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Agreed. ......I'm old enough to remember that in the '60's and '70's everyone thought that in the year 2000, we'd all be driving hover cars and living in bubbles......instead we live in those same houses and have new cars that look like 1969 Camaros, 1970 Challengers and 1968 Mustangs! LOL
It is a bit confounding that society is willing to spend billions on the development of driverless cars to save a mere 35k lives per year when there are so many diseases, each killing far more people annually, that are going without research funding. I would gladly give up the airbags in my car to find a resolution for Alzheimers or Parkinson's.
You guys remember the "cash for clunkers" car rebate to motivate the population to get rid of their guzzlers? Will we be subsidizing via a "cash for drivers car" program, with subsidies likey for those who can't afford a new or used (since their won't be any initially) automonous vehicle. Add that to the cost model. Will insurance rates force a new class of haves and have nots? This is another high standard of living where you have high cost autonomy as opposed to a public transportation system (would be driverless of course) subsidized for equal treatment. Yes/No?
Sorry about the typos in my last post. I'm traveling heavy at the moment, lots of coast to coast hops, and it apparently is having an adverse impact on my ability to proof read. Anyway I'm at an Autonomous driving event today as it turns out. There are three of these puppies in two weeks, what is funny is that a lot of the Detroit folks are at this one and skipping the one being held in Detroit.
As far as priorities if cars basically become rolling elevators why would you own one? Yes the very rich do live in penthouses with dedicated elevators and have them in their homes but that's it. The models suggest the end game here is that Uber and Google build their own cars and all these car companies go where the folks that made buggies went. What is left is car services and a few companies dedicated to very low volume expensive custom rides. Ford is looking at their own Uber like effort but most seem to be acting like this change will be like adding cruise control. At the very least they all should be on Toyota's message that we want cars that enhance human drivers not replace them since that would assure their survival. I see this every decade or so where an industry goes nuts about an advancement that will obliterate much of it. I'm convinced there must be a required class at Harvard that convinces young executives that suicide is a great strategy.
As a side note the used car market is showing signs collapse, too early for self-driving impact, it may be Uber alone. What's going to happen to folks if they can't drive or sell their cars? Secondary car parts companies and markets will collapse, and other than just reusing the metal (a market that is already under a lot of pressure due to oversupply) what will folks do with their unusable rides? I'm figuring living room art...
By the way, this is having an adverse impact (big one) on car payments (lease and purchase) because residuals are in flux. Suggests if you are thinking of a car right now a closed end lease might be a preference. On a loan you still have to sell the damn thing and there is a good chance we'll be awash is used cars with too few to buy them in 3 years.
Will there be autonomous work vehicles? Pickup trucks, garbage trucks, delivery vans, fire trucks, ambulances, delivery vans, tractor trailers, etc? How about people in suburbs or rural areas, will they call uber? What if I need to travel out of town? How about if I don't know exactly where I am planning to go?
Change is inevitable.....but the rate of change is slow......far slower than some of the comments here would lead you to believe. Now where did I put my Jet Pack? LOL.
As a side note the used car market is showing signs collapse, too early for self-driving impact, it may be Uber alone. What's going to happen to folks if they can't drive or sell their cars? Secondary car parts companies and markets will collapse, and other than just reusing the metal (a market that is already under a lot of pressure due to oversupply) what will folks do with their unusable rides? I'm figuring living room art...
They can be used for artificial reefs. Another way this can all save the planet!
With regard to rebuilding reefs; according to Consumer Reports and other sources of reliability information, that I have read to date, Tesla products have a very poor rating... so... perhaps supporting the construction of new reefs would be a good use for these clunkers.
Lawrence
Depends on the car. Right now the Tesla X sucks, and Tesla took a hit because one of the safety features that Consumer Reports requires is temporarily disabled pending a software update. But the S also broke their safety testing equipment and still ranks as the safest car they have every tested. They also still have Apple level loyalty numbers (NPS) which is generally unheard of in the car industry. Their loss just widened though largely because of a huge ramp to the Model 3 which could become their bridge too far. We'll see.
But seriously, watch those residual numbers. This drop was largely unexpected and it should have been. It's causing a lot of us realize we aren't looking at all of the impacts of this change.
Quite an interesting turn of events on this thread! Thank you enderle for giving us a peek into the future, although it is somewhat scary, as I originally only planning to keep mine for about three years. We'll see what happens!
This is quite funny - I happened to drive the Hyundai Ioniq Electric the last 4 days, not at all bad! Yes, when a full electric vehicle costs not more than 26000 Euro and offers an autonomy of more than 200 km will a single recharge it becomes interesting to own one.
I was impressed by the Ioniq! The options, smooth ride, stability, comfort, efficiency, autonomy, practicality, wellness feel, luggage size, infotainment, overall quality for the value! Wow!
Yes the Koreans have become surprisingly proficient with their cars, if the Chinese ever get to this point, and they are moving fast, it'll get scary. Finally got my deposit in on the iPace we'll see how long it takes for them to get me one. I'm thinking mid-2018 at this point.
Was tailgated today by a Model S. Told the wife that there was a Tesla behind. She had never heard of them. I explained that it could out accelerate us. I pulled over and yes it was impressive. She said oh it looks just like an ordinary car.
Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy fans would be pleased to know that afterwards it crashed straight into the third moon of Jaglan Beta.
I think Lucas was the original inventor of the infinite improbability drive.
A history book which fell through a wormhole in space said that Lucas morphed into Sirius Cybernetics and that the directors were First Against the Wall when the Revolution came.
If acceleration and speed were all I wanted in a vehicle it certainly wouldn't be a Tesla sewing machine. More like this - plus no tickets! Skip to 2:30 mark
05-02-2017, 04:42 PM
Too funny!
