4 ms·

In my opinion, you mentioned the core reason why you find the excitement baffling, i.e. that you don't drive often but you find it exciting when you do. Now im

by abawany 10y ago

In my opinion, you mentioned the core reason why you find the excitement baffling, i.e. that you don't drive often but you find it exciting when you do. Now imagine the scenario for most of the US, a public-transport-hostile country for the most part, where millions upon millions of people burn their precious lives waiting in traffic and sucking in traffic fumes. In my mind, this is one of the most appalling wastes of human potential that has ever existed. Sure, some try to make lemonade out of lemons by educating/informing themselves as they see fit but by and large, it is a huge waste. Not to mention the many thousands of people who die every year in car accidents during the daily commute. So from my point of view, the self driving car is a thrilling concept: the ability to disengage from a useless, pointless, and hopeless daily grind and engage in something that I want to do, whether it be work, reading, watching a movie, etc. is cool. The closest I have come to this dream in my transit-unfriendly Texas city is the one job where I had an opportunity to take the train/bus into downtown: while this made my daily commute very long, I loved it because it freed me up from the drudge of driving. Some might ask that perhaps I just hate driving. That is not true. I love taking road trips or autocrossing when I can. But to equate the daily commute with enjoyment is a bridge too far, in my opinion. Banish it, I say, banish it.

pmyjavec 10y ago
Thanks for the response and totally agree with the sitting in traffic, wasted time thing ,but with all due respect it still seems inefficient, wouldn't public transport and telecommuting be better options in a connected world? How will there still be no traffic jams, or the car will be like an office? In that case why not just work from home and come to work for meetings here and there? Might flexible / less work hours help? I mean people will still be driving around in vehicle which often makes people motion sick if not paying attention to surroundings , cars requires a lot of energy, take up space etc. I used to travel to work via train, it was 1.5 hours one way, it was highly productive time for me, but for some reason trains don't seem to make people as motion sick? I guess one other thing to note is that in Australia, where I'm from originally, some see people think of others using public transport or biking as kind of peasants or feel it's inferior, that might be part of it too ? They're also the kind of people who often like to drive fast and own expensive cars as a status thing, so I'm still note sure it's going to take?
- abawany 10y ago
  I fully agree: most rational nations have invested in public transportation to solve this problem. The US has a myriad of problems that has made public transportation an afterthought and not viable for most of the country. I also agree that telecommuting or flexible hours would work well. But again, for most office workers in the country and world, there is significant inflexibility: they must arrive at their appointed time, leave at their appointed time, and take breaks at appointed times. My statement was intended to be broad and to apply to all workers instead of just for the high-tech industry. So I see self-driving cars as a backdoor solution to the above problems: replace regular cars with self-driving cars, maybe with car-sharing, and now a country that has so much invested in the car suddenly is able to significantly reduce the latter's influence on society without realizing it. Well, one can but hope anyways.
- tstrimple 10y ago
  The more human drivers that are replaced by software, the less congestion there will be on the roads. It's delays in human reaction times which cause cars to back up on roads and take forever to get through intersections. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHzzSao6ypE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHzzSao6ypE
  - pmyjavec 10y ago
    I still don't see how the cars are going to entirely solve the problem of everyone needing to be in the same place at the same time, they still have to cope with each others presence, unless they can fly. In my opinion a good public transport system does. I've spent time in Tokyo, the rail network is second to none, it's congested sure, but it works. The problem is that people still need to get in and out of the cars for example, which means there is still wait time. Breakdowns will happen. All humans drivers will have to be banned etc. It sounds to me like the auto-industry is still pushing a selfish agenda and the valley is buying it, because it's an opportunity to take more money. For me, I'm happy because I'll still ride my bike and it will be a much safer place for me to exist because self-driving cars won't try and kill me, hopefully :)
- Tiktaalik 10y ago
rusted_planet 10y ago
But if I enjoy riding my motorcycle to work every day, that is my waste of time. I am all for autonomous cars, as long as I am allowed to have my vehicles and drive them when I want. Also we all know the security on cars is weak, who needs a bomb in a terrorist attack when you can just hack something and order 50,000 cars to crash (that might sound silly, but it hackers find ways). Do you trust auto manufacturers enough to secure it? Yeah we can mail firmware updates on USB sticks, what could go wrong. Sorry I am pretty sure I am one of those hostile drivers. They should market it as like a designated driver for the drunk. It would sell faster then.

by abawany 10y ago

pmyjavec 10y ago

Thanks for the response and totally agree with the sitting in traffic, wasted time thing ,but with all due respect it still seems inefficient, wouldn't public transport and telecommuting be better options in a connected world? How will there still be no traffic jams, or the car will be like an office? In that case why not just work from home and come to work for meetings here and there? Might flexible / less work hours help? I mean people will still be driving around in vehicle which often makes people motion sick if not paying attention to surroundings , cars requires a lot of energy, take up space etc. I used to travel to work via train, it was 1.5 hours one way, it was highly productive time for me, but for some reason trains don't seem to make people as motion sick? I guess one other thing to note is that in Australia, where I'm from originally, some see people think of others using public transport or biking as kind of peasants or feel it's inferior, that might be part of it too ? They're also the kind of people who often like to drive fast and own expensive cars as a status thing, so I'm still note sure it's going to take?

abawany 10y ago
I fully agree: most rational nations have invested in public transportation to solve this problem. The US has a myriad of problems that has made public transportation an afterthought and not viable for most of the country. I also agree that telecommuting or flexible hours would work well. But again, for most office workers in the country and world, there is significant inflexibility: they must arrive at their appointed time, leave at their appointed time, and take breaks at appointed times. My statement was intended to be broad and to apply to all workers instead of just for the high-tech industry. So I see self-driving cars as a backdoor solution to the above problems: replace regular cars with self-driving cars, maybe with car-sharing, and now a country that has so much invested in the car suddenly is able to significantly reduce the latter's influence on society without realizing it. Well, one can but hope anyways.
tstrimple 10y ago
The more human drivers that are replaced by software, the less congestion there will be on the roads. It's delays in human reaction times which cause cars to back up on roads and take forever to get through intersections. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHzzSao6ypE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHzzSao6ypE
- pmyjavec 10y ago
  I still don't see how the cars are going to entirely solve the problem of everyone needing to be in the same place at the same time, they still have to cope with each others presence, unless they can fly. In my opinion a good public transport system does. I've spent time in Tokyo, the rail network is second to none, it's congested sure, but it works. The problem is that people still need to get in and out of the cars for example, which means there is still wait time. Breakdowns will happen. All humans drivers will have to be banned etc. It sounds to me like the auto-industry is still pushing a selfish agenda and the valley is buying it, because it's an opportunity to take more money. For me, I'm happy because I'll still ride my bike and it will be a much safer place for me to exist because self-driving cars won't try and kill me, hopefully :)
Tiktaalik 10y ago

rusted_planet 10y ago

But if I enjoy riding my motorcycle to work every day, that is my waste of time. I am all for autonomous cars, as long as I am allowed to have my vehicles and drive them when I want. Also we all know the security on cars is weak, who needs a bomb in a terrorist attack when you can just hack something and order 50,000 cars to crash (that might sound silly, but it hackers find ways). Do you trust auto manufacturers enough to secure it? Yeah we can mail firmware updates on USB sticks, what could go wrong. Sorry I am pretty sure I am one of those hostile drivers. They should market it as like a designated driver for the drunk. It would sell faster then.