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Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

blogs.forbes.com

31–40 of 214 posts

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#32

I really didn't expect this to happen within 10 years. I'm amazed that this happened so fast.

I did. You know why? Because there's no way Google would announce a technology that they think would be used 10 years from now.

I knew it right away that if they announced it now, then they're doing it to get public support and then convince politicians to allow them as soon as possible.

They also wouldn't have announced it if it didn't already work pretty well.They wouldn't have announced it if it still needed 10 more years of work.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#33
post #16
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prostitution, Gambling, 24-hour alcohol sales, Driverless cars, rentable fully automatic weapons! Come to Nevada, we are the FUTURE! EDIT: I was not actually bemoaning any of these, uh, services. I lived in Nevada for a few years and aside from the fact that I was traumatized against it by the game Fallout - actually like Nevada. It is one of those states that actually fantastic to live in if you have enough money/yo…

To be honest, at least half of those sound like perfectly reasonable ideas. Aside from machine guns, I'm not sure there's a strong logical argument to outlaw any of them.

There aren't people just wandering around with machine guns you can however rent them for use at various ranges.

For example: http://www.lasvegasgunrange.net/RangeRentals.aspx

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#34
post #6

I think driverless cars could be the future of public transportation. Instead of big trains and buses with limited reach, we would have thousands of public vehicles that take you where you need to go when you need to be there. It eliminates the big barriers to public transport--the lack of personal space, timing, and reach. No car? Just hop on the municipal/county dispatch website, request a car, pay your fee, and wa…

Do a lot of people avoid public transport just because of the lack of personal space?

Every person I know who has talked about public transport says the other people (especially bums napping and skeevy people) are the big thing that limits the amount of traveling they do on rails and buses. Reach and timing take up the next two slots.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#35
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prostitution, Gambling, 24-hour alcohol sales, Driverless cars, rentable fully automatic weapons! Come to Nevada, we are the FUTURE! EDIT: I was not actually bemoaning any of these, uh, services. I lived in Nevada for a few years and aside from the fact that I was traumatized against it by the game Fallout - actually like Nevada. It is one of those states that actually fantastic to live in if you have enough money/yo…

No drive-thru beer vendors like Texas?

There are drive through liquor stores in some counties.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#36
post #6

I think driverless cars could be the future of public transportation. Instead of big trains and buses with limited reach, we would have thousands of public vehicles that take you where you need to go when you need to be there. It eliminates the big barriers to public transport--the lack of personal space, timing, and reach. No car? Just hop on the municipal/county dispatch website, request a car, pay your fee, and wa…

How do you deal with the inherent inefficiency of having a separate vehicle for every passenger (or small group of passengers)? Publicness is not the only benefit of public transportation. Trains and buses are incredibly efficient per passenger mile. They also take up a lot less space than cars, and last longer and cost less per passenger to manufacture. Making a car driverless doesn't solve these problems.

The de facto standard in this country is one dedicated car per person, which spends 90% of its time sitting in a parking space. Communally shared cars will be massively more efficient than that, and, unlike buses and trains, will actually replace dedicated vehicles for a majority — some day 100% — of users.

The public transportation the public uses beats the one they don't.

Not to mention that communal vehicles would make electric cars suitable for any length of trip— Forget about exchanging batteries, just swap cars at the charging station.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you deal with the inherent inefficiency of having a separate vehicle for every passenger (or small group of passengers)? Publicness is not the only benefit of public transportation. Trains and buses are incredibly efficient per passenger mile. They also take up a lot less space than cars, and last longer and cost less per passenger to manufacture. Making a car driverless doesn't solve these problems.

Theoretically, driverless cars could be programmed to behave in a collective fashion. Yes, a train is incredibly efficient when 300 people need to go from the same place to a different place. But in reality, 300 people are coming from 300 places and going 300 places. Driverless cars could calculate partial carpools or transfers to more efficient vehicles like trains depending on the needs of the commuters. A "smart c…

This.

A few weeks ago, I left my house for the grocery 2 miles away. I followed a car from my subdivision to the grocery. After shopping, I followed the same car back from the grocery to my subdivision.

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#39
post #6

I think driverless cars could be the future of public transportation. Instead of big trains and buses with limited reach, we would have thousands of public vehicles that take you where you need to go when you need to be there. It eliminates the big barriers to public transport--the lack of personal space, timing, and reach. No car? Just hop on the municipal/county dispatch website, request a car, pay your fee, and wa…

It's the future of "transportation", period. People will look back to the time when humans drove transportation and laugh.

Eric Schmidt has referred to it as "solving the bug that cars were invented before computers." It seems so obvious now!

Re: Nevada passes law authorizing driverless cars

#40
post #14
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prostitution, Gambling, 24-hour alcohol sales, Driverless cars, rentable fully automatic weapons! Come to Nevada, we are the FUTURE! EDIT: I was not actually bemoaning any of these, uh, services. I lived in Nevada for a few years and aside from the fact that I was traumatized against it by the game Fallout - actually like Nevada. It is one of those states that actually fantastic to live in if you have enough money/yo…

They still have some harsh drug laws though.

While Washoe and Clark counties are the two largest with Reno and Las Vegas being the two largest population centers there's a large rural and conservative population that prevents many progressive laws from passing.
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