Brad Ideas - Robocars: The Roadmap to getting there - Comments

links

Ian — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:48:00 -0700

I hope you will consider joining the Advanced Transit Association (advancedtransit.org) if you haven't already. Some of our members promote your ideas and are developing them. I haven't seen a link here to cybercars.org, which gives a lot of links to European companies and research. There are some cybercars/robocars in operation in Europe.

getting there without admitting it

John Markos O'Neill — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:51:14 -0700

I suspect that we can get much of the way towards the robocar vision without actually admitting it. That is, as you described, robocars will be sold as regular cars with crash-resistance built in as a feature. Then, as people realize that they can tune out while "driving," they'll start paying less and less attention. At some point, people will admit that they are actually passengers and not drivers, but at first it will be, "I'm just letting the crash-avoidance system take over for a few seconds while I find my kid's sippy cup." Those few seconds turn into minutes as people learn what they can get away with.

Whoops

Yoozer — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:37:58 -0700

edit: Should've read the "Objections" page. Since the roads are already very wide, just painting lines and making laws protecting cyclists might do the job in the meantime.

Not only robocars, but infrastructure

Yoozer — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:32:50 -0700

While there's few things I'd love more than step into a car and not worry about driving at all to work - it's not driving for pleasure at all, but a stress- and congestion-filled mess - the bigger issue is that right now, the US is very much based on the idea of cheap fuel. It's not just the efficient robocars that have to change the transport landscape, but also the infrastructure.

Changing the infrastructure and allowing people to use a bike or to just walk instead of infrastructure being hostile to these forms of transport would also do good - because it'd eliminate the need for a car for smaller distances. The 3-wheeled Aerorider you showed can negate concerns about weather and carrying things - it's just that the cost is much higher than that of a conventional bike, which couldn't work as smoothly in regular traffic due to its lack of speed.

Robocars: The Roadmap to getting there

brad — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:39:19 -0700

In part two of my series on Robocars, let me introduce:

The Roadmap to Robocars

Here I outline a series of steps along the way to the full robocar world. We won’t switch all at once, and many more limited technologies can be marketed before the day when most cars on the road are computer driven. Here are some ideas of what those steps could be — or already are.