Future of transport

[LeMarchand]

about 7 seconds in it coasted through without actually coming to a halt

 

If you get the wrong policeman see you do that in the States, things can get difficult. If you're black, possibly fatal.

[witch]

In the US - or at least in the places I have been - they are very hot on stopping at stop signs. I also watch US thrifters, trash pickers and dumpster divers and the same issue comes up - they do stop.

[localzuk]

In the US - or at least in the places I have been - they are very hot on stopping at stop signs. I also watch US thrifters, trash pickers and dumpster divers and the same issue comes up - they do stop.

Watch any of those crash videos on Youtube and you see why. Intersections there are insane. People approach a 4 way stop at 50mph and wonder why they crash into someone. Numbers wise, they have 3 million people injured in RTC's each year - near enough 1% of their population, compared to the UK where 181k a year in the UK, about 0.27% of the population.

 

Self-driving cars, theoretically should massively improve that rate!

[mavhc]

Driving in USA is as dangerous as driving in New Zealand, and New Zealand has dragons

[sted]

Watch any of those crash videos on Youtube and you see why. Intersections there are insane. People approach a 4 way stop at 50mph and wonder why they crash into someone. Numbers wise, they have 3 million people injured in RTC's each year - near enough 1% of their population, compared to the UK where 181k a year in the UK, about 0.27% of the population.

 

Self-driving cars, theoretically should massively improve that rate!

 

i will never get why the 4 way stop is a thing it seems such a dumb solution to the problem fixed by just designating one road through the middle as the keep going route or a roundabout.

[localzuk]

i will never get why the 4 way stop is a thing it seems such a dumb solution to the problem fixed by just designating one road through the middle as the keep going route or a roundabout.

Roundabouts are a communist plot.

[LeMarchand]

Roundabouts are a communist plot.

 

Yep, apparently they're only just starting to see use in the USA. "Let's play 'Chicken'" junctions are preferred. Alas, I have recently seen one of these in Devon - no clear stop markings on any of the 4 approaches.

Edited February 6, 2020 by LeMarchand

[jmak]

My first driving experience in the States included a near miss caused by me not understanding that rule properly. I was on what was clearly the main road and saw a car stop at a junction from what was clearly a minor road. I didn't slow down as I'd seen him stop... Brown pants moment [emoji51]

 

To bring back to topic...

 

On the upside, seems much more straightforward to model for autonomous vehicles, if far less efficient.

[Davit2005]

My first driving experience in the States included a near miss caused by me not understanding that rule properly. I was on what was clearly the main road and saw a car stop at a junction from what was clearly a minor road. I didn't slow down as I'd seen him stop... Brown pants moment [emoji51]

 

To bring back to topic...

 

On the upside, seems much more straightforward to model for autonomous vehicles, if far less efficient.

 

Autonomous vehicles may well be the answer eventually, judging by yesterdays morning fog and the driving standards/behaviour observed it will prob be an improvement as it is.

 

For the most part humans should still be able to make the better decision and judgement but are often swayed by pressures, mood, attitude and distractions.

[mavhc]

People who like driving will be similar to people who like to ride horses, they'll go to the race track to do their hobby. Which can be more exciting because you can enable safety mode so you can drive as crazy as you want and the AI will stop you crashing

 

The trick is every SDC can be updated when one finds an edge case, that's not true for humans. The SDC will have a perfect memory of having driven billions of miles and encountered 1000s of rare situations

[mikeprice]

Last I heard self driving cars were having major problem with cyclists - which is kinda important in the grand scheme of reducing power usage as we could do with having as many people using low energy transport

 

Anyone know if this has been solved??

[Theblacksheep]

Autonomous vehicles may well be the answer eventually, judging by yesterdays morning fog and the driving standards/behaviour observed it will prob be an improvement as it is.

 

For the most part humans should still be able to make the better decision and judgement but are often swayed by pressures, mood, attitude and distractions.

 

If they are paying attention.

 

While sitting in traffic the other day I counted 3 drivers going past paying more attention to their phones than their cars. Their faces lit up and looking down.

 

 

 

Last I heard self driving cars were having major problem with cyclists - which is kinda important in the grand scheme of reducing power usage as we could do with having as many people using low energy transport

 

Anyone know if this has been solved??

 

I dont know about "self-driving", they are currently in geofenced areas, but my display screen shows up cyclists/motorcyclists so they are recognised, plotted by the car and will try to steer around them if there is enough space in the lane. Here is what is going on behind the scenes

Edited February 7, 2020 by Theblacksheep

[LeMarchand]

People who like driving will be similar to people who like to ride horses, they'll go to the race track to do their hobby.

 

Have you ever driven in the country? There's often people exercising their privilege horse by riding on the road. I was told that it is necessary to "get horses used to traffic". Not quite sure why; it's not as if people ride them to the corner shop and, come the apocalypse, there won't be enough traffic to bother with.

[mikeprice]

Have you ever driven in the country? There's often people exercising their privilege horse by riding on the road. I was told that it is necessary to "get horses used to traffic". Not quite sure why; it's not as if people ride them to the corner shop and, come the apocalypse, there won't be enough traffic to bother with.

 

When I was a teenager some of the girls we hung around with had horses (yup they were rich) and used to ride them on roads quite often.

My friend's Dad came home from work one day and turned into the driveway only to find a horse tied up to the car porch

she had been riding across some local fields and just decided to pop in and scrounge a coffee - apparently (other motives are available)

 

anyway - back to topic

[mavhc]

The Tesla autonomy day video had examples of the AI being a bit confused by a bike attached to the rear of a motor vehicle, it knows what a bike is and how it acts, but it was surprised by one apparently travelling in the air, sideways, with no rider

 

It's all about the edge cases now really, policeman waving traffic when lights are broken, etc.

 

A few years ago Waymo worked with emergency services, so now the Waymo software knows how emergency vehicles act, and if there's a car with flashing lights stopped behind another car, to be wary of pedestrians in the area, etc etc.

 

Tesla's theory is: We have half a million cars gathering data, they'll see more edge cases than Waymo can manually test

[Andrew_C]

OK petrol-heads; if you want to retain your fume fix after 2035, get a bike!

 

On Tuesday 4th February, Boris Johnson launched the UK-hosted UN climate summit and announced that he would bring forward the end to the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2040 to 2035 - or earlier if possible - and include hybrids for the first time. As with all such long range, broad announcements, it was not clear what the detailed policy would be and how it would be implemented. As such, the announcement caused a flurry of speculation and guesses for motorcyclists, with conflicting conclusions drawn.

 

As always, MAG has taken the sensible approach of seeking clarification. Speaking to Phil Killingley, Deputy Head of the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) at the Department for Transport, MAG’s Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement, Colin Brown, received confirmation that the 2035 ban does not apply to motorcycles. Colin commented “We are pleased to hear that the ban from 2035 will not apply to the sale of petrol-powered motorcycles.

[mavhc]

Why would anyone want petrol near their head? All the advantages of an electric car apply 3x at least to an electric bike

[Andrew_C]

All the advantages of an electric car apply 3x at least to an electric bike

HAHAHAHAHHAHA!

[Ditto]

Why on earth is the grant being stopped? It's not like EV's are ubiquitous yet!

[Andrew_C]

Same reason FIT has been reduced. They want your money.

[mikeprice]

Anyone else thinking about pressure from big oil companies??

 

or am I being cynical??

 

 

again

[jmak]

Why on earth is the grant being stopped? It's not like EV's are ubiquitous yet!

The original subsidy always had an end date of March 31st this year, so they can save some money in the budget without having to announce they're cutting anything.

 

Obviously everyone expected it to continue, but strong hints are being dropped. That leaves two possibilities: 1) They're going to reverse the decision and look like heroes or 2) they don't give a monkey's about making EVs more affordable.

 

It is a bit tricky politically as you can argue it subsidises people who can already afford to buy a new car rather than spending it on schools or health. However tax has always been used to drive behaviour, not just to raise revenue.

 

I think what you're seeing is lots of ideas off the top of someone's head, but no actual strategy.

[mikeprice]

$somegovernmentpersonihaventheardof was on some political show that my wife had taped - and was saying that it is true that it is being discontinued

However it is all OK - because they are investing money in upgrading the infrastructure instead

 

Which is great because if no-one buys any new electric cars because they are too expensive - but the government puts in loads of new charging points then there will never be any queues for the points

 

which is great

 

Oh - and on a different point - solar panels don;t have feed in tariffs any more as it was discontinued some time ago

 

 

And there was me hoping for a good scrappage scheme for ICE cars over 10 years old

[mavhc]

HAHAHAHAHHAHA!

 

Excellent and logical response.

 

Cost: Bike needs smaller battery, so cost difference is minimal

Time to charge: Faster, because more miles per kwh

Needing somewhere to leave it to charge: much easier

Insane torque: even insaner

Problem with removing exhaust gasses: gone

Pollution: gone, and as bikes are worse at burning fuel, much more gone per litre of fuel burnt

[mikeprice]

Excellent and logical response.

 

Cost: Bike needs smaller battery, so cost difference is minimal

Time to charge: Faster, because more miles per kwh

Needing somewhere to leave it to charge: much easier

Insane torque: even insaner

Problem with removing exhaust gasses: gone

Pollution: gone, and as bikes are worse at burning fuel, much more gone per litre of fuel burnt

 

good point - still need full motorbike clothing and helmet - and still fall off as often

 

but if everyone who can used an electric bike (either motorbike or ebike) then a lot of problems would be sorted!

(or escooter to bus stop and electric bus the rest of the way)