5 ms·

Since the new "security measures" have gone into place. I've instituted a 12- to 14-hour rule: if I can get somewhere by driving there in less than 12 (to 14) h

Since the new "security measures" have gone into place. I've instituted a 12- to 14-hour rule: if I can get somewhere by driving there in less than 12 (to 14) hours, I'll drive. As a tall person, a plane has always been uncomfortable for me. Add to that experience the long security lines and being treated like cattle... nah. It costs me more, but I'll drive.

rdl 13y ago
If you had a self-driving EV such that a drive cost you duration of sitting in a comfortable chair with high-speed internet, a refrigerator full of drinks, and maybe $50, how far upward would you revise this? I'd probably seriously consider commuting weekly or biweekly from central WA to SFBA, even if it took 20h. 10h would be nothing, as I could just sleep.
- GrinningFool 13y ago
  If I were single I'd go longer. But married w/ kid - anything more than ~12 hours ultimately cuts into time with my family at both ends of the trip.
- btilly 13y ago
  As a tall person who is prone to motion sickness, not one bit. If I so much as looked at that screen, I'd be ill. I have a feeling that as time goes on, this will be seen as more and more of a handicap instead of a minor inconvenience.
  - rdl 13y ago
    I wonder if gimbal-mounting a seat could address motion sickness.
    - Cowen 13y ago
      Probably not much. Motion sickness is mostly caused by your brain trying to resolve opposing signals between your eyes and your sense of motion. If you're looking at a non-moving scene like a screen in the car, but everything else in your body says you're moving at 60 MPH, you might get motion sickness. A gimbal-mounted seat would change how often you bumped around, but your vestibular system would still sense things like going up/down a hill or making a turn. Basically, a gimbal-mounted seat would be about as effective as a perfectly paved road.
  - 1123581321 13y ago
    If transportation changes to where most people will need to be comfortable in those situations, getting over motion sickness will be like getting your "sea legs" or accommodating to Zero G. You will just have to have a few unpleasant trips until you get used to the sensations. Sorry!
    - btilly 13y ago
      I cannot explain how infuriating it is that you'd have the gall to assume that "a few unpleasant trips" would solve the problem. If I could I would give you the experience of feeling nauseous for several hours after making the mistake of playing a first person shooter or reading directions to the driver in a moving car. Maybe after you experienced that you'd understand that the issue I have is not simply, "Get sick a few times and you'll stop complaining about it.
      - 1123581321 13y ago
        You are possibly correct -- but people have said the same about other disorientations and grown used to them given no other choice. I hope I am right for your sake (or that you never have to change your method of transportation of I am wrong!) My comment was meant optimistically with respect to your human ability to adapt to something new. I hope you understand my "gall" extends to speculation on an Internet forum only; I would certainly not want to subject you to such sensations in real life.
      - rdl 13y ago
        Somehow this used to really bother me when I was 4-8 years old, and then it stopped. I don't know if that's normal. Being directly in-line with the direction of travel mattered then, too (now I can sit sideways in an aircraft doing a combat spiral landing and not get sick). I don't think "doing it a few times" is what stopped it for me, it was probably some morphological change as I grew up. Presumably you've tried medication? It would probably be horrible to have to take transdermal scopolamine fairly continually, though.
        jlgreco 13y ago
  - kbenson 13y ago
    My (somewhat uninformed) understanding is that car sourced motion sickness is due to turning without your body expecting it. That is, seeing and expecting a turn negates the problems. If that's correct, then maybe some sort of visual indicator that lets you know when to expect a few minutes or more of relatively straight travelling (such as on a highway), and an indicator when this is about to end, would be helpful?
    - btilly 13y ago
      It is easier for me to be a driver than a passenger, I believe in part because as a driver I pay close attention to and know about all bumps before they happen. But having been through it before, I have no desire to experiment with the limits of what makes me sick. Doubly so since I tend to not notice that I'm getting sick until I'm going to be sick for quite a bit...
  - scoot 13y ago
    Ginger. I prefer the pickled sushi ginger, but any type will do cookies, crystallized, tea, tablets - take your pick. 'The present study showed that ginger at a dose of 1,000 mg effectively reduced the severity of nausea evoked by circular vection, prolonging latency before the onset of nausea and shortening the recovery time from nausea after the cessation of vection.' Effects of ginger on motion sickness and gastric slow-wave dysrhythmias induced by circular vection Han-Chung Lien , Wei Ming Sun , Yen-Hsueh Chen , Hyerang Kim , William Hasler , Chung Owyang American Journal of Physiology - Gastrointestinal and Liver PhysiologyPublished 1 March 2003 http://ajpgi.physiology.org/content/284/3/G481 http://ajpgi.physiology.org/content/284/3/G481
- nobodysfool 13y ago
  They have these already, they are called buses.
  - tommy_ 13y ago
    Buses have schedules and can't take detours.
  - 6d0debc071 13y ago
    Buses could be significantly improved if you weren't crammed in with a bunch of people, generally one toilet, insufficient leg room, generally no wifi and no electricity, fairly little luggage.... I suspect self-driving EVs would have a bit more luxury ^_^
    - jaynos 13y ago
      I'd definitely pay more for a bus ticket if it was more spacious and had 2-3 bathrooms.
      - rdl 13y ago
        Some of the buses in Asia (and some in Europe) tend to not be as disgusting as US buses. It appears "megabus" is now in some US markets and is a slight upgrade to Greyhound. I'd still rather be in a private car and just pull over whenever I want to use a bathroom, or get food, etc. I wouldn't feel particularly comfortable sleeping (particularly with my luggage) on a public bus in the US. I'd also pay extra to have a machine drive me from SF-SEA rather than a human driver, as I'm somewhat antisocial and dislike being around random people like taxi drivers in car-sized spaces for that long.
jlgreco 13y ago
If my schedule permits it period, I drive. I've driven 4 days in a row rather than fly (my schedule was unusually loose then), though I have also flown rather than drive 6 hours (my schedule was unusually tight then). Treated like cattle is exactly the right way of putting it. I would rather be inconvenienced on my terms.
greenyoda 13y ago
"Add to that experience the long security lines and being treated like cattle..." Cattle probably have more legal protections than travelers in a U.S. airport.

rdl 13y ago

If you had a self-driving EV such that a drive cost you duration of sitting in a comfortable chair with high-speed internet, a refrigerator full of drinks, and maybe $50, how far upward would you revise this? I'd probably seriously consider commuting weekly or biweekly from central WA to SFBA, even if it took 20h. 10h would be nothing, as I could just sleep.

GrinningFool 13y ago
If I were single I'd go longer. But married w/ kid - anything more than ~12 hours ultimately cuts into time with my family at both ends of the trip.
btilly 13y ago
As a tall person who is prone to motion sickness, not one bit. If I so much as looked at that screen, I'd be ill. I have a feeling that as time goes on, this will be seen as more and more of a handicap instead of a minor inconvenience.
- rdl 13y ago
  I wonder if gimbal-mounting a seat could address motion sickness.
  - Cowen 13y ago
    Probably not much. Motion sickness is mostly caused by your brain trying to resolve opposing signals between your eyes and your sense of motion. If you're looking at a non-moving scene like a screen in the car, but everything else in your body says you're moving at 60 MPH, you might get motion sickness. A gimbal-mounted seat would change how often you bumped around, but your vestibular system would still sense things like going up/down a hill or making a turn. Basically, a gimbal-mounted seat would be about as effective as a perfectly paved road.
- 1123581321 13y ago
  If transportation changes to where most people will need to be comfortable in those situations, getting over motion sickness will be like getting your "sea legs" or accommodating to Zero G. You will just have to have a few unpleasant trips until you get used to the sensations. Sorry!
  - btilly 13y ago
    I cannot explain how infuriating it is that you'd have the gall to assume that "a few unpleasant trips" would solve the problem. If I could I would give you the experience of feeling nauseous for several hours after making the mistake of playing a first person shooter or reading directions to the driver in a moving car. Maybe after you experienced that you'd understand that the issue I have is not simply, "Get sick a few times and you'll stop complaining about it.
    - 1123581321 13y ago
      You are possibly correct -- but people have said the same about other disorientations and grown used to them given no other choice. I hope I am right for your sake (or that you never have to change your method of transportation of I am wrong!) My comment was meant optimistically with respect to your human ability to adapt to something new. I hope you understand my "gall" extends to speculation on an Internet forum only; I would certainly not want to subject you to such sensations in real life.
    - rdl 13y ago
      Somehow this used to really bother me when I was 4-8 years old, and then it stopped. I don't know if that's normal. Being directly in-line with the direction of travel mattered then, too (now I can sit sideways in an aircraft doing a combat spiral landing and not get sick). I don't think "doing it a few times" is what stopped it for me, it was probably some morphological change as I grew up. Presumably you've tried medication? It would probably be horrible to have to take transdermal scopolamine fairly continually, though.
      - jlgreco 13y ago
- kbenson 13y ago
  My (somewhat uninformed) understanding is that car sourced motion sickness is due to turning without your body expecting it. That is, seeing and expecting a turn negates the problems. If that's correct, then maybe some sort of visual indicator that lets you know when to expect a few minutes or more of relatively straight travelling (such as on a highway), and an indicator when this is about to end, would be helpful?
  - btilly 13y ago
    It is easier for me to be a driver than a passenger, I believe in part because as a driver I pay close attention to and know about all bumps before they happen. But having been through it before, I have no desire to experiment with the limits of what makes me sick. Doubly so since I tend to not notice that I'm getting sick until I'm going to be sick for quite a bit...
- scoot 13y ago
  Ginger. I prefer the pickled sushi ginger, but any type will do cookies, crystallized, tea, tablets - take your pick. 'The present study showed that ginger at a dose of 1,000 mg effectively reduced the severity of nausea evoked by circular vection, prolonging latency before the onset of nausea and shortening the recovery time from nausea after the cessation of vection.' Effects of ginger on motion sickness and gastric slow-wave dysrhythmias induced by circular vection Han-Chung Lien , Wei Ming Sun , Yen-Hsueh Chen , Hyerang Kim , William Hasler , Chung Owyang American Journal of Physiology - Gastrointestinal and Liver PhysiologyPublished 1 March 2003 http://ajpgi.physiology.org/content/284/3/G481 http://ajpgi.physiology.org/content/284/3/G481
nobodysfool 13y ago
They have these already, they are called buses.
- tommy_ 13y ago
  Buses have schedules and can't take detours.
- 6d0debc071 13y ago
  Buses could be significantly improved if you weren't crammed in with a bunch of people, generally one toilet, insufficient leg room, generally no wifi and no electricity, fairly little luggage.... I suspect self-driving EVs would have a bit more luxury ^_^
  - jaynos 13y ago
    I'd definitely pay more for a bus ticket if it was more spacious and had 2-3 bathrooms.
    - rdl 13y ago
      Some of the buses in Asia (and some in Europe) tend to not be as disgusting as US buses. It appears "megabus" is now in some US markets and is a slight upgrade to Greyhound. I'd still rather be in a private car and just pull over whenever I want to use a bathroom, or get food, etc. I wouldn't feel particularly comfortable sleeping (particularly with my luggage) on a public bus in the US. I'd also pay extra to have a machine drive me from SF-SEA rather than a human driver, as I'm somewhat antisocial and dislike being around random people like taxi drivers in car-sized spaces for that long.

jlgreco 13y ago

If my schedule permits it period, I drive. I've driven 4 days in a row rather than fly (my schedule was unusually loose then), though I have also flown rather than drive 6 hours (my schedule was unusually tight then). Treated like cattle is exactly the right way of putting it. I would rather be inconvenienced on my terms.

greenyoda 13y ago

"Add to that experience the long security lines and being treated like cattle..." Cattle probably have more legal protections than travelers in a U.S. airport.