This just won't go away. There's lots of huffing and puffing on this site regarding this issue and how this will never happen because Microsoft, because they'll have to pry my car out of my cold dead hands, or whatever. It's all just whistling past the graveyard.

People also once said man would never fly and we'd always have static on the radio. Then came airplanes and FM.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-end...hip-1498011001

 

Stop living in fear- and stop posting articles thinking this is going to happen. Just because it's in a newspaper dosent mean it's going to occur. And, what real car guy reads the Wall Street Journal anyways?

 

Jaunty,



do you live in a rural or metro area? I know you're listed as NM but , if you live in rural areas you would know that this sort of thing won't work in those areas. if your 20 mi away from your closest town of 5-10k, how is that going to work?



We already have driver sharing cars in Melbourne, and for some living in apartments I guess that works. The ones I walk past on the way to work are aimed at Uni students. I see Cadillac is already looking at them owning the car and you just 'borrowing it' as such but you pay for this.



Anyway, I think we will all be gone before what they're talking about is 100% the way things are. Anyway what will be will be.

 

No Chicken Little the sky is not falling. Not in the near future anyway.

 

The stuff you read in the paper and hear on the news is what THEY want you to believe is true so they can shape the world to run the way THEY think it should. The old saying still stands true- don't believe anything you hear ( or read ) and only half of what you see-. If we let them lead us we will be wearing pink and singing cumbya before we know it. Demolition Man (the movie comes to mind).

I "identify" ( use their terminology and speak slow so they can understand) as an Oldsmobile owner, say it with me, OLDSMOBILE OWNER.

Wake up and drive now, you won't remember any BS, but when you hear the trigger words "self driving car" you will stand up and fight.

 

Nobody owns their cars now.

They all lease them, then give them back after three years.

There's your growth industry, and your problem.

What collector in 30 years is going to want to collect a F_rd Flex that was leased, driven like a rented mule, then returned, auctioned, and resold on the "Buy Now Pay Later" lot?

Show me a modern car that I'd like to collect (aside from high-end cars, like Ferraris, which are hand-built and are always appealing), rather than drive like an appliance, and we can begin to talk about what the contractual arrangements between the buyers and the car companies are.

- Eric

 

I think the Hellcats and some Mustangs may be desired or collectible but the way they're built these days (engineered lifespan) I don't know if they will last long enough. When our cars were built there was still some built to last mentality. If our Oldsmobiles were unibody I wonder how many of those would still be here today.

 

The engineers of today could build cars to last like the early models but the big companies profit margins get in the way. If they lease you a car, you pay monthly the term of the lease and pay off a good chunk of the cost of the car ( the whole time minding how many miles you drive it) then you pay again to keep it or give it back to them to sell. I've never seen that as a good value and would never lease personally.

 

Do you guys really think the older cars were built better? As I remember it a 100,000 mile ca back in the day was wore out everywhere and ready for the junk yard. Now days they consider!00,000 miles a low millage car. The new stuff stops better, gets better millage, rides better, takes less maintenance and often go 200000 miles plus. Unfortunately they are all bland, plastic and look the same. Just my thoughts.... Tedd

 

^^^^x2

 

All good points but there are still 47 year old Oldsmobiles on the road today. The new ones have improved greatly engineering wise but the parts are gonna need replaced just like the older models. I would rather have my old car with some updates than a new car.

 

IMO, that article is just another ploy to get people to buy the WSJ, whether temporary or long term to read how it will all fall out...
Some of the new transportation trends are and will thrive for those who wish to support and use them...
As for the old car enthusiasts, we will continue to do what we do and avoid/delay those ideals...

 

Expressed as a percentage how many of all the Oldsmobiles (or any other mainstream car) from any given model year still exist?.
There are a handful of cars built in the 19th century still in working order. Some of them take part in the annual London to Brighton run in the UK.
Expressed as a percentage of particular models built I bet some of them rank higher than many post WW2 models.

Roger.

 

I've only a few more years to carry the baton, we'll see what the next generation does with it. Throughout my life time I've seen all kinds of predictions... some pass, others fail.

 

Very interesting that just a couple days ago on the morning news there was a poll showing well over 80% of people had no interest at all in self driving cars, and it was the auto industry that was pushing them on the public.

 

Don't know how many but enough are still on the road to make it worth companies reproducing parts for them.

 

The new cars that stop on their own make it easy for carjackers and people who simply don't want to wait to cross the street in front of you or pull out in front of you.

 

They better know their cars, that would be a terminal decision if that happened on any of my rides..... Tedd

 

And as noted on here, most cars today look alike.
I know, for example, that car jackers have stopped cars and told the driver to put it in park because of some danger they say existed knowing that putting it in park would unlock the doors. Driver puts it in park believing the stranger. Doors unlock and then they get Jacked.

 

Ha ha. Never heard of that, but it makes sense. Very sneaky.

We don't have those around here, so this is all fascinating to me.

- Eric

 

You want some of ours. I can gladly send them over. They won't walk on the sidewalks either so you'll notice them right off the bat.

 

Heard the only accidents the self driving cars Microsoft owns have been human driver fault. Self driving cars only world would kill insurance rates.

 

Some how rowing through the gears wouldn't be the same having a robot do it. There certainly more to a automobile than getting from one place to another.... Tedd

 

Down here the 2 brothers security system prevents these type of moves... brother Smith and brother Wesson will go off if someone reaches for the door handle.

 

When we are all flying around like the Jetsons, there will still be drag races. No worries.

 

I would need an OAI hood and trunk wing on my Jetsonmobile please. Console and buckets too....Hey, it's my Rocket.

 

Remember the all-important liability issue.

As it is now, if the car company sells you a car, and there is no provable defect in a safety system, and you have an accident, it's your problem, not theirs, but if the car belongs to the car company, unless you yourself have done something egregiously unsafe, the liability is their problem.

I doubt they're in a hurry to assume that liability.

- Eric

 

And if it is a self driving car it would be harder to blame it on people inside the cars. Everyone in both cars would sue the car companies.

 

Another problem would be the cleanliness of a shared car. Trash, dirty diapers, bodily fluids left by others in the car you are about to take your kids to the ice cream stand in. What the hell would the horders do? I saw one today with the whole car full of-whatever- except where the driver sits.

 

Just like a taxicab, except with no driver to wipe the puke off the seats between fares.



Ha ha. Had a girlfriend like that once, except even the driver's seat had junk, because she was so short she had to sit on phone books to see over the steering wheel.
It was a '73 Duster, puke green, with plenty of wheel well rust.
She was about 5' tall, 95 pounds, and bought Sears Toughskins jeans in the boys' department.
Crazy as a loon, but had not a mean bone in her body, and, man, was she a lot of fun.

- Eric

 

I'll reiterate my usual points:


Autodriving cars will not work large scale on our roads because the roads are open systems. Until they replace all intersections with devices that can positively communicate with automatic cars, then the system is open. You need a closed system with a central traffic system that communicates to the car, and the car to it, via the intersection signals.


Ride sharing will not work for anything other than urban, scheduled traffic. Ride sharing is inefficient. There is a reason that urban areas have subways and buses, they WORK. There is a reason that rural areas do not, because they don't work there.


This article is a combination of technical ignorance, logistical ignorance, socialist reprogramming, and a call for social justice; in other words, it's a typical leftist BS screed. America is about freedom; the left does not want you to have freedom since they cannot control you as well via the government. If you have no car, you can only go where you can walk or bike, or where you are allowed to take public transit or ride sharing.


"Attention, attention, this is a state of emergency. A blue zone is declared surrounding Charleston. All ride-share services and public transport are temporarily disabled for public safety. You will be notified when the emergency is deemed concluded."


See, in this man's country, you can get on the road and go. Even if they close the roads, you can still go, and go pretty easily provided you are smarter than the cops. Taking away your tools is making you easier to control.

 

I see the continued diminishing of an individual's skill level.

 

I'm looking forward to the huge shipping lanes constructed for semi freight trucks that operate driverless. Sure the undertaking would be massive, but it would save money, time, and pollution in the long run. https://www.uber.com/info/atg/truck/

 

Every day I commute to and from work I think it would be a good idea if all of the cars were driverless.

 

Companies are constantly looking for ways to eliminate jobs. The more they succeed the fewer people with money to buy their products. Self checkouts, McDonald's self order kiosks. I walk away from those because I know it could be me next.

Do do you really want that huge truck coming at you loaded with toxic chemicals to be computer controlled? Hell, every time I turn around my computer is acting up.

 

According to that Uber article 70% of all products are delivered by trucks. That's a lot of people out of work if the truck drives itself.
Say, just for example, a self drive truck loaded with hazmat rolls up on a situation where there are obsticals in the road and a something on fire close to where the truck stops. A human would see that and maneuver to get the truck away from the fire. A computer would likely only do what it's programmed to do and not respond to any outside conditions or hazards. In fact if the fire spread to the truck trailer it may drive away on fire when the obsticles moved from its path. Your town may be the town it shows up on fire in. Take away the human factor and who knows what may happen.

 

fake news !! Anuf-said.

 

just another media hack trying to insinuate his ideals are inevitable.

 

Agree with the points made already.

But could self driving cars cut down on the drunk driving accidents each year and help make roads safer for all?

 

Possibly...