asteli

23 ms·

181.
by asteli 9y ago
The typical approach is to fuse GPS, inertial, and wheelspeed sensors to track a vehicle's motion in space. They all have their shortcomings, and all compensate for each other. GPS is, as you said, wildly inaccurate, disconcertingly of
182.
by asteli 9y ago
All SDVs that I know of operate some kind of longitudinal controller that has access to throttle and brakes at a minimum. That and steering wheel angle (or torque, depending) are the two essential control primitives. All the motion planning
183.
by asteli 9y ago
Driving no faster than the speed limit under any circumstances causes safety issues. You get a continuous stream of cars cutting in front, some of them irate about having to accommodate the SDV's law-abiding nature. I'm relative
184.
by asteli 9y ago
Hey, I'm an atheist, and I never do this!
185.
by asteli 9y ago
It's tempting to think of it that way, but there are significant advantages to this configuration: low-power cruise in forward flight, longer maintenance intervals, nearly silent drive system (not counting the props, obviously, but rem
186.
by asteli 9y ago
I don't see it being a point to point transportation option for most of it's potential use cases either. One thing that often gets neglected when talking about aircraft range is the fuel requirements - you need to have enough fuel
187.
by asteli 9y ago
The use case is oddly specific- ideally you have a region that's geographically challenging, but not sparse enough that you can just wedge an airstrip somewhere and call it a day. It also can't be so developed that there's ex
188.
by asteli 9y ago
The drone-like vehicle hasn't been around as long as the concept from this release. You can see earlier versions in patent drawings from 2010 [1] [1] https://patents.google.com/patent/US20130214086
189.
by asteli 9y ago
You're right that powered lift is inefficient, however the whole point of this configuration is that you transition to forward flight/aerodynamic lift once aloft.
190.
by asteli 9y ago
Very talented bunch. I've seen the tech and the engineering behind it, and I have no doubt that they can build the aircraft they're claiming here. What remains to be seen is how they interface with the existing aviation regulatory
191.
by asteli 9y ago
Serial Attached SCSI?
192.
by asteli 9y ago
To name a couple, you enable mass desalination and cracking of water. Solve humanity's access to clean water, enable replacement of fossil fuels for vehicles, solve anthropogenic climate change. Just those two are huge.
193.
by asteli 9y ago
Most countries agree to use a 1-hour division, but not all. Iran's offset, for example, is +3:30.
194.
by asteli 9y ago
Labels are a great way to find new music. Smaller ones typically have much tighter, more strongly thematic curation. Often, if I really enjoy an artist, I'll browse the rest of the labels offerings. This doesn't work for Sony BMG
195.
by asteli 9y ago
I've done a little welding, using the really nice TIG setup at my work's machine shop. I've contemplated getting a cheap TIG setup for home, but was wary that they'd be unusable compared to a nice unit. Sort of like sold
196.
by asteli 9y ago
There's nothing wrong per se with an educated, wealthy populace. It's the gentrification process that is problematic. It forces the poor and marginalized out, which is basically the last thing those populations need. It's a
197.
by asteli 9y ago
Given that the cab is usually left completely open, and that the cargo area isn't enclosed when it's in use, I'm not sure it makes sense to use aircon in a delivery vehicle,
198.
by asteli 9y ago
I appreciate the mention of West Oakland. I walked past Esther's Orbit Room on my way to work today. A derelict jazz club, a holdover from the time when West Oakland was flush with money and culture brought from all over by the people
199.
by asteli 9y ago
When I think of the Culture series, I immediately think of the descriptions of incredibly vast spacecraft, the General Systems Vehicles and whatnot. Even listening via audiobook, my imagination was able to conjure a fragment of the sensatio
200.
by asteli 9y ago
The more I dig into this, the less I realize I know. I asked, "did the slums exist before the highways and freeways that divide them from the wealthy whites?" The best I've come up with is "Sort of." Apparently, in
201.
by asteli 9y ago
Thanks! I appreciate that. I'm logic-ing as best I can, but I'm definitely not a sociologist. I had to read more about "equality of outcome" because I wasn't familiar with the concept. I concede though, that some me
202.
by asteli 9y ago
I'm disappointed that you've marked me as someone with an ulterior motive. If I have a logical inconsistency, feel free to point that out without making assumptions about my intentions.
203.
by asteli 9y ago
"Equality of Outcomes" sounds like something that would be relevant when you have a pool of candidates to compare against each other. There's a lot more to hiring than selecting from a candidate pool though. Where and how you
204.
by asteli 9y ago
But that isn't how equality works. A heavily skewed field, tech for example, isn't going to self-correct. Even with the diversity efforts, tech remains hostile to underrepresented populations. Ask a woman in tech, or a black man i
205.
by asteli 9y ago
Do people actually argue in favor of equality of outcomes? Can't say I've ever seen this done, but then again I haven't seen everything. The fundamental issue that I see addressed in social justice is that opportunity is deep
206.
by asteli 9y ago
What ideas are being suppressed because of fear that they could be correct? To be US centric for a moment, I can see examples of attempted suppression of ideas by conservatives - defunding climate change research and the refusal to allow CD
207.
by asteli 9y ago
I've lived in California all my life and was somehow ignorant of this fact. Apparently it does exist, although the bulk of the Urban Rail system is light rail, not grade separated. Daily ridership is somewhere around 360K (not bad hone
208.
by asteli 9y ago
it looks like they're targeting the hobbyist market -- the couple hundred people worldwide who want to roll their own self-driving car.
209.
by asteli 9y ago
I wonder how much of the delay was caused by cascading delays as a result of crappy scheduling. If you need X to complete Y and Y¹, scheduling gets pushed back for Z, Z¹... Zₙ. Is there some benefit, some management strategy that involves o
210.
by asteli 9y ago
leisure trips account for a small fraction of the kind of trip we're talking about they APTA's study shows something like 15% of public transit trips are social or shopping/dining related[1]. i suspect the proportion would be

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