A thread to discuss self-driving cars and other vehicles. No politics, please.
Technology, commercial aspects, legal considerations and marketing are all on-topic.
- Companies (e.g. Tesla Inc.) are only on-topic when discussing their self-driving products and research, not their wider activities. The exception is when those wider activities directly impact (or are impacted by) their other business areas - e.g. if self-driving car development is cut back due to losses in another part of the business.
- Technology that's not directly related to self-driving vehicles is off-topic unless you're discussing how it might be used for them in future.
- If we're talking about individuals here, that should only be because they've said or done something directly relevant to the topic. Specifically, posts about Tesla do not automatically need to mention Elon Musk. And Musk's views, politics and personal life are firmly off-topic unless you can somehow show that they're relevant to self-driving vehicles.
Cadillac plans to release a scaled back, more simple version of similar technology by 2015 - what they call "Super Cruise", which isn't total self-driving, but does let you relax on highways. It positions your car in the exact center of a lane, slows down or speeds up as necessary, and is said to be meant for ideal driving conditions (I'm guessing that means ideal weather, no rain or snow, etc.).
I am looking forward to such tech. If enough people prefer to drive this way, and the technology works reliably, it could result in safer roads with fewer accidents. Another possibility is that, using GPS and maybe the ability to know ahead of time which roads are most clogged, they can find the quickest route from place to place.
On the other hand, hacking could be a real concern, and I hope it doesn't become a serious threat. It's looking like we're living more and more like those sci-fi Everything Is Online worlds depicted in fiction for a long time.
(Mod edited to replace original post)
Edited by Mrph1 on Mar 29th 2024 at 4:19:56 PM
Lost in Space
Well, a lot of the hype that Musk built up around Tesla Full Self-Driving was that people would be able to turn their cars into assets by using them as robo-taxis. The obvious skepticism of that point notwithstanding, a lot of people probably did buy it for that, although "a lot" in this case is relative to customers of those specific vehicles.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
A procrastination in of itself
People who are willing to buy into something purely because Musk hyped it aren’t a globally/nationally significant group of economic movers, they’re heavily over-represented online but even there they’re not able to cause serious economic shifts, just moderate variance in already volatile markets like cypto.
Even all Tesla owners collectively wouldn’t be enough to cause the kind of shift you’re suggesting, and most Tesla owners bought their Tesla because they want a quality EV, not because they’re personal fans of Musk.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Oh, bother.
One of my relatives bought a Tesla, not because they're particularly big fans of Elon Musk but simply because they felt like getting a high end EV.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Lost in Space
Look, it really doesn't matter how many private citizens decide to turn into robo-taxi landlords. It'll be a non-zero number, but I said way back at the start of this conversation that fleet operation would become the dominant system. Indeed, it has been suggested that Tesla may try to buy back vehicles from their owners to integrate them into its fleet.
Edited by Fighteer on Apr 30th 2024 at 10:29:11 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Lost in Space
Double Post — CNBC: Tesla jumps 15% after passing key hurdle to roll out advanced driver-assistance tech in China
Tesla has reportedly won approval from Chinese authorities to begin deploying Full Self-Driving in the country. The story is interesting because it's not the safety of the system that they were concerned about, but instead data security, as Teslas transmit a lot of data (video and telemetry) back to the company.
A limited version of FSD has been available up until now, along with standard Autopilot. Tesla apparently also gained access to Baidu's mapping software, another regulatory demand.
Edited by Fighteer on Apr 29th 2024 at 10:44:30 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
I don’t see current taxi-drivers giving up the very modular control they already have over vehicle usage, I don’t see many new people to the market being willing to loan out their personal car and I don’t see taxi companies waiting for self-driving cars to penetrate the private consumer market instead of jumping to buy as many as they need once said cars hit the commercial market.
For this to happen you need a capital-poor taxi company (otherwise they’d buy their own fleet and get greater control, especially at peek times) to happen alongside a capital rich group of people who are income poor enough to want the small bit of extra cash such a thing will generate.
It’s not impossible, but it’s a niche enough situation that it’s going to be a weird regional quirk rather than a wider society shift.
I guess you’ll also get some edge cases where people bought into the hype of the idea sign contracts that end up costing them money because it offloads a bunch of taxi-specific costs onto them, but a big company playing economically illiterate fools for money isn’t some economic shift, it’s standard practice in many markets.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran