Are any of you worried about autonomous vehicles?

[Seminole Wind]

Tx2, i never said or agreed it would be total change over any time soon. that will take much longer. but very soon we will be sharing the road with a viable commercial fleet of autonomous electric semis hauling frieght. and the easiest place for them to start is line haul/ long haul

sounds like we are more on the same page then originally appeared

 

[Dingfelder]

I'm more worried about the dissapearance of the autonomous person; than I am the appearance of the autonomous vehicle.

The world is full of NPC's these days.

 

[highdesertranger]

Dingfelder, what's a NPC? please define. acronym finder list 132 meanings. highdesertranger

 

[johnny b]

Timing is everything...1 day after I post the Uber video, they're back on the road.

https://www.cnet.com/news/ubers-self-driving-cars-return-to-public-roads-after-fatal-crash/

 

[lenny flank]

I'm not worried. I don't subscribe to either the "corporate overlords!!" or "communist government!!" conspiracy theories.

 

[AMGS3]

HDR
NPC in video games means non player character. Usually they are programmed to share some clue or fact with the player to help them on their quest, though often the info they are sharing is useless to the player. Or they may just be programmed to attack. Often they are barely verbal, just repeating the same few sentences.

Hope that helps
~angie

Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk

 

[Seminole Wind]

Lol... i used to be a cab driver, till i took an arrow to the knee...

 

[Dingfelder]

What Angie said.

NPC is also being used in that same sense as a political joke these days, with people pointing out others spouting things robotically without much thought, like canned speech they're repeating because they heard it somewhere from an approved source and/or it sounds good rather than because they've put any thought into a situation and come to an honest conclusion about it on their own. It's playing on their essential non-engagement even while they appear to be as much a player as anyone else.

An easy example is someone repeating whatever a particular radio show or TV newsperson said on yesterday's broadcast, often in identical or extremely predictable language. You may have even noticed the media personalities doing it to themselves, such as when all the TV anchors use the same phrase one evening to describe something that would more naturally have been described in many ways. But at least they are just figureheads who have very lazy writers, and are getting paid to do a very specific job, whereas ordinary people don't have the same excuse to turn off their brains and just repeat whatever they heard as if it were true.

 

[highdesertranger]

ah, video game lingo, no wonder it was Greek to me. please define your abbreviations. highdesertranger

 

[AMGS3]

HDR, I'm right there with ya. I only just learned the term a couple months ago when my son explained it to me. He, too, was using it in the social commentary sense, not referring directly to an actual game.

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[Dingfelder]

I think the time line you posted is waaaaaay optimistic.  maybe in 50 years not 10.  8 year old kids will still have a driver licenses and long haul  trucks will still burn diesel for a long while.  electric just doesn't have the range and it takes to long to recharge.  the first time an autonomous vehicle is the cause of a major efe up(and it will happen) it will set them back years.  there will always be holdouts that won't go there,  think Amish they are still in the horse and buggy.  highdesertranger

I was looking through this old thread, and the thought occurred to me:  What if it electric power was universally obtainable the same way gasoline and (more or less) diesel are universally obtainable?  That is, electric trucks would not have to recharge ... but simply swap in fully charged batteries on the fly?  The "fuel" is dispensed not as electricity itself, but as interchangeable batteries?

It would take a massive effort to get there, but imagine a standardized infrastructure and battery connection ability.  Pull your truck in, haul your battery bank out, put a new one in, off you go.  No waiting to charge; something is always being charged and something is always ready to go.  The charging is done while you're not even there, whether or not anyone is there.  Just a warehouse of battery banks, with computerized info saying whose facility has what available, where, and when any fully or partly-charged battery banks will be ready for transfer/pick-up.  Short-haulers pick up smaller or lesser-charged banks; long-haul pick up what they need.  Long-haulers who need just a little more charge pick up less than their usual stored power, then choose the power they need according to each leg of the journey on their next trip.  Maybe they get credit for the remaining charge on the battery bank they turn in when swapping out for a new fully-charged battery bank.

It would beat the problem of having to wait around to charge batteries.  And with computerization and shared information, routes could be finely calculated as to the energy needs for any given haul by any given truck over any given route/terrain.

It might kill off actual truckers physically, though, because it would essentially mean they would never have to stop except by law.

 

[NagathaChristie]

I want one! I can take a nap and wake up in another state? woohooo

 

[mpruet]

To be truthful, I’m not as concerned about autonomous cars as I am about folks driving in traditional vehicles who are not paying attention to what they are doing.  

 

[Matlock]

Ya, month old thread but worth a bump.

Nothing changes overnight, however......

Educated 20-30 somethings don't want the hassle of owning a vehicle, paying for insurance, parking, maintenance or even getting a license. frater nailed it; "most folks pay for a vehicle only to park it 23 hrs a day".

In urban areas uber / lift / schwinn for local needs. Working from home with no car and a bike is becoming a better non-investment - investment.
They are looking at renting Vs buying housing for the duration. Why buy something that needs constant repair and where are you going to find an honest, experienced repair person for a reasonable cost?

Kids today can't pound a nail even if you gave them the hammer and nail.
Nor do they see a benefit in owning either. Skilled labor is dying and no longer a thing.

Cross country freight will be handled by high speed rail and increase air, terminal to terminal. Easier to build and maintain a few high speed systems with automated load/unload points. DC's ( Distribution Centers) are being built and in operation now. (package delivery, mass merchandisers, large companies geared up and automated, Home Depot, Amazon, Walmart) only 10-15% today but growing rapidly.
Trucks for now, rail once the states agree on new connecting corridors with upgrades.
Roads and rail are cost equals, new rail is easier to integrate into existing right-of-ways w/less labor and has little to no interruption of traffic.
Air is fastest and is expanding to include perishables.
Not doing away with semi trailers, just shorter runs.

Driverless transports will deliver all goods to a store or your door. Droids? Who knows.
The only folks that will own cars and trucks will be rural and they will pay dearly for fuel. That supply/demand thing, only this time will be controlled by the supplier.
Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Exxon will collectively spend and have allocated 2 Trillion for electric and other renewable alternatives through 2020.
Why? Production costs and liability's (accidents, spills) have investors demanding a change. More large users are switching to renewable energy and alternative options.
Investors money is in energy stocks, nobody cares if it's dino, sun or air. Yes, big oil is big money, funds will be allocated, laws will be re-written. The more things change the more things stay the same.

If you can do more with less effort then the next generation or two are going to make that happen. 15 years, my guess.


https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/why-dont-young-americans-buy-cars/255001/
https://www.mhlnews.com/technology-automation/dawn-automated-warehouse
https://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-millennials-cars-20161223-story.html
http://mainstreamrp.com/corporate-ppas/sustainable-companies-investing-in-renewables/

just my 2¢

 

[tx2sturgis]

Recent events with the MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) automated stall mitigation system in the Boeing 737 Max8 reminded me of this thread where some opinions have been argued (erroneously) that automation can do everything, fix anything, and fully and sucessfully replace an experienced human in the driver's seat of a large OTR (over the road) commercial truck.

I stand by what I have stated in my previous posts 17, 19 and 34:

An experienced and competent human driver who knows how to fix a bad situation when the computer fouls up will be a necessary part of long-haul commercial transportation for the immediate and the foreseeable future.

Government agencies, company executives, equipment engineers and software designers can and DO, screw up. Sometimes terribly.

It's unfortunate when these very bad decisions (aimed at saving money) cause hundreds of innocent people to die.