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I think this is solving a problem too literally: "I have a bike, but sometimes want to carry more stuff." Though the problem is actually: "I have some stuff, a

by furyg3 5y ago

I think this is solving a problem too literally: "I have a bike, but sometimes want to carry more stuff." Though the problem is actually: "I have some stuff, and I want it to get somewhere" It's cute that a little car can follow my bike home from the hardware store with my stuff, but I don't actually care about the following. Just let me summon a trailer, put my stuff in it, and tell it to meet me at home in 20 mins. That way I don't have to pick it up somewhere, or drive it back when I'm done. Of course the issue is that self-driving isn't a thing yet, in which case I may as well drive the thing. Just give me some kind of cargo pickup scooter like a Stint (https://stintum.com/pickup/ https://stintum.com/pickup/).

ohazi 5y ago
It seems like this is essentially the same technology, but they use the "needs to follow a bike" property to deal with the fact that your proposed AI trailer likely wouldn't be street legal, and also as an easy way to deter vandalism or theft.
- jjoonathan 5y ago
  A car fully solves all of these problems simultaneously.
  - dylan604 5y ago
    Way to miss the point. I've been without a car for about 18 months now. Yes, I miss having a car, but I don't miss payments, insurance, or maintenance. I've dealt with small grocery runs with my pedal bike, but it has limitations. Delivery fees have just become part of my budget, but those fees still do not add up to a car payment or insurance fees. As much as I miss my last car, I'm not ready to jump into that level of commitment again any time soon.
    - jjoonathan 5y ago
      Way to miss the point. Any niche between cars and bikes has to compete with both cars and bikes -- and you can aggregate things into cars to get utilization up, as you have discovered by paying for delivery. Bike infrastructure is underdeveloped. Car infrastructure is not, and cars are good at cargo. Shifting cargo-hauling duty onto bike infrastructure is a great way to put bike infrastructure overcapacity, but not a great way to haul cargo. We should reserve bike infrastructure for people, because getting people out of cars and onto bikes is where the magic happens. Turning bikes into small cars -- which is where this idea is clearly headed -- is gross.
  - furyg3 5y ago
    A whole lot of city dwellers, especially outside the US, don't have a license. On top of this they may be wishing to get stuff to/from places that aren't very accessible by car, and additionally rental car prices are heavily determined by the price of the vehicle, the operating costs, and maintenance. The numbers on something like this are much lower than on a van.
  - b3morales 5y ago
    ...while creating several others.
- yarcob 5y ago
  > that your proposed AI trailer likely wouldn't be street legal I see this statement all the time (that legal issues are holding AI back) but I'm pretty sure the legal issues could be fixed pretty quickly if there actually were self driving things. In this case, if you look at the videos it doesn't look like this trailer is doing anything smart at all, it just accelerates/breaks when you pull/push on the draw bar.
  - wongarsu 5y ago
    > In this case, if you look at the videos it doesn't look like this trailer is doing anything smart at all, it just accelerates/breaks when you pull/push on the draw bar. Seems like a smart solution to the problem "I want to transport stuff, but bike trailers are too heavy"

by furyg3 5y ago

ohazi 5y ago

It seems like this is essentially the same technology, but they use the "needs to follow a bike" property to deal with the fact that your proposed AI trailer likely wouldn't be street legal, and also as an easy way to deter vandalism or theft.

jjoonathan 5y ago
A car fully solves all of these problems simultaneously.
- dylan604 5y ago
  Way to miss the point. I've been without a car for about 18 months now. Yes, I miss having a car, but I don't miss payments, insurance, or maintenance. I've dealt with small grocery runs with my pedal bike, but it has limitations. Delivery fees have just become part of my budget, but those fees still do not add up to a car payment or insurance fees. As much as I miss my last car, I'm not ready to jump into that level of commitment again any time soon.
  - jjoonathan 5y ago
    Way to miss the point. Any niche between cars and bikes has to compete with both cars and bikes -- and you can aggregate things into cars to get utilization up, as you have discovered by paying for delivery. Bike infrastructure is underdeveloped. Car infrastructure is not, and cars are good at cargo. Shifting cargo-hauling duty onto bike infrastructure is a great way to put bike infrastructure overcapacity, but not a great way to haul cargo. We should reserve bike infrastructure for people, because getting people out of cars and onto bikes is where the magic happens. Turning bikes into small cars -- which is where this idea is clearly headed -- is gross.
- furyg3 5y ago
  A whole lot of city dwellers, especially outside the US, don't have a license. On top of this they may be wishing to get stuff to/from places that aren't very accessible by car, and additionally rental car prices are heavily determined by the price of the vehicle, the operating costs, and maintenance. The numbers on something like this are much lower than on a van.
- b3morales 5y ago
  ...while creating several others.
yarcob 5y ago
> that your proposed AI trailer likely wouldn't be street legal I see this statement all the time (that legal issues are holding AI back) but I'm pretty sure the legal issues could be fixed pretty quickly if there actually were self driving things. In this case, if you look at the videos it doesn't look like this trailer is doing anything smart at all, it just accelerates/breaks when you pull/push on the draw bar.
- wongarsu 5y ago
  > In this case, if you look at the videos it doesn't look like this trailer is doing anything smart at all, it just accelerates/breaks when you pull/push on the draw bar. Seems like a smart solution to the problem "I want to transport stuff, but bike trailers are too heavy"