it where you want to go. It will turn up and take you there. No one is going to be with you. How rush hour will work is another story. Might not be less cars but if you don't need a car every day or your flexible about times you can use a pool car - or driverless taxi whatever you want to call them.

Most of us don't have to worry about the logistics - we will be dead and gone by then.

[RainMan303]

That's pretty impressive, I wonder how it would cope with a kid in a Halloween costume made from Cardboard boxes. Still must be a very smart system.

Good point. I don't expect the autonomous cars to be 100% accident proof, but I do expect the net result will be vastly reduced number of accidents and deaths on the roads. Personally, I'd rather ride my bike surrounded by a bunch of computer-driven cars than those driven by humans....if they still let us, that is...


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[F5 Dave]

No - you will order a car and tell it where you want to go. It will turn up and take you there. No one is going to be with you. How rush hour will work is another story. Might not be less cars but if you don't need a car every day or your flexible about times you can use a pool car - or driverless taxi whatever you want to call them.

Most of us don't have to worry about the logistics - we will be dead and gone by then.

Oh boy! So a business plan would be to have enough cars to serve me, and every one else. that would sit around for 22hrs a day inactive but somehow charge a fare I'm willing to pay and still turn a profit.

Hmm. So everyone isn't using Taxis now because?

And don't get me wrong. I'd love to not have to drive all the tedious trips to work or dropping kids off at school. And especially when I was racing far meetings to arrive fresh and leave tired without a care.

[Hemi Makutu]

Tesla rudely butt bangs bike..

http://www.cycleworld.com/can-autono...ct-motorcycles

[MarkH]

Tesla rudely butt bangs bike..

http://www.cycleworld.com/can-autono...ct-motorcycles

I don't see the big deal, it isn't like humans don't fail to see motorcycles as well. At least autonomous cars can be improved and upgraded to avoid repeating this kind of thing, that's better than you get with humans! Let's face it - humans suck, so many fuckin' idiots among them!

[jonbuoy]

Oh boy! So a business plan would be to have enough cars to serve me, and every one else. that would sit around for 22hrs a day inactive but somehow charge a fare I'm willing to pay and still turn a profit.

Hmm. So everyone isn't using Taxis now because?

And don't get me wrong. I'd love to not have to drive all the tedious trips to work or dropping kids off at school. And especially when I was racing far meetings to arrive fresh and leave tired without a care.

I don't take a taxi to work or the shops because it's expensive. That's the main reason. The biggest expense would be the drivers wages. How many hours a day does your car, if you own one, sit idle? If you parked it up and knew you weren't going to need it overnight you could send it out to "work" for you. If you arrive at work and you don't need it for 8 hours you can send it out to take someone else to work or take your kids to school.

[Akzle]

I don't take a taxi to work or the shops because it's expensive. That's the main reason. The biggest expense would be the drivers wages. How many hours a day does your car, if you own one, sit idle? If you parked it up and knew you weren't going to need it overnight you could send it out to "work" for you. If you arrive at work and you don't need it for 8 hours you can send it out to take someone else to work or take your kids to school.

I think the issue is (in town) 100% demand 0730 - 0930, 1430-1800, and <30% the rest of the time. unless shit radically changes (how and when people work) the bottle necking is the issue.

tradies vans n utes too.