4 ms·

A large component of driving around in cars, at least for many, many people in north america, is not just for the purposes of transportation but simultaneously

by plg 13y ago

A large component of driving around in cars, at least for many, many people in north america, is not just for the purposes of transportation but simultaneously for displaying an expression of your personality. Many people buy particular cars because they view them as an expression of their personality (or an expression of their aspirations). Sure, this may be the "fault" of the car industry ... but whatever the origin, the fact is that it is the case today. What's more I think that the manner in which many people drive is also an expression of their personality. Sure, some people buy a toyota tercel and drive around in a machine-like state, purely for the purpose of transportation ... but I think the majority of people drive in a more "personalized" manner, for lack of a better term. I'm sure it's the case that google-self-driving-cars will be more efficient (and safer) transportation devices ... but the challenge will be that the masses will not easily migrate away from their personality-extensions (mustang, bmw, cadillac, convertible, truck, etc) into a pod-like utilitarian mode of transportation. No doubt, one reason why traffic is so inefficient is precisely because of these "personality" effects ... but there is much in life that is inefficient. In an age of google (and others) identifying the "inefficiencies" in our daily lives, we need to have a discussion about what features of our behaviour, and our daily lives, define us as individuals and make us human. Of course if part of your "personality" involves driving recklessly or putting people in danger, this is not a good state of affairs. But you get the gist of what I'm saying...

redwood 13y ago
On the other hand, the same could be said about the phone... A major personality device. Imagine the 80s exec on his office phone behind the leather desk. The power player in the early 90s in a "CAR phone". The suburbanite with the really long cord so he/she can use the phone anywhere in the living room/kitchen vicinity. etc. All of these were replaced by mobile phones which also become diversified as personality brands. The same will no doubt happen with self driven cars. So let's look for what the equivalent of the pickup, mustang, or prius will be in the self-driven era. My prediction: - Mustang will be fast looking, but self-driven. With a manual option (for driving on a track some place) - Pickup will be strong looking, but self-driven and with a manual mode expected to be used a lot - Prius will be small and utilitarian looking, without much expectation to be manually driven
- plg 13y ago
  interesting. I suppose even if it's a dialed-down version, a company could easily provide self-driven cars that at least claimed to have different personalities. Maybe that will be in the form of non-functional "flair" (colours, decals, decorations, etc) but it has worked for many other products, that's for sure. cool
herge 13y ago
I think convenience trumps a lot of things. Look how quickly we switched from horses to cars. Horses are living animals which people probably had emotional bonds with in an owner-pet like way. Plus a lot of people, even to this day, love to ride horses. There was a huge infrastructure and layers of jobs to support that lifestyle, between horse-breeders, knackers, horse feed, etc. But once cars became practicable and affordable, they replaced horses in the time of a generation.

by plg 13y ago

redwood 13y ago

On the other hand, the same could be said about the phone... A major personality device. Imagine the 80s exec on his office phone behind the leather desk. The power player in the early 90s in a "CAR phone". The suburbanite with the really long cord so he/she can use the phone anywhere in the living room/kitchen vicinity. etc. All of these were replaced by mobile phones which also become diversified as personality brands. The same will no doubt happen with self driven cars. So let's look for what the equivalent of the pickup, mustang, or prius will be in the self-driven era. My prediction: - Mustang will be fast looking, but self-driven. With a manual option (for driving on a track some place) - Pickup will be strong looking, but self-driven and with a manual mode expected to be used a lot - Prius will be small and utilitarian looking, without much expectation to be manually driven

plg 13y ago
interesting. I suppose even if it's a dialed-down version, a company could easily provide self-driven cars that at least claimed to have different personalities. Maybe that will be in the form of non-functional "flair" (colours, decals, decorations, etc) but it has worked for many other products, that's for sure. cool

herge 13y ago

I think convenience trumps a lot of things. Look how quickly we switched from horses to cars. Horses are living animals which people probably had emotional bonds with in an owner-pet like way. Plus a lot of people, even to this day, love to ride horses. There was a huge infrastructure and layers of jobs to support that lifestyle, between horse-breeders, knackers, horse feed, etc. But once cars became practicable and affordable, they replaced horses in the time of a generation.