51–60 of 204 posts
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Google's not selling cars. It's selling automotive technology that will soon become standard in cars.
The solution is much farther off than Google would like you to believe. As in, we'll be lucky if driverless cars become feasible before fusion becomes commercially viable.
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The above is in addition to the "independence" baked into the American culture about the open road and the automobile. Do you think there is something inherently wrong with the feeling of independence and happiness attained from the car culture in the US? I am still dubious that self-driving and non-self-driving cars will be able to share a road in the future. If this doesn't happen, I doubt Americans will freely giv…
In addition to pushback about our 'right to drive the way we want' (which will inevitably be complicated by government regulations on driverless vehicles), there's the practical fact that cars that require a driver will be here for decades. My family just got rid of a '92 Volvo, and a few years back, a '67 Mustang, still street legal. If 45 year old cars are still on the road, it may be that none of us live to see th…
I've been saying this to anyone who will listen for years. I really believe this technology will touch everything . Real estate markets will shift dramatically as the average commute time halves or quarters. Transport costs will plummet, making every single physical object cheaper. Public transit will be dirt cheap, always punctual, and take you absolutely anywhere. Tens of thousands of people each year will escape d…
I think the net effect will be hugely positive, but like all paradigm shifts this is going to cause immense social upheaval and initially look like it only makes things worse.
The market is worth trillions... not Google's solution. One thing tech reporters seem to have failed at recognizing is that this research has been taking place at every major car company out there - many many others are legitimately in the race. Ultimately its the manufacturers that get to pull the trigger on how driverless cars will become driverless.
Still, I can't help but feel that maybe Google have the final piece of the puzzle. We've had computers and sensors powerful enough for decades, only Google have all of that maps data, polished again and again by android users using maps (and now Ingress) to make it more reliable. Google almost specialise at crunching massive data into useful products, and building reliable supersystems from millions of unreliable sub…
I think the implications are huge, but I question the 90% reduction in cars figure. While it's true that most people don't drive their car most of the time, when they do drive, most of them are driving within a relatively small time window. I could imagine a 25-50% reduction in the number of cars, but I just don't see 90% happening unless it's accompanied by a huge increase in people working from home or working non-…
You haven't taken into account car pooling. Driverless cars can do adhoc car pooling. I can even see things like local 4 seater driverless cars picking you up, and taking you to another 10 (or more) seater vehicle for the rest of your journey. (By definition the congestion is because a lot of people have overlapping routes.) Additionally you are no longer to blame for your commute since the driverless system would be…
Blind people, disabled people, people unable to drive in any way will be more independent.
No need for expensive parking in a city. Car can go somewhere else cheaper. Expensive land used for parking can be better utilised.
You can rent your car out to others while you’re not using it. No real need for personal car ownership. Why pay to own when you can rent whenever you need from car manufacturers or rental companies? Get the car that best suits your needs for a particular day at your door when you need it.
Cars spend a lot if their life doing nothing. The car will be fully utilised and always in service making the most of the valuable resources used to build it.
A car no longer needs to be car shaped. You can have cars for specific needs. A bar car if you want!
Traffic efficiency when everyone has them. The road network can be utilised more effectively as the cars will be able to share data and calculate the best route.
You can spend more time doing other things like looking at their adverts.
They will be safer. Computers won’t make the mistakes caused by humans doing stupid things like sending text messages while driving. Drink driving. The won’t break the speed limit etc.
I've been saying this to anyone who will listen for years. I really believe this technology will touch everything . Real estate markets will shift dramatically as the average commute time halves or quarters. Transport costs will plummet, making every single physical object cheaper. Public transit will be dirt cheap, always punctual, and take you absolutely anywhere. Tens of thousands of people each year will escape d…
90 percent of those in the transportation sector will lose their jobs. Car companies will go broke when demand plummets. Pizza delivery will not be an entrylevel job. I think the net effect will be hugely positive, but like all paradigm shifts this is going to cause immense social upheaval and initially look like it only makes things worse.
The market is worth trillions... not Google's solution. One thing tech reporters seem to have failed at recognizing is that this research has been taking place at every major car company out there - many many others are legitimately in the race. Ultimately its the manufacturers that get to pull the trigger on how driverless cars will become driverless.
Not only car companies either. Lots of state DoTs like CalTrans (in conjunction with UCBerkeley) have been working on self driving cars. The Caltrans-UCB PATH prgram was begun way back in '86 and demoed self driving cars back in '97! http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/the-future-is-in-the-past/...
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You haven't taken into account car pooling. Driverless cars can do adhoc car pooling. I can even see things like local 4 seater driverless cars picking you up, and taking you to another 10 (or more) seater vehicle for the rest of your journey. (By definition the congestion is because a lot of people have overlapping routes.) Additionally you are no longer to blame for your commute since the driverless system would be…
Many people don't like sharing a car with strangers; I doubt this will change as quickly as the technology.