Is that simply because its an EV?
I think the obvious legislation for these vehicles is to introduce them and cap their speeds to say 30km/h and only run them in suburban streets.
Cabs and uber often prefer longer trips too.
30km/hr would be painful for anyone driving who gets stuck behind one. This could slow traffic.
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No. The software makes it drive to the law: no speeding up when you know the light is going to change, no other risk taking, no angst. They also play some relaxful ambient music.
I do like your idea of these things providing low cost short trips.
Traffic speed in many citiesâ most built up areas is approaching what it was in the horse and cart days.
The maximum speed limit in San Franciscoâs narrow streets is 25mph, so not far off. No-one is suggesting Waymo be limited to that speed when they go on freeways.
The suburban backstreets where people drive about that anyway it wont be.
Id make them eligible for short trips only around cbds, suburbs. Dropping people off at the shops, train stations, parks, beaches etc
I agree with the short trip idea but just dont understand why you would want/need to limit them to 30km/h.
The reality is that we are heading towards a future where there is no driving done by humans. I dont know how long it will take but eventually you wont have a license and it will be illegal to drive other than if you go to a theme park like dream world.
Trust.
What you say is trye, but humans didnt start driving 50-60->100/110 km:hr
We built up to it.
I dont know why wouldnt just expect automated machines to do the same.
Also EVs are heavy things. Newtons 2nd law.
(I am kinda concerned about EVs in humans hands for that matter once theres enough on the road. I know if i was going to be hit by a car id hope to hell it wasnt electric)m
Plus if you can beckon a car anywhere conveniently, cheaply you want to encourage their use to the nearest mass transit pickup point. As it reduces traffic on the roads.
Eg I robotaxi to my nearest fast driverless metro station which then takes me across town.
I take said metro to next stop where i hail another robotaxi to final destination. No human drivers involved and all very efficient.
Thats gold standard. We will have about 100km of driverless metro across Sydney in about 10 years. Trains arriving at stops I think every 5 minutes or so.
i think it would be nice touch if the seat had a beaded seat cover, and a B.O dispenser could fire a discreet mist of curry and stale armpit every now and then just to humanise the experience
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I hear what you are saying but humans do start driving at 60km/h and even 110km/h or faster right from the start of their driving experiences. I understand that you were talking about humans in a timeline sense from horse and cart to modern day but the fact is a 16 year old who has never driven is driving at up to 110km/h from day 1.
Non human driven cars will be safer. They will get even more safer when humans arent allowed to drive due to their unpredictability. When all cars share a connected âbrainâ they will be driving around like precision driving teams all accelerating and braking at the same time. Cars will look more like trains due to this efficiency leap.
The weakest link in the chain is humans. We tire, drive drunk, act irratically and unpredictably, etc.
Forcing robo cars to drive slower will likely increase accidents as humans get frustrated and try to overtake, or tailgate, or just drive like lunatics⌠Itâs human nature unfortunately.
We have already seen it in self driving cars⌠humans deliberately trying to make them fail/crash/break by wearing stop sign tee shirts, putting whitches hats everywhere, falling asleep or sitting in passenger seat of teslas in not fully approved self driving modes despite it being illegal/warned against doing so.
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I get that youâre just spitballing ideas.
But what would you expect people to do in small towns?
Letâs say thereâs a local football team, playing a town another small town. How many cars are going to be on standby to ferry a couple of hundred people across to the neighbouring community to play football, netball etcâŚand back again.
Itâs be unworkable.
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Every car will be self drive by then. Probably buses as well.
Car ownership wont necessarily change, your car, taxis, buses, etc will just be AI driven.
In addition, there will be more cars available because people will have the option of sending their cars off to make money for them transporting people or goods while they are not using the vehicle.
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I have heard this before and it could be neat.
But can you imagine if every car that were driven to the city, was then doing more pick ups and drop offs.
I feel that rather than lots of cars in car parks, theyâd all be driving around clogging up the streets.
Driving at 30kmh? Thatâll work. Thankfully I think I wonât be here when this takes effect.
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There will naturally be a shift away from the car ownership model we traditionally follow.
The option to buy or lease a car will continue to exist but rental and subscription services will increase in popularity.
As a result of increased accesibilty to transport, car ownership will drop. Imagine knowing that you can get a car within a minute or two to drive you to the city for less than the cost of parking. Also coming home from work is the same. For many, the financial benefit as well as the comvienience will outweigh the benefit of owning a car.
Maybe the 2 car household becomes rare. Buy 1 car and use car services to cover the 2nd car.
Take it a step further, you might set your car up to be a taxi between 6pm and 6am when you dont need it, and then from 9am after it drops you at work it can do more trips or head home or find the closest free street parking ready to come and pick you up.
There will be an immense amount of customising on how you use and allow your car to be used. You might set it so that it will only take trips with 5 or 10km of your location, you might block users such as by age - no hirers under 25 years of age, no hirers under rating of 4.8 out of 5,no hirers who have ever been charged a damage fee, etc.
You will be able to lock the car use to friends and family. Maybe your neighbours. Car ownership could then be coordinated accross extended family groups⌠for example I have a large SUV awd for holidays and a smaller car. The large SUV is not needed for anything more than A to B driving 98% of the time. Its possible I just search to hire specific car types or models or my family group buy a ute, SUV, and a couple of smaller cars and we schedule our use accordingly.
The possibilities are limitless.
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Never going to happen, slight chance for inner city dwellers but anyone living in the sticks will need a car.
Yep, but maybe its a rental or subscription. Maybe its owning a car and loaning it out when not in use.
In the sticks you still have neighbours. Unless you live out regionally there are still thousands of cars sitting idle within a few minutes of you at any given time.
The fact that all cars will be able to do this will reduce the cost of taxi services to next to nothing.
Its this cost benefit that will make it such an appealing option. The cost of living is exploding, not everyone can afford a car, or 2 cars per household. Kids are staying at home longer and longer because rent, housing, food, etc is so expensive. For the same reason, with alternatives available, the next generation will hold off buying a car until later in their lives or not at all.
Itâs inevitable. Just because we are set in our ways, doesnât mean everyone else is. History has shown that trends change. Technological advancements change the way we live and this will be a big one that once it happens will seem so obvious and we will wonder why it didnt happen earlier.
I bet 20 years ago you wouldnât have thought youâd be driving an electric car right? 40 years ago the thought of a mobile phone would have been laughable⌠no land lines? You sir are crazy!
I donât know how long it will take, but this is coming.
Twenty years ago, I thought we would be beamed where-ever we wanted to go by now , like StarTrek. And I had my first mobile phone in 1982 and it looked something like this
I was a yuppy !!
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I love the positivity and futuristic mindset.
But can we have âshort trips across town for less than the cost of a busâ at the same time as âmy car will be out making me money while I am at my office jobâ?
Take a look at solarâŚthey are now CHARGING people to put electricity back into the grid at certain times of the day. Something that should really work out to be free, but everyone gets a clip of the ticket.
And the reference to phones. Sure no one has a landline anymore, but everyone still has a phone, and spends MORE than they did in the past to have the access.
Not targeting you specifically, but humans and corporations have a way to make sure they absolutely make a tonne of cash, rather than for the great good.
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(Effectively) not true.
Of course, in the scenarios being discussed that peak is the best time for the vehicle to pop home and top up.