The End of the Car as We Know It: Vox Article

[moosehead]

https://www.vox.com/recode/23333356...self-driving-cars-internal-combustion-driving

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[COdogman]

It Really does feel like we are on the cusp of the next generation of transportation.

We see it in our employees, with more and more of them making a conscious decision to not have a car of their own and trying to use Uber/ Lyft to get to work every day, which is very hit or miss because those services are horrible. Good luck getting a driver to show up at 5:30am unless you live in a bigger city and other times a driver will cancel their pick up at the last second to do a different pick up that might pay better…. I could see a future, though, where a self driven electric van or small bus would serve this purpose, making it unnecessary to own a car if one didn’t want to.

I’m most interested in the future of connected vehicles in prevention of most accidents. If vehicles are not just connected to the cloud, but to all other vehicles, it would be conceivable that other than weather related accidents, nearly all others would be preventable. No more getting T boned in an intersection because the vehicles wouldn’t allow it…

I doubt all of this will happen in my lifetime, but it’s fascinating.

 

[atebit]

I’m most interested in the future of connected vehicles in prevention of most accidents. If vehicles are not just connected to the cloud, but to all other vehicles, it would be conceivable that other than weather related accidents, nearly all others would be preventable. No more getting T boned in an intersection because the vehicles wouldn’t allow it…

100% this. IMHO it won’t be enough for the cars to sense their immediate environment, cars will need to be able to communicate to each other, the Smart road infrastructure, weather services, etc. It will need to go way beyond reading just the traffic signs & signals that are right in front of the car. While there is a lot of research happening in this area, I think it will be QUITE some time before anything comes of it, let alone automakers agreeing on how to implement it. I also think people paying Tesla today for FSD might as well be sending their money to Jim Bakker. At least they’d get some tubs o’food out of it.

 

[milliemc]

100% this. IMHO it won’t be enough for the cars to sense their immediate environment, cars will need to be able to communicate to each other, the Smart road infrastructure, weather services, etc. It will need to go way beyond reading just the traffic signs & signals that are right in front of the car. While there is a lot of research happening in this area, I think it will be QUITE some time before anything comes of it, let alone automakers agreeing on how to implement it. I also think people paying Tesla today for FSD might as well be sending their money to Jim Bakker. At least they’d get some tubs o’food out of it.

I agree on the FSD pay-w did that back in 2020 when we bought our Model 3 and feel really ripped off.

 

[Gabe1aron]

Agree with FSD as a rip. I never bought software that didn’t actually work at the time of purchase. Also, let say, hopefully, an end to the fossil-fuel era, and the beginning of a cleaner future for our kids and grandkids with less lung disease.

 

[Zoidz]

FSD = Nuclear Fusion = Solid State Batteries = "In just a few years...."

 

[NY_Rob]

FSD = Nuclear Fusion = Solid State Batteries = "In just a few years...."

Agreed, and 2 out of the 3 might actually happen.... I just can not fathom how people can fork over $15K for FSD which is perpetually "beta" and will probably always be that way to protect Tesla Inc.

 

[manitou202]

I wonder how many younger adults will hold off on a drivers license until they have children? I could have easily gotten away without a car in my 20's if services like Uber existed. Now in my 40's with three kids it would be a nightmare. I can't imagine constantly scheduling Uber for things like sporting events after school, going to the pool on Saturday, going skiing on weekends, etc.

In massive cities like New York, it's easier because you can find taxi services almost anywhere at anytime. Plus paying for a parking spot is extremely expensive. But where I live (outside of Colorado Springs) I can't imagine taxi services becoming the dominant form of transportation. Everything is too spread out and I don't want to wait 20 minutes for an Uber to arrive at my house every time I need to run an errand.

 

[manitou202]

Agreed, and 2 out of the 3 might actually happen.... I just can not fathom how people can fork over $15K for FSD which is perpetually "beta" and will probably always be that way to protect Tesla Inc.

Just like early versions of the FSD hardware, my guess is the current hardware will still need to be upgraded in the future to ever achieve true full self driving. Whether they need more cameras, higher resolution cameras, more processing power, adding radar back, or even Lidar, the current hardware doesn't seen to be capable. So I don't understand what the $15k really buys you other than a demo program of what FSD could be like in short 10 minute bursts before you need to urgently take over.

Then consider even if FSD truly worked, I'm not sure I would personally pay $15k for my vehicle to be full self driving. The value proposition isn't there for me personally.

 

[Zoidz]

...
So I don't understand what the $15k really buys you other than a demo program of what FSD could be like in short 10 minute bursts before you need to urgently take over.

You are paying for the privilege to be an pre-alpha tester.

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