jrralls wrote:"So who's driving?" Is going to be my Dad joke for a decade after I get a self-driving car.
OH MY GOD, BEAR IS DRIVING!!!
HOW CAN THAT BE?!?!
General Motors employees get free self-driving car rides
Self-driving cars are already the primary mode of transportation for a small group in San Francisco.
Cruise, the self-driving arm of General Motors, has launched a private app for employees to request a free self-driving ride almost anywhere in the city.
The app, "Cruise Anywhere," is available to 10% of the company's more than 200 San Francisco-based employees. Cruise plans to expand the initiative to more employees soon.
Cruise's test fleet of Chevy Bolts run 16 hours each day around most of San Francisco and has already given more than a 1,000 rides. A test driver is present to oversee the vehicle's operation and guarantee safety.
When this is a mature technology what I really want are "Sleeper Cars." Self-Driving cars that are primarily built so that people can sleep in them.
When this is a mature technology what I really want are "Sleeper Cars." Self-Driving cars that are primarily built so that people can sleep in them.
I'm envisioning a bunch of Japanese coffin-style hotel rooms/beds bolted on to the back of a truck.
I'm envisioning a bunch of Japanese coffin-style hotel rooms/beds bolted on to the back of a truck.
Yes but what about the self driving cars?
When this is a mature technology what I really want are "Sleeper Cars." Self-Driving cars that are primarily built so that people can sleep in them.
I suspect that sleeping position will be a significant factor in passenger accommodation design in the future.
Have we talked about whether there will be a lot of push back on self driving cars by local govt and police since they get a chunk of money from ticketing? I mean, they can't be pulling over self driving cars all the time, right?
Have we talked about whether there will be a lot of push back on self driving cars by local govt and police since they get a chunk of money from ticketing? I mean, they can't be pulling over self driving cars all the time, right?
I am sure there will be a lot of that. Plus red light cameras.
karmajay wrote:Have we talked about whether there will be a lot of push back on self driving cars by local govt and police since they get a chunk of money from ticketing? I mean, they can't be pulling over self driving cars all the time, right?
I am sure there will be a lot of that. Plus red light cameras.
Yeah, I expect automation will eventually be a big boon to police force ticketing, and people will just pay the speeding tax if they can afford it.
When this is a mature technology what I really want are "Sleeper Cars." Self-Driving cars that are primarily built so that people can sleep in them.
So you want to live in your car?
No but when I have a 9am meeting in a city 8 hours away by car it would be great to be able to take a car and get a good night's sleep instead of having to get a plane and hotel room.
No but when I have a 9am meeting in a city 8 hours away by car it would be great to be able to take a car and get a good night's sleep instead of having to get a plane and hotel room.
Boom.
Although where it would really shine would be family vacations. Just sleep the way there.
It'd rock for normal commutes, too. I mean, I could use an extra hour's sleep before pretty much anything. If nothing else, I could use the time to relax and listen to music. Have a 3 pm meeting and an hour commute to get there? That's a siesta.
Alternatively, I would like to exercise and enjoy the outdoors, in which case I would take a bike.
I drive 500-1500 mile trips across the country on a semi-regular basis. Right now that travel burns an entire day each way, and is super boring to boot (I-80 across Nebraska, ugh!). If I had a self-driving car, I could travel at night while sleeping which would be just so much more convenient! I'll definitely be an early adopter when the first bedroom car is available.
Zaque wrote:No but when I have a 9am meeting in a city 8 hours away by car it would be great to be able to take a car and get a good night's sleep instead of having to get a plane and hotel room.
Although where it would really shine would be family vacations. Just sleep the way there.
Yeah, that makes sense for long trips taken at night, but for day trips, if I've had any sleep the night before, I can't sleep/nap during the day at all.
I would have a bar and a mini fridge in my car all the time.
I would have a bar and a mini fridge in my car all the time.
So much this. f*ck sleeping.
If scheduling permitted it, I can't think of any time when I'd prefer to be in a self-driving car awake for four hours if I could just schedule to leave the night before and use a sleeper car to take the slow way and have an eight hour trip that effectively feels like I'M FAST TRAVELING THERE!
(assuming I could sleep well in the sleeper car, that is, but I think I could. It wouldn't be like an airline after all).
Have we talked about whether there will be a lot of push back on self driving cars by local govt and police since they get a chunk of money from ticketing? I mean, they can't be pulling over self driving cars all the time, right?
My state proposed a mileage tax for autonomous electric cars in to prevent people from just sending them on endless loops of the block instead of parking.
karmajay wrote:Have we talked about whether there will be a lot of push back on self driving cars by local govt and police since they get a chunk of money from ticketing? I mean, they can't be pulling over self driving cars all the time, right?
My state proposed a mileage tax for autonomous electric cars in to prevent people from just sending them on endless loops of the block instead of parking.
Some of the motivation behind those mileage taxes are also as a revenue source for the DOT as more efficient vehicles decrease the revenue from the gas tax, which hasn't covered rising expenses for years. They're going to disrupt a lot of things - revenue sources, the entire freight industry, even organ donation - and people are going to have to deal with that. I think the largest pushback is going to be on the safety front, but I see widespread adoption as inevitable.
Clumber wrote:karmajay wrote:Have we talked about whether there will be a lot of push back on self driving cars by local govt and police since they get a chunk of money from ticketing? I mean, they can't be pulling over self driving cars all the time, right?
My state proposed a mileage tax for autonomous electric cars in to prevent people from just sending them on endless loops of the block instead of parking.
Some of the motivation behind those mileage taxes are also as a revenue source for the DOT as more efficient vehicles decrease the revenue from the gas tax, which hasn't covered rising expenses for years. They're going to disrupt a lot of things - revenue sources, the entire freight industry, even organ donation - and people are going to have to deal with that. I think the largest pushback is going to be on the safety front, but I see widespread adoption as inevitable.
If only we had a functioning political body that could help ease the burden of the transition with the right kind of incentives and restrictions...
Y'all are really future-shocking the hell out of me thinking about all this. If everyone's sleeping in their cars, how does that affect commuting patterns? Do the cities empty out again, redistributing into the suburbs and exurbs? How far will people commute? And how does that affect congestion? If everyone is doubling and tripling their commute times, that means that we're going to push our existing road system well beyond its limits. And assuming that few people will value a short commute anymore, extreme congestion won't even discourage or curb more congestion. I foresee massive road systems, with expensive toll roads--money being the only thing that would curtail potential commuters.
Will cars come in bed sizes? You wouldn't want a single or twin car if you had a family; you'd need at least a king size for road trips.
Also, sleeper cars seem like the first step towards a whole series of lifestyle cars. How about gym cars? Given the site we're on, far more of you are likely to be riding in a Microsoft Xcarbox than sleeping or working out.
How big are these cars going to get? If we're not having to deal with human preferences for maneuverability, and human ego dictating oversized motors, will we all be riding in RVs?
Man, I don't know about all of this. I'm pretty happy biking and taking the tram to work.
Forget sleeping! I want a self-driving car with blackjack and hookers!
Come to think of it... forget the car!
Y'all are really future-shocking the hell out of me thinking about all this. If everyone's sleeping in their cars, how does that affect commuting patterns? Do the cities empty out again, redistributing into the suburbs and exurbs? How far will people commute? And how does that affect congestion? If everyone is doubling and tripling their commute times, that means that we're going to push our existing road system well beyond its limits. And assuming that few people will value a short commute anymore, extreme congestion won't even discourage or curb more congestion. I foresee massive road systems, with expensive toll roads--money being the only thing that would curtail potential commuters.
Will cars come in bed sizes? You wouldn't want a single or twin car if you had a family; you'd need at least a king size for road trips.
Also, sleeper cars seem like the first step towards a whole series of lifestyle cars. How about gym cars? Given the site we're on, far more of you are likely to be riding in a Microsoft Xcarbox than sleeping or working out.
How big are these cars going to get? If we're not having to deal with human preferences for maneuverability, and human ego dictating oversized motors, will we all be riding in RVs?
Man, I don't know about all of this. I'm pretty happy biking and taking the tram to work.
A great deal of traffic congestion will disappear once widespread adoption of automated vehicles allows for packet switched intersection and infrastructure design. It will also largely eliminate the phantom backup phenomenon common in traffic situations that happen largely because humans suck at driving.
If you eliminate the need for stop signs and stop lights, you can effectively triple traffic flow with the same number of lanes. It is not a problem of bandwidth. It is one of latency.
Both of Paleocon's points are good. A lot of us in transportation are really hoping that automation helps us get away from car ownership, particularly in cities. The actual miles traveled are projected to increase by some experts for the reasons that you're citing - if we eliminate the pain points of being in the car, people will want to be in the car more. But if we decrease the number of vehicles and can take advantage of automation to get operational efficiency out of the existing network that we can only dream of now, we're looking at a pretty bright picture for mobility.
Though I do worry that the Ubers of the world will take this over and turn it into a money-grabbing capitalistic mess, instead of it operating more like public transit. If this tech is made accessible to everybody it could solve so many problems that our cities are facing. This is the backbone of the Smart Cities movement and also why it's housed under the US Dept. of Transportation despite involving many other disciplines.
I think there is a definite limit to how long and how much people will want to commute everyday, even if it's a very roomy commute with someone else driving.
A great deal of traffic congestion will disappear once widespread adoption of automated vehicles allows for packet switched intersection and infrastructure design. It will also largely eliminate the phantom backup phenomenon common in traffic situations that happen largely because humans suck at driving.
If you eliminate the need for stop signs and stop lights, you can effectively triple traffic flow with the same number of lanes. It is not a problem of bandwidth. It is one of latency.
Another factor is congestion due to people simply cruising around looking for parking. Automated systems could eliminate a lot of that time by communicating open parking spots to nearby cars. That would cut some traffic.
Both of Paleocon's points are good. A lot of us in transportation are really hoping that automation helps us get away from car ownership, particularly in cities. The actual miles traveled are projected to increase by some experts for the reasons that you're citing - if we eliminate the pain points of being in the car, people will want to be in the car more. But if we decrease the number of vehicles and can take advantage of automation to get operational efficiency out of the existing network that we can only dream of now, we're looking at a pretty bright picture for mobility.
Though I do worry that the Ubers of the world will take this over and turn it into a money-grabbing capitalistic mess, instead of it operating more like public transit. If this tech is made accessible to everybody it could solve so many problems that our cities are facing. This is the backbone of the Smart Cities movement and also why it's housed under the US Dept. of Transportation despite involving many other disciplines.
It will definitely change how we use space. Parking lots/decks in prime business areas will largely disappear or consolidate around satellite parking megastructures (like the airport model). Traffic signalling will largely be invisible to vehicle occupants and pedestrians alike. Curbside parking will mostly disappear. I suspect that the fluid dynamics of the "loading zone" will become a lot more important than current considerations for parking.
I hope it all adds up to greater pedestrian utilization of space.
The obvious step after automation is that people won't own cars, they will call them when needed. I can totally see an environment where cars have isolated compartments for commuters and it just automatically goes around and picks up a few people going to destinations near each other and they all commute together, therefore lowering the number of cars on the road and the amount of traffic. Or there will be an easy app for people who work at the same company to coordinate an automated carpool and share the fee.
I think it is great and I just hope the regulatory bureaucracy doesn't get in the way.
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