11–20 of 22 posts
Edit: unflagged, the intersection of these topics is really important after all and it was probably my own emotional response that made me flag this... thinking about this topic makes me tired and sometimes angry, but it comes up almost every day in some form.
If we want a really high tech transportation system it will be vastly more feasible in a greenfield city design that is a somewhat radical departure from typical assumptions.
Instead of 3000-4000 pound 7-10 passenger vehicles which more often than not carry one occupant, most vehicles should be very small and single passenger. So decrease the size of the vehicles by 10X.
These vehicles should not share the same physical space with pedestrians. Especially not in the current scenario where physics ensures severe injury or death in the event of a collision at any speed.
Vehicles should be fully autonomous. They should not need to drag their fuel around but rather have electricity supplied wirelessly.
There should be multiple levels of infrastructure so that even in dense areas you can be delivered almost door to door.
I have a lot of other ideas. Such as, buildings should be public megastructures designed to provide infrastructure for modular smaller buildings inside, with some open spaces and landscaping as well as reconfigurability. They would not need to provide a perfectly climatized space but try to make the baseline more comfortable.
It's not just cars but the whole system built around them that is completely out of date. If we want a really high tech transportation system it will be vastly more feasible in a greenfield city design that is a somewhat radical departure from typical assumptions. Instead of 3000-4000 pound 7-10 passenger vehicles which more often than not carry one occupant, most vehicles should be very small and single passenger. S…
Wireless electricity?
Been reading some of those nutty Tesla books again?
He was brilliant .. but not everything he wrote is feasible/smart :)
Off the top of my head: Why doesn't every car: - stop collecting and reporting my data to the manufacturer - offer full diagnostic readouts of trouble codes - come with one or more docking bays to mount and wireless charge phones - come with a router for all occupants to share a powerful car based hotspot - offer a manual transmission - showcase my fuel efficiency rather than my rpms (who needs a giant rpm gauge anym…
- most people don't want (or need) a manual transmission - automatics are just plain better (as much fun as driving a manual can be, for ~97.3% of driving (even in a stick-shift), you're only in one gear anyway
- haven't seen a car that doesn't show (or offer to show) current mpg in probably 15 or more years
- the last thing we need are more screens that can have issues
- phone-based entry and start ... sounds good - until you forget your phone. Or replace your phone. Or want to loan your car to a friend.
- self-repair is "allowed" on pretty much any vehicle ... but no sane person wants to do most repair because it's neither time- nor cost-effective
It's not just cars but the whole system built around them that is completely out of date. If we want a really high tech transportation system it will be vastly more feasible in a greenfield city design that is a somewhat radical departure from typical assumptions. Instead of 3000-4000 pound 7-10 passenger vehicles which more often than not carry one occupant, most vehicles should be very small and single passenger. S…
>Vehicles should be fully autonomous. They should not need to drag their fuel around but rather have electricity supplied wirelessly. Wireless electricity? Been reading some of those nutty Tesla books again? He was brilliant .. but not everything he wrote is feasible/smart :)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Vehicles should be fully autonomous. They should not need to drag their fuel around but rather have electricity supplied wirelessly. Wireless electricity? Been reading some of those nutty Tesla books again? He was brilliant .. but not everything he wrote is feasible/smart :)
It's transmitted a very short distance. https://electreon.com/
Qi charging for smartphones is not especially efficient (handy - and the inefficiencies don't much matter on such a small scale, but it's still not that great)
Doing it for something rolling down the highway at 70 mph is pretty much there to lure VC money
I drive an old pickup. When I rented a "modern" car for a long trip, I was appalled by the numbers of needless features. In motorcycle talk, it was a garbage wagon. My 30 year old Chevy pickup is simple and functional. It's a lot like the early Macintoshes: so simple that it's elegant.
One man's "needless feature" is another man's "can't-live-without-it functionality"
I drive an old pickup. When I rented a "modern" car for a long trip, I was appalled by the numbers of needless features. In motorcycle talk, it was a garbage wagon. My 30 year old Chevy pickup is simple and functional. It's a lot like the early Macintoshes: so simple that it's elegant.
Define "needless features" One man's "needless feature" is another man's "can't-live-without-it functionality"
Off the top of my head: Why doesn't every car: - stop collecting and reporting my data to the manufacturer - offer full diagnostic readouts of trouble codes - come with one or more docking bays to mount and wireless charge phones - come with a router for all occupants to share a powerful car based hotspot - offer a manual transmission - showcase my fuel efficiency rather than my rpms (who needs a giant rpm gauge anym…
- If you have a hotspot, you don't need a "router" - you have it with said hotspot - most people don't want (or need) a manual transmission - automatics are just plain better (as much fun as driving a manual can be, for ~97.3% of driving (even in a stick-shift), you're only in one gear anyway - haven't seen a car that doesn't show (or offer to show) current mpg in probably 15 or more years - the last thing we need ar…