141–150 of 197 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Self driving cars are not important other than for a few exec ego This is where you really go off the rails. You can't possibly believe this.
I like the idea that the ability to use both hands to eat chicken nuggets while operating a motor vehicle at speed is so inherently and universally valuable that a person couldn’t possibly believe otherwise.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Self driving cars are not important other than for a few exec ego This is where you really go off the rails. You can't possibly believe this.
Why not? Public mass transit is far more efficient. The push for cars keeps car owners (in the corp and profit sense) alive. Only. Add in the pretend notion that cars equal freedom and it’s just a cycle of energy wasting nonsense. If we (tech fans) really wanted to help alleviate the problems roads have (traffic, accidents, etc) - public mass transit is the way to go. But I guess .. where’s the immediate hype-based p…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
See now you're getting to the point but the point is that public transport is broken so we're patching it with cars. Perhaps we should be fixing that instead?
I've seen this objection a lot and I don't really understand where it comes from. The only people who can fix public transit are the government and the public. Autonomous vehicles aren't being developed by either of these groups and in no way prevent them from fixing transit. What's the argument then? Is everyone expected to wait around until public transit is fixed before they work on something else? AVs are complem…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've seen this objection a lot and I don't really understand where it comes from. The only people who can fix public transit are the government and the public. Autonomous vehicles aren't being developed by either of these groups and in no way prevent them from fixing transit. What's the argument then? Is everyone expected to wait around until public transit is fixed before they work on something else? AVs are complem…
public transit simply cannot go in the direction everybody needs it, when they need it in a straight route. It used to take me approx 3 hours a day, sometimes more to get to an from a job that was a 25 minute drive away.10 hours more time for myself a week is freedom to me.
It would help if local leadership could say "You're building a business that has high flexibility in where you site it, so you should place it near a transport hub, rather than off in a suburb that causes a longer average commute for everyone."
Yes, you can't do this for every business-- some have natural dependencies on specific site characteristics, but those seem likely to shape the rest of the city's transport decisions (how many cities have major thoroughfares that parallel existing heavy rail, for example)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
See now you're getting to the point but the point is that public transport is broken so we're patching it with cars. Perhaps we should be fixing that instead?
I've seen this objection a lot and I don't really understand where it comes from. The only people who can fix public transit are the government and the public. Autonomous vehicles aren't being developed by either of these groups and in no way prevent them from fixing transit. What's the argument then? Is everyone expected to wait around until public transit is fixed before they work on something else? AVs are complem…
Autonomous vehicles promise to expand individual car ownership to some groups that would normally be forced to rely on public transit (people disabled in a way that prevents them from driving, or repeat drunk drivers, for example). For the able-bodied, they promise the relaxed luxury of "someone/thing else is driving and I can work/read/relax" that public transport offers, without having to actually build public transport.
This means the people with the strongest vested interests in public transit are already relatively outcast and underclass, and it will only get worse.
Make the rich and powerful have to take a bus, and suddenly it will become a significant political concern that the schedule is a loose suggestion at best, and that nobody has cleaned the bus since George VI was on the throne.
It would be interesting to expand on your last point-- an AV fleet that compliments public transit as a last-mile offering-- but it doesn't seem to be the model we're seeing sold right now. It's the same old vehicle designs clearly intended for single-family use, long trip times, and low duty cycle. I would imagine an AV system built as a "compliment" might involve small, slow vehicles, almost glorified bumper cars, with like 25km battery range, since the target application is to drive from the train station to a home/office, then return to the station for a battery swap and service. While each trip is a light task, a single vehicle might go on dozens of trips per day and as a result get a completely different wear pattern than your typical Hyundai.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Self driving cars are not important other than for a few exec ego This is where you really go off the rails. You can't possibly believe this.
Why not? Public mass transit is far more efficient. The push for cars keeps car owners (in the corp and profit sense) alive. Only. Add in the pretend notion that cars equal freedom and it’s just a cycle of energy wasting nonsense. If we (tech fans) really wanted to help alleviate the problems roads have (traffic, accidents, etc) - public mass transit is the way to go. But I guess .. where’s the immediate hype-based p…
I don't see how it's pretend. Sure its not true freedom in the sense there's no cost or rules, but cars allow for spontaneity and a way to easily go off the beaten track.
Cars are liberating in the same way a horse would have been hundreds of years ago. A car allows me to go where I want, when I want and that's worth any cost.
They make the average person's life better and I wouldn't want to live in a world where I couldn't drive.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've seen this objection a lot and I don't really understand where it comes from. The only people who can fix public transit are the government and the public. Autonomous vehicles aren't being developed by either of these groups and in no way prevent them from fixing transit. What's the argument then? Is everyone expected to wait around until public transit is fixed before they work on something else? AVs are complem…
The promise of autonomous vehicles DOES tend to prevent "fixing transit". It reinforces the narrative of individual car ownership. In American society, you are seen as a bit lesser if you don't have an individual vehicle. Autonomous vehicles promise to expand individual car ownership to some groups that would normally be forced to rely on public transit (people disabled in a way that prevents them from driving, or re…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why not? Public mass transit is far more efficient. The push for cars keeps car owners (in the corp and profit sense) alive. Only. Add in the pretend notion that cars equal freedom and it’s just a cycle of energy wasting nonsense. If we (tech fans) really wanted to help alleviate the problems roads have (traffic, accidents, etc) - public mass transit is the way to go. But I guess .. where’s the immediate hype-based p…
> the pretend notion that cars equal freedom I don't see how it's pretend. Sure its not true freedom in the sense there's no cost or rules, but cars allow for spontaneity and a way to easily go off the beaten track. Cars are liberating in the same way a horse would have been hundreds of years ago. A car allows me to go where I want, when I want and that's worth any cost. They make the average person's life better and…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why not? Public mass transit is far more efficient. The push for cars keeps car owners (in the corp and profit sense) alive. Only. Add in the pretend notion that cars equal freedom and it’s just a cycle of energy wasting nonsense. If we (tech fans) really wanted to help alleviate the problems roads have (traffic, accidents, etc) - public mass transit is the way to go. But I guess .. where’s the immediate hype-based p…
says the person who never had to get to work on time across town with public transit...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> the pretend notion that cars equal freedom I don't see how it's pretend. Sure its not true freedom in the sense there's no cost or rules, but cars allow for spontaneity and a way to easily go off the beaten track. Cars are liberating in the same way a horse would have been hundreds of years ago. A car allows me to go where I want, when I want and that's worth any cost. They make the average person's life better and…
No-one says you cant. I just think tech $ could do better spent on public transportation.