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Many people in these comments are saying "this is stupid, why not just use a bicycle?" and I just can't fathom this line of reasoning. The point of this car is

Many people in these comments are saying "this is stupid, why not just use a bicycle?" and I just can't fathom this line of reasoning. The point of this car is not to replace bicycles. It's to replace big cars. Smaller, lighter, slower cars on the roads will make cycling safer. This is a net positive for bicycles and e-bikes and cargo trikes and the rest of the fun things that you are suggesting. This is not an all-or-nothing decision. If we don't support car alternatives, we'll be stuck with cars.

cstejerean 3y ago
The people who say that probably live in California (or equivalent) and can't fathom that some people live in places where weather is a thing. Or maybe they're the kind of hardcore cyclists that wouldn't mind cycling in a Michigan winter or an Arizona summer. Good for them. But there's nothing wrong with needing an air conditioned enclosed vehicle to get around.
- elliottkember 3y ago
  I live in California. Cycling in Michigan winter and Arizona summer are great! I wouldn't mind either. People do it all the time. Having the right clothing is very important. It's okay to have options. Many people who live in those places and have bikes also have cars. Why not have a small car instead of a big car?
  - govg 3y ago
    I live in Madison, which is an incredibly bike friendly city and there is almost no bike usage once winter starts over here. This is in a city with dedicated bike paths and lanes all over town. Under heavy snowfall and -20 C temperatures with wind screeching in cause of the lakes, I really doubt this is a doable scenario.
  - menus 3y ago
    If Finns can cycle in the winter (1), why can't Americans? If it is possible for snowplows can clear giant 14 lane highways, they can clear small 2 lane bike paths 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU Yes the answer is more complicated due to suburban sprawl and lack of infrastructure, but it is not impossible. It is always possible.
- EngManagerIsMe 3y ago
  I live in Seattle, it's cold and rainy all year long (more or less). I still prefer using my bike over a car (though I have no problem with small car that replaces big car.)
  - PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
    > it's cold and rainy all year long (more or less End of May - September, Seattle is the 5th driest metro in the USA, with temperatures in the range that most people consider "ideal". Good effort trying to perpetuate the story told to outsiders, though. (I lived there for 7 years).
    - EngManagerIsMe 3y ago
      I've lived here 35+ years. I mean, May-September can be nice, though these days that's smoke season.
  - munificent 3y ago
    I also live in Seattle, bike to work three days a week, and don't mind biking in the rain and cold. Even so, I think mobility vehicles like this are excellent and should absolutely be part of our transportation systems. Sometimes you: * Have a disability that prevents you from biking. * Need to pick something up from the store that won't fit in your paniers. * Want to bring a passenger who doesn't bike. * Need to bring a small child who can't bike or doesn't have the endurance. * Need to carry something you can't get wet and won't fit in your panniers. * Are going somewhere nice and need to arrive without your hair and clothing discheveled. * Won't have a safe place to park a bike. * Need to leave something with your vehicle and want to be able to lock it away. There is a reason cars are so popular. They are amazingly useful and convenient. I dislike arguments against cars because so many of them try to downplay the benefits as if car consumers are idiots. The benefits are real and profound. The problem with cars isn't that they aren't as great as people think they are. It's that the externalities often don't make the benefits worth it. Any vehicle that can give you many of those same benefits while reducing those externalities should be applauded.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > But there's nothing wrong with needing an air conditioned enclosed vehicle to get around. There's nothing wrong with wanting that, but calling it a need it overstating things.
- TheFreim 3y ago
  I don't think this works. Plenty of people where I live bike throughout the frigid snowy winters, other places people bike regulatory even though it often rains.
NoLinkToMe 3y ago
Agreed, it'd also be a helpful trend-breaker to the ever bigger sizes of cars. We've never had such a high share of SUVs and trucks on the road, it makes everyone less safe. Road safety has essentially become a typical social dilemma now: everyone's self-interested pursuit of safety (driving a bigger car), leads to worse outcomes for all, and if we coordinated better by all driving lighter vehicles, we'd all be safer off. Still quietly hoping for solutions through regulation here in Europe, to severely limit the number of large cars (either requiring a special license like for busses, or through taxes based on their impact of weight on road maintenance and size on parking requirements). But I don't really see it happening. We really, really love our freedom of choice in the cars we buy, even if some of these cars are approaching the size of literal tanks [0] and can be driven by teenagers on the same streets shared with kids playing or people cycling. It's absurd to me. I'm also really hopeful about driverless tech. If the majority of cars are driverless, I'm sure the majority of vehicles on roads will become unmanned taxis, at which point we can have way more differentiation in size. Right now we all buy personal cars with a size/capacity to accommodate even the least frequent occurence of travelling with 4-6 friends, even if 9/10 trips we drive solo. But if you can just call-up a ubiquitous taxi, 9/10 taxis would probably be 2-man pods at most. It should reduce average car sizes (as it's cheaper to manufacture and operate) and increase average occupation, making driving cheaper and safer. But that may be 2 decades away. [0] https://www.motorbiscuit.com/american-trucks-suvs-almost-bigger-world-war-ii-tanks/ https://www.motorbiscuit.com/american-trucks-suvs-almost-big...
- yourusername 3y ago
  >Still quietly hoping for solutions through regulation here in Europe, to severely limit the number of large cars (either requiring a special license like for busses, or through taxes based on their impact of weight on road maintenance and size on parking requirements). But I don't really see it happening. Cars in Europe are not that big, already limited to 3500kg. If you put a limit at say 1000 kg that means that driving a delivery van, your plumber, small scale public transport, driving around a cleaning crew will all require a "special" license. In practice this special license will just become the default license. I dislike SUVs but the kind of things we drive in Europe aren't like American SUVs, most are the size and weight of a Golf or a Polo with 10 cm extra height.

cstejerean 3y ago

The people who say that probably live in California (or equivalent) and can't fathom that some people live in places where weather is a thing. Or maybe they're the kind of hardcore cyclists that wouldn't mind cycling in a Michigan winter or an Arizona summer. Good for them. But there's nothing wrong with needing an air conditioned enclosed vehicle to get around.

elliottkember 3y ago
I live in California. Cycling in Michigan winter and Arizona summer are great! I wouldn't mind either. People do it all the time. Having the right clothing is very important. It's okay to have options. Many people who live in those places and have bikes also have cars. Why not have a small car instead of a big car?
- govg 3y ago
  I live in Madison, which is an incredibly bike friendly city and there is almost no bike usage once winter starts over here. This is in a city with dedicated bike paths and lanes all over town. Under heavy snowfall and -20 C temperatures with wind screeching in cause of the lakes, I really doubt this is a doable scenario.
- menus 3y ago
  If Finns can cycle in the winter (1), why can't Americans? If it is possible for snowplows can clear giant 14 lane highways, they can clear small 2 lane bike paths 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU Yes the answer is more complicated due to suburban sprawl and lack of infrastructure, but it is not impossible. It is always possible.
EngManagerIsMe 3y ago
I live in Seattle, it's cold and rainy all year long (more or less). I still prefer using my bike over a car (though I have no problem with small car that replaces big car.)
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
  > it's cold and rainy all year long (more or less End of May - September, Seattle is the 5th driest metro in the USA, with temperatures in the range that most people consider "ideal". Good effort trying to perpetuate the story told to outsiders, though. (I lived there for 7 years).
  - EngManagerIsMe 3y ago
    I've lived here 35+ years. I mean, May-September can be nice, though these days that's smoke season.
- munificent 3y ago
  I also live in Seattle, bike to work three days a week, and don't mind biking in the rain and cold. Even so, I think mobility vehicles like this are excellent and should absolutely be part of our transportation systems. Sometimes you: * Have a disability that prevents you from biking. * Need to pick something up from the store that won't fit in your paniers. * Want to bring a passenger who doesn't bike. * Need to bring a small child who can't bike or doesn't have the endurance. * Need to carry something you can't get wet and won't fit in your panniers. * Are going somewhere nice and need to arrive without your hair and clothing discheveled. * Won't have a safe place to park a bike. * Need to leave something with your vehicle and want to be able to lock it away. There is a reason cars are so popular. They are amazingly useful and convenient. I dislike arguments against cars because so many of them try to downplay the benefits as if car consumers are idiots. The benefits are real and profound. The problem with cars isn't that they aren't as great as people think they are. It's that the externalities often don't make the benefits worth it. Any vehicle that can give you many of those same benefits while reducing those externalities should be applauded.
JohnFen 3y ago
> But there's nothing wrong with needing an air conditioned enclosed vehicle to get around. There's nothing wrong with wanting that, but calling it a need it overstating things.
TheFreim 3y ago
I don't think this works. Plenty of people where I live bike throughout the frigid snowy winters, other places people bike regulatory even though it often rains.

NoLinkToMe 3y ago

Agreed, it'd also be a helpful trend-breaker to the ever bigger sizes of cars. We've never had such a high share of SUVs and trucks on the road, it makes everyone less safe. Road safety has essentially become a typical social dilemma now: everyone's self-interested pursuit of safety (driving a bigger car), leads to worse outcomes for all, and if we coordinated better by all driving lighter vehicles, we'd all be safer off. Still quietly hoping for solutions through regulation here in Europe, to severely limit the number of large cars (either requiring a special license like for busses, or through taxes based on their impact of weight on road maintenance and size on parking requirements). But I don't really see it happening. We really, really love our freedom of choice in the cars we buy, even if some of these cars are approaching the size of literal tanks [0] and can be driven by teenagers on the same streets shared with kids playing or people cycling. It's absurd to me. I'm also really hopeful about driverless tech. If the majority of cars are driverless, I'm sure the majority of vehicles on roads will become unmanned taxis, at which point we can have way more differentiation in size. Right now we all buy personal cars with a size/capacity to accommodate even the least frequent occurence of travelling with 4-6 friends, even if 9/10 trips we drive solo. But if you can just call-up a ubiquitous taxi, 9/10 taxis would probably be 2-man pods at most. It should reduce average car sizes (as it's cheaper to manufacture and operate) and increase average occupation, making driving cheaper and safer. But that may be 2 decades away. [0] https://www.motorbiscuit.com/american-trucks-suvs-almost-bigger-world-war-ii-tanks/ https://www.motorbiscuit.com/american-trucks-suvs-almost-big...

yourusername 3y ago
>Still quietly hoping for solutions through regulation here in Europe, to severely limit the number of large cars (either requiring a special license like for busses, or through taxes based on their impact of weight on road maintenance and size on parking requirements). But I don't really see it happening. Cars in Europe are not that big, already limited to 3500kg. If you put a limit at say 1000 kg that means that driving a delivery van, your plumber, small scale public transport, driving around a cleaning crew will all require a "special" license. In practice this special license will just become the default license. I dislike SUVs but the kind of things we drive in Europe aren't like American SUVs, most are the size and weight of a Golf or a Polo with 10 cm extra height.