2020 - The Year of the Droid?

[bugwar]

The point of driving is to get from point a to point b in the fastest, cheapest, safest and most efficient way possible.

That may be why YOU drive, there are many other individuals that have different motivations and goals for driving.

 

[schlaufuchs]

Its simply not practical to expect that fully automated roadways will happen. Most people cant afford to just go buy a new car, or in the case of many families multiple cars. So legally mandating them at any point in the near future is fiscally impractical.

I also am a little confused by this idea that speed limits can be pumped up greatly. Just because a robot has quicker reaction speeds doesnt mean the laws of physics break down and that its safe to operate at 100 mph in a world with animals and people to dodge.

I'm thinking on the freeway where most of the problem comes from people being stupid and swerving/lane changing erratically. If we get to a point where not only are cars able to drive themselves, but communicate with each other, we can achieve a point at which everybody goes the same speed, lane changes are smooth, seamless, and don't translate to a visible slowdown, and there aren't unexpected hitches. Again I'm thinking highway 101 or 5 where wildlife and pedestrian traffic is essentially a nonentity.

That may be why YOU drive, there are many other individuals that have different motivations and goals for driving.

When you have to step out to Safeway to grab a loaf of bread, why do you drive there?

 

[Kennigit]

rack up them points

Link to video.

 

[bugwar]

When you have to step out to Safeway to grab a loaf of bread, why do you drive there?

When you go cruising on Saturday night, take a cross country trip, or just want to explore your new town, are you REALLY interested in the quickest way there?

 

[schlaufuchs]

When you go cruising on Saturday night, take a cross country trip, or just want to explore your new town, are you REALLY interested in the quickest way there?

I don't go "cruising" on a Saturday night - I go to a bar or if I don't know where I want to go then I find a parking lot and wander around on foot. Cars generally aren't conducive to aimless wandering. Cross country trips would be improved by automation - you get to focus on the scenery and the friends you're travelling with, rather than the road. Exploring a new town is generally better done on foot, but again, with automation you can focus on actually exploring the town rather than trying not to crash into the rear bumper of the car in front of you.

None of these are things that can't be solved by non-human drivers, and moreover, none of these are events that are about the visceral "feel" of driving a car.

Just for full disclosure - I do derive sheer enjoyment from driving a car through a windy mountain pass. It's a lot of fun, however a) this is a side-benefit of the overall objective which is getting to my destination, and b) I would gladly trade that enjoyment to live in a world where nobody had to die from drunk or impaired driving accidents, and in which I was able to get to my destination faster and more safely.

 

[bugwar]

I don't go "cruising" on a Saturday night - I go to a bar or if I don't know where I want to go then I find a parking lot and wander around on foot. Cars generally aren't conducive to aimless wandering. Cross country trips would be improved by automation - you get to focus on the scenery and the friends you're travelling with, rather than the road. Exploring a new town is generally better done on foot, but again, with automation you can focus on actually exploring the town rather than trying not to crash into the rear bumper of the car in front of you.

None of these are things that can't be solved by non-human drivers, and moreover, none of these are events that are about the visceral "feel" of driving a car.

Just for full disclosure - I do derive sheer enjoyment from driving a car through a windy mountain pass. It's a lot of fun, however a) this is a side-benefit of the overall objective which is getting to my destination, and b) I would gladly trade that enjoyment to live in a world where nobody had to die from drunk or impaired driving accidents, and in which I was able to get to my destination faster and more safely.

Got it.
YOU aren't into driving for the fun of it.
Your choice.
Many others do not have your mindset.

 

[schlaufuchs]

Got it.
YOU aren't into driving for the fun of it.
Your choice.
Many others do not have your mindset.

None of those examples are about driving "for the fun of it". They are things you do which happen to have driving involved.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Can we compromise:

Automated-only on congested freeways and big city center (no one really enjoys being stuck in bumper to bumper traffic burning gas that much), but freedom to choose everywhere else?

 

[schlaufuchs]

Can we compromise:

Automated-only on congested freeways and big city center (no one really enjoys being stuck in bumper to bumper traffic burning gas that much), but freedom to choose everywhere else?

That's pretty much what I envision. People continue to ride horses long after that became a legitimately viable mode of transportation. Maybe convert some highways or roads into "Driving-trails" which allow for manual driving, much in the way many parks have horse trails.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

That's pretty much what I envision. People continue to ride horses long after that became a legitimately viable mode of transportation. Maybe convert some highways or roads into "Driving-trails" which allow for manual driving, much in the way many parks have horse trails.

Then we have a deal.

And everyone else has to abide by it.

 

[bugwar]

None of those examples are about driving "for the fun of it". They are things you do which happen to have driving involved.

None of those examples are about sex 'for the fun of it'.
They are things you do which happen to have sex involved.

 

[schlaufuchs]

None of those examples are about sex 'for the fun of it'.
They are things you do which happen to have sex involved.

I'm sorry? That doesn't really make any sense.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I never screw my car.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

That's pretty much what I envision. People continue to ride horses long after that became a legitimately viable mode of transportation. Maybe convert some highways or roads into "Driving-trails" which allow for manual driving, much in the way many parks have horse trails.

What do you think the timeline on this transition will be?

50 years or so?

On the one hand, I'd like to think driving cars is pretty well entrenched.

Then again, horses have cars beat in the 'entrenched' department by a few millennia...and they got phased out in 50 years or so.

 

[bugwar]

I'm sorry? That doesn't really make any sense.

The comment from you that I responded to made as much sense.

Besides, getting back on topic, not everyone drives "...to get from point a to point b in the fastest, cheapest, safest and most efficient way possible."

You can come up with examples of when they do, there are many times (as mentioned earlier) when they don't.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yup and those reasons roughly applied to barebacking a horse to wherever you pleased in 1910. Don't see many horses on the highways these days do you?

 

[schlaufuchs]

The comment from you that I responded to made as much sense.

Besides, getting back on topic, not everyone drives "...to get from point a to point b in the fastest, cheapest, safest and most efficient way possible."

You can come up with examples of when they do, there are many times (as mentioned earlier) when they don't.

I'm sorry, but the point I made did make sense.

It's very simple. I posited a scenario in which people clearly do not drive for the sake of driving. You posited 3 examples in counter: roadtrips, cruising around town on a Saturday night, and exploring a new town. My point was that none of those things was about driving. You don't go on a roadtrip for the sheer enjoyment of driving; in fact the driving part of it is extremely tedious. Rather you go on a roadtrip to travel with friends over a great distance without flying. The cliché is that you don't do it to get from a to b but, to "enjoy the journey, man". Even so, the roadtrip is not about driving; it's about going from point a to b and enjoying the process by hanging out with friends.

Likewise with cruising around town with friends. It's not something you do for the enjoyment of driving around town. Nobody actually likes driving around a town. The car can just as easily be replaced with walking or bicycling or skateboarding and the experience would be no different. Again the driving is a part of the experience, but not the end-goal of it.

As to the third - do you honestly look forward to the driving part of experiencing a new town? No, you look forward to experiencing the town. The visceral experience of "driving" plays no part in the enjoyment of exploring the town.

 

[bhsup]

Roadtrips are VERY MUCH about the driving! That's why you don't fly even though it would give you more time at the destination. Half the point of taking a long distance trip is to get to drive there. Stuff friends, btw, on the trip. I go solo on long distance vacations. It's all about me, the road, and the journey. In short, I absolutely love driving. Period. You cannot explain it away as it being some incidental part of some other experience. I simply love driving.

 

[bugwar]

Owen Glyndwr,

I'm sorry to remind you, but your response still hasn't addressed the idea that not everyone drives "...to get from point a to point b in the fastest, cheapest, safest and most efficient way possible."

As stated before, while there are occasions where they do, there are many times (as mentioned in earlier posts) when they don't.

 

[Tarquelne]

EDIT: Hopefully, minus the creepy AI that wants to lord over us for "our protection".

Creepy, incorporeal AIs are a bad thing. Robots should have more of a Humanoid Touch.

cruising around town on a Saturday night, and exploring a new town. My point was that none of those things was about driving.

"Shooting the Loop" was a popular activity among kids one of the places I went to high school - mid-sized mid-western town. They (as in, "not me") drove around town on the main-ish roads that led in a rough circle. They'd wave and honk as they passed.

One summer I vacationed for awhile with some cousins in a very small town out west. Same activity, but the town had only one street: Kids would drive through town, turn around, then drive back.

If all that doesn't constitute a necessary and sufficient rationale for manual driving, I don't know what possibly could.