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Self driving cars and beyond

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Re: Self driving cars and beyond

#11

Post by tonyedgecombe »

ilovecars2 wrote: post #6

This is kind of a meta comment, but I’ve been lurking on HN for a while on car posts in particular. I have the impression that HN in general doesn’t like cars all that much, and in fact we would be much better of without them. I can’t argue with the facts: congestion and pollution in large cities, such as London, have never been higher where almost all on-road public transport is still run on diesel. However, I think…

Being stuck in traffic is a problem with cars, we can't build our way out of that problem, more roads just generate more traffic as longer commutes become viable.

I suspect self driving cars will make this worse not better, if a 60 minute commute is OK with you then perhaps 90 minutes is if you can read a book on the way.

Re: Self driving cars and beyond

#12

Post by danmaz74 »

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #4

A couple of years ago there was a new article on the front page pretty much every day about the great new thing that will change our lives--3D printing. I'm worried that whatever happened to 3D printing is about to happen to self driving. What did happen to 3D printing?

I'm sure self driving will have a MUCH bigger impact on our lives than 3D printing. But it could take a pretty long time (really curious to see how long).

Re: Self driving cars and beyond

#13

Post by iraphael »

ilovecars2 wrote: post #6

This is kind of a meta comment, but I’ve been lurking on HN for a while on car posts in particular. I have the impression that HN in general doesn’t like cars all that much, and in fact we would be much better of without them. I can’t argue with the facts: congestion and pollution in large cities, such as London, have never been higher where almost all on-road public transport is still run on diesel. However, I think…

> I’m not talking about being stuck in traffic, which is often a issue with poor planning and lack of infrastructure investment rather than an issue with cars themselves

I disagree with this statement. I believe that cars are not a transportation solution that scales like public transportation, for instance, does.

For these same reasons I believe Musk's Boring Company's plans are exactly the wrong kind of urban planning ideas that will just create a "fast lane" for those who can pay, instead of a solution that works for all.

Maybe cars could come with this romanticized "freedom" and "pleasure" when they're not prevalent enough to cause the issues that make driving undesirable. But I think the last time that happened was when cars were luxury items, reserved for the rich suburban white America and I don't want the future to involve making transportation more under-democratized.

Re: Self driving cars and beyond

#14

Post by amenod »

ilovecars2 wrote: post #6

This is kind of a meta comment, but I’ve been lurking on HN for a while on car posts in particular. I have the impression that HN in general doesn’t like cars all that much, and in fact we would be much better of without them. I can’t argue with the facts: congestion and pollution in large cities, such as London, have never been higher where almost all on-road public transport is still run on diesel. However, I think…

I am quite sure that people who will want to drive cars will still be able to - but not necessarily on the same streets as self driving cars. Isn't it the same now with horses and carriages?

Re: Self driving cars and beyond

#15

Post by digi_owl »

ebbv wrote: post #9
KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #4

A couple of years ago there was a new article on the front page pretty much every day about the great new thing that will change our lives--3D printing. I'm worried that whatever happened to 3D printing is about to happen to self driving. What did happen to 3D printing?

It’s the same thing that’s happening to VR and lots of other things that are getting hyped before the hard problems are solved. There’s been a serious epidemic in the last decade or so of mistaking solving the low hanging fruit for being “almost there.” 3D printing works ok for prototyping in certain scenarios, but it got hyped up for things it was nowhere near doing. Similarly everyone jumped all over VR assuming so…

> There’s been a serious epidemic in the last decade or so of mistaking solving the low hanging fruit for being “almost there.”

Wonder how much can be blamed on 24/7 news cycles, and how much can be blamed on pump and dump VCs (And now i noticed how close VC is to WC...).

Re: Self driving cars and beyond

#16

Post by tpm »

ilovecars2 wrote: post #6

This is kind of a meta comment, but I’ve been lurking on HN for a while on car posts in particular. I have the impression that HN in general doesn’t like cars all that much, and in fact we would be much better of without them. I can’t argue with the facts: congestion and pollution in large cities, such as London, have never been higher where almost all on-road public transport is still run on diesel. However, I think…

Being stuck in traffic is a problem with cars. Driving can be a liberating and pleasurable experience. I do enjoy driving on empty country roads. I don't enjoy driving to and from work every day. If the time comes and driving by humans will be banned, I will happily accept that deal. But I don't think that day will come in the next at least 20-30 years. Biking (without any engine) is also a liberating and pleasurable experience.

Re: Self driving cars and beyond

#17

Post by brudgers »

letscavort22 wrote: post #2

It’s great to explore this topic. You can have a lot of fun in picking a random industry and imagining the effect that self driving will have. Health - beyond the obvious effects on the emergency room, what else? Ambulances willl quite clearly be affected. Why would someone wait minutes for one to arrive when they can just hop in an autocar to go the hospital? Or would the entire emergency room itself be on wheels? (…

Every and each of the proposed benefits of vast public policy initiatives supported by a generous public purse in support of autonomous cars could be as easily derived from a similar public policy initiative to create public transit infrastructure.

Re: Self driving cars and beyond

#18

Post by rimliu »

danmaz74 wrote: post #12
KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #4

A couple of years ago there was a new article on the front page pretty much every day about the great new thing that will change our lives--3D printing. I'm worried that whatever happened to 3D printing is about to happen to self driving. What did happen to 3D printing?

I'm sure self driving will have a MUCH bigger impact on our lives than 3D printing. But it could take a pretty long time (really curious to see how long).

How? We already have means to get from point a to point b without driving ourselves. Sure, technology would be amazing, but besides that?

Re: Self driving cars and beyond

#19

Post by transpostmeta »

ilovecars2 wrote: post #6

This is kind of a meta comment, but I’ve been lurking on HN for a while on car posts in particular. I have the impression that HN in general doesn’t like cars all that much, and in fact we would be much better of without them. I can’t argue with the facts: congestion and pollution in large cities, such as London, have never been higher where almost all on-road public transport is still run on diesel. However, I think…

Yes, this is a selfish opinion. Traffic kills a lot of people, and it's not just the ones doing the driving. Traffic is terrible for the environment, causes noise pollution and respiratory illness.

I can understand that some people need to drive. But driving for pleasure is not something that should ever happen.

Re: Self driving cars and beyond

#20

Post by ilovecars2 »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #11
ilovecars2 wrote: post #6

This is kind of a meta comment, but I’ve been lurking on HN for a while on car posts in particular. I have the impression that HN in general doesn’t like cars all that much, and in fact we would be much better of without them. I can’t argue with the facts: congestion and pollution in large cities, such as London, have never been higher where almost all on-road public transport is still run on diesel. However, I think…

Being stuck in traffic is a problem with cars, we can't build our way out of that problem, more roads just generate more traffic as longer commutes become viable. I suspect self driving cars will make this worse not better, if a 60 minute commute is OK with you then perhaps 90 minutes is if you can read a book on the way.

I agree, more roads are not the solution. That said, there are definitely poorly thought out roads in cities all over the world that actively create traffic because they unnecessarily disrupt traffic flow.

But, more generally I believe the solution to traffic is to provide compelling alternatives. It’s all about creating a balance. In London we have the opposite issue, there are too many people trying to take the tube and mainline rail, leading to massive overcrowding.

Now, is waiting 20 minutes to get on a Northern Line train, because the last four have been packed to the doors, a problem with people, or is it a problem with planning and infrastructure?

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