Robocar talks at Future Salon, BIL
Submitted by brad on Thu, 2009-01-01 12:47
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I'll be giving a talk on Robocars on Friday, January 16th at the Bay Area Future Salon which is hosted at SAP, 3410 Hillview, Building D, Palo Alto CA. Follow the link for more details and RSVP information. Reception at 6, talks at 7. Eric Boyd will also talk on efficiency of transportation.
While I gave an early version of the Robocar talk at BIL (the unconference that parallels TED) last year, I think I will do an update there as well, along with a talk on the evils of cloud computing.
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Alison Chaiken
Sat, 2009-01-17 23:32
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thoughts on presentation
I enjoyed your provocative and entertaining presentation although I wonder about your assertion that passengers won't consider time spent riding on autonomous vehicles to be wasted. As far as I can make out, the average person considers airline travel time to be productive, but time spent on transit or bicycle commuting to be wasted. These feelings are very idiosyncratic: while I enjoy the exercise and relaxation associated with bicycle commuting, I miss all the reading I did on transit as well as the National Public Radio I listened to while carpooling. YMMV, as they say.
Kleenspeed, a new electric racing car company, is starting up in Mountain View.
brad
Sun, 2009-01-18 00:09
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What's wasted
I find that other than the fact that they are cramped, most planes have a smooth ride so you can focus. Very good trains have that but many don't. Buses never do. Cars aren't very good at it.
I do predict that it should be possible to design robocars with smooth rides, especially on highway or with timed lights. Though not as good as a plane or special train.
However, the environment, which you will pay for, can be much nicer. Wider, plusher than any transit, with comfy desk, phone, screen etc. Quite good for TV/movies, web surfing and talking on the phone I think. Pretty decent for working when stopped, even.
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