3 ms·

If inter-vehicle communication can be standardized, and human drivers aren't on the road, then what's the point of cars (self-driving or otherwise)? What you're

If inter-vehicle communication can be standardized, and human drivers aren't on the road, then what's the point of cars (self-driving or otherwise)? What you're describing is basically a rail system.

nitrogen 10y ago
Sure, if rails were extended to every single possible destination.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- ollie87 10y ago
  To quote Ali G: "What if terrorists drove a train into the White House?"
jowiar 10y ago
Rail is particularly effective for navigation of a linear space where large numbers of people cover arbitrary segments of the distance. On a larger scale, think Italy, Japan, or the US East Coast. On a smaller scale, think avenues in NYC. Once navigation is extended to a two-dimensional area, Rail requires serious compromises. To the extent that you are going for arbitrary point-to-point travel in two-dimensional space, whether the vehicles are traveling on rails or tarmac is irrelevant -- the problems are largely the same, and it is easier to lay tarmac.
michaelt 10y ago
Existing car infrastructure is much denser, and in many areas provides direct door-to-door travel. If I want to travel from Coventry to Cambridge [1] departing at noon today, it would take 1h50m by car but 2h26m by train, because the train journey follows a V shaped path through London. And that's assuming my travel was literally from train station door to train station door. If I want to travel from Warwick University's maths department to Cambridge University's maths department, the travel time by car is 1h56m while the time by public transport is 3h39m with five changes. Of course, if one was going to London the heavy traffic, poor parking and high public transit density would reduce the benefits of driving. If what you have in mind is some sort of switched rail network, built as densely as our current road network is, and with vehicle spacing as close as our road network allows, I agree that autonomous cars and that would be pretty similar. [1] https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Coventry,+Station+Square/Cambridge,+Station+Road/ https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Coventry,+Station+Square/C... [2] https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/CV4+7AL,+Coventry/Cambridge+CB3+0WA/ https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/CV4+7AL,+Coventry/Cambridg...

If inter-vehicle communication can be standardized, and human drivers aren't on the road, then what's the point of cars (self-driving or otherwise)? What you're describing is basically a rail system.

nitrogen 10y ago

Sure, if rails were extended to every single possible destination.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
ollie87 10y ago
To quote Ali G: "What if terrorists drove a train into the White House?"

jowiar 10y ago

Rail is particularly effective for navigation of a linear space where large numbers of people cover arbitrary segments of the distance. On a larger scale, think Italy, Japan, or the US East Coast. On a smaller scale, think avenues in NYC. Once navigation is extended to a two-dimensional area, Rail requires serious compromises. To the extent that you are going for arbitrary point-to-point travel in two-dimensional space, whether the vehicles are traveling on rails or tarmac is irrelevant -- the problems are largely the same, and it is easier to lay tarmac.

michaelt 10y ago

Existing car infrastructure is much denser, and in many areas provides direct door-to-door travel. If I want to travel from Coventry to Cambridge [1] departing at noon today, it would take 1h50m by car but 2h26m by train, because the train journey follows a V shaped path through London. And that's assuming my travel was literally from train station door to train station door. If I want to travel from Warwick University's maths department to Cambridge University's maths department, the travel time by car is 1h56m while the time by public transport is 3h39m with five changes. Of course, if one was going to London the heavy traffic, poor parking and high public transit density would reduce the benefits of driving. If what you have in mind is some sort of switched rail network, built as densely as our current road network is, and with vehicle spacing as close as our road network allows, I agree that autonomous cars and that would be pretty similar. [1] https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Coventry,+Station+Square/Cambridge,+Station+Road/ https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Coventry,+Station+Square/C... [2] https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/CV4+7AL,+Coventry/Cambridge+CB3+0WA/ https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/CV4+7AL,+Coventry/Cambridg...