By Blue Bronc, a Trail Mix Contributor
And now we move from a driver flipping us off to no driver.
I write this while my big kitty sneezes and snorkes in the bedroom. A cat with summer allergies.
As we spend our days wondering whether or not America should be spelled Америка, much of the bureaucracy continues to function without dear leader. State agencies are working on how to let driverless cars test and function in the mess which is the U.S. roadway system.
It has reminded me of fifties and sixties optimism of the future – driverless cars. What was envisioned at the time were various forms of radar and laid-in strips in the roadbed which a magnetic sensor in the vehicle would follow, with the radar providing information for stopping or queuing the vehicles to avoid collision.
The concept of completely autonomous vehicles was an eighties and nineties concept. Actually, earlier, like in the twenties and thirties, but those concepts were based on technology so far in the future it included flying cars in cities. The problem has always been the lack of computing power in a package which could be on board the vehicle along with the camera systems to be able to discern between a boulder and a bus.
With the computer hardware and memory issues “solved”, and the “vision” systems now capable of seeing very tiny things in front, side and behind, it became time for the vehicles to get out on their own. This is once again the speed of computing power change. What took almost ten years in the eighties to solve, now has been moved from discussion to function in only a couple years.
As we discuss this issue, agencies in states around the District of Columbia, and the rest of the U.S. are working on bringing driverless vehicles on the roads. This is good. My Mother is almost blind. Not having to worry about her driving is great. Having her be driven to her destination and home again is even better.
Is there an upside to vehicles moving from A to B to C without a driver?
Yes, very good, as it will reduce crashes. Yes, it will allow those not able to drive to travel. Yes, it will be fun to sit back and let a vehicle deliver ME somewhere.
Is there a downside to vehicles moving from A to B to C without a driver?
No, it is the nose of the camel under the tent. Force those wanting to drive to a position that only autonomous vehicles have the right of way. Or zones or locations (for D.C., think Dupont Circle) where only driverless vehicles would be allowed.
Can these vehicles coexist? I think so. But, it will require careful choices by regulators.
More Posts by Blue Bronc
bronc, thanks for that timely topic since poor eyesight, hearing and the ravages of Alzheimer’s is just around the corner for the bulk of the population.
but what happens when the inevitable trouble happens with the batteries, the grid and sunspot or electrical weather interference? to say nothing of the drunken passengers hanging out the windows and sitting on the fenders now that dui isn’t a problem…. new law needed “riding while drunk”
and will road rage rear its ugly head with random shootings at the car innards? another law… must have permit to carry in cars
patd – batteries are a very interesting physics and engineering issue. Maybe I will write something about those someday.
Although we are faced with idiots all the time, Darwin’s Law often takes care of the problem. I fear most are those regulators who think a solution is to limit driver cars to roads away from city centers or places like sports centers.
Blue Bronc,
I have a little kitty with the sneezes. The sneeze is bigger than she is. ?
patd brings up questions about batteries – how do they perform in areas with cold weather? Asking this as someone who lives with really cold winters & resulting dead batteries.
What about an override feature so that a human could take over if things go nutty?
We are almost there now, but mechanics will need computer science degrees.
Rosie is now approaching her 18th bday. She has traveled barely 37,000 miles and from every angle and measure of performance, is in showroom condition. It has been my intention for her to be my last vehicle.
I would willingly pay up to 50k to have her retrofitted to be an autonomous driver _if_ there were some assurance that South Carolina would resurface the roads of our state making them fit and safe for non-human controlled vehicles. As they are now, they’re “unsafe at any safe speed.”
Battery technology has moved far past the old lead acid batteries so common for starting vehicles. Vehicles like the Prius use the gasoline engine to recharge the batteries. Other vehicle rely on a timely charge prior to going flat. But, the more exotic the battery, the more that can (and will) go wrong. Look at the hoverboards burning down homes, or cell phones burning pants off, or laptop computers going into roast mode. The physics issue is the amount of energy in a combination of materials is limited, how to control it and how to recharge are the hard parts. The answer is worth a lot of dollars, or rubles or yuan.
Fix the way communities are built. Urban sprawl with no businesses except restaurants and coffee shops in the area, and the houses in those areas can not be afforded to those in those jobs.
Fix they way we work. So many more jobs could be done remotely if companies would get with it.
Fix public transportation. (Millenials don’t seem to be rushing to the car market, in part because of student debt and low wages.) In Dallas, you drive your car to a park-n-ride, then get on bus after bus, with long wait times in between. I only drive in my area of town, and I can’t handle a long trip on public transportation, so thank heaven for ride share apps.
With a world population that has quadrupled in the last 100 years or so, more cars (driverless, electric, whatever) are not the problem.
Rosie has two large lead acid batteries in her boot. the one one right side is to crank her engine; the one on her left takes care of lighting and technology. There is a battery tender to keep everything copacetic during periods of disuse.
Gang – we’re fixing nothing in this country. No more infrastructure, no “space age” innovation, technological marvels – no “worlds fair”, nothing! And you certainly won’t see a usable self driving car, hydrogen cell or people moving air tube.
It’s over! Unless it benefits the top 1/10th of 1%. Sorry for the bad news. I love to dream too.
I don’t think “it’s over”. I see people who are still doing their jobs… taking care of their kids and communities. Still having babies… still getting college degrees… etc., etc. I believe we can keep this nation going despite the SFB and his minions in D.C.
Living in a rural area… I have to drive to get anywhere. But the idea of driverless cars in urban settings is very intriguing, IMO. Can’t wait to see what the future brings.
Agree with RebelliousRenee. To quote the Monty Python Mary, Queen of Scots sketch: I’m not quite dead yet. Not over by a long shot. History is cyclical.
This subject always makes me schizophrenic.
As a youngster, I loved modern concepts such as Heinlein’s The Roads Must Roll and riding in a limousine is a great life if you can get it if only because you can read (or drink) while someone else keeps their eyes on the road. Even Disneyland’s People Mover had its charms that allowed riders to hop on and off or the mass transit of the Monorail for speed at a modern pace.
Then there is being California born and raised where all those towns in search of a city meant you absolutely had to drive. I started doing that on an uncle’s raisin ranch at the age of 7, got my first license at 15, and left home in the rear view mirror. Some people dislike driving, others like driving, I LOVE driving. It is a total blissful zen state where the vehicle and I become one with the universe. The limitations of age would have to become pretty severe for me to give it up, particularly when you consider my aunts were still driving in their 80s only limiting themselves to staying off freeways. Death had to pry their hands off the wheel to get them to depart without their cars.
Don’t discount growing and improving light urban rail as efficient, tolerable people movers in urban settings. These are wonderful for office workers and attendees at sporting events and concerts.
Paul Ryan about to do a newser. Prevue shot shows four American Flags on the dais. IMO any number of flags greater than one makes the speaker a creep.
My mom’s greatest fear is that she will no longer be able to drive. I think that many share that fear. It would be great if a driverless option was available for her and others like her. She doesn’t drive far, the grocery store, movie theater, and the library, but when you’re pushing 90 those are all very important places. It would drive her nuts to be reliant on someone else to take her to those places even her own children.
I want the Volvo electric driverless car — it has a big screen tv for the passengers
http://www.volvocars.com/au/about/innovations/intellisafe/autopilot
I’m with RR we live far from everything and there is no public transportation or even gig economy options. I have always wanted a driver
However, our last car is probably the one have now — a 1998 pontiac sunfire – with handcrank windows and very little else that can break.
Great post BB
I remember the magnetic strip vision and people sitting in a car tootling along while they played bridge.
What was that car that kind of looked like the vision — a lot of glass… I found it the AMC pacer yikes what a hot box disaster that was
http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/worlds-15-ugliest-cars/8/
Flatus,
Make no mistake about it. Paul Ryan is a creep flags or no flags. In a town full of empty suits he is the emptiest. The wonder boy, policy wonk that never was and never will be. A scam artist dressed up like an adult. What a sham. Shame on the news media for legitimizing him.
Alright Jace
I agree that about sums it up for Ryan – his whole Janesville demeanor is factless crap.
Real Clear Politics has a good roundup of things to read today. The links are in the URL below not in the photo.
Tuesday again? No problem. Keep up with the latest commentary
Jamie, I’m overwhelmed by your reading list. I guess I’m at that point in my life where I must place more and more reliance on the value-set that I grew up with and upon which I still rely.
flynn infused turkey becoming more like the ole’ US of AA under trumpence. New school curriculum omits Darwin. erdogan and the war on the media.
I agree with RR that the day-to-day America will still continue, but donnie the drain will also still continue to cost us a lot of money, time and reputation that we could be spending on our fellow Americans. Every day we are presented with the regression-du-jour at an expense to all of us, And instead? We are pissing away tens of millions of dollars on security for the trump family that would be better served by putting them in prison…a lot cheaper and we could keep an eye on them.
I also think he has given certain people confidence to act on their sense of entitlement.
The American automobile…an industry and lifestyle onto itself…I believe is dying as the baby boomers are dying-out. No car households on the increase. I know Mr. Obama did the Obamacar thing before adding an ‘e’ to make Obamacare, but the industry is dying as we knew it in the wonderful movie, American Graffiti. We are moving to more younger car owners driving for Lyft and Uber to make cash to pay those insurance bills. We have moved so far into the rental society from ownership. So, it is natural that the machines are taking over another way to make a living.
So where is the new frontier for Americans? Cannabis! And if you are lucky enough to live in the western US? The new cash crop for states. Job growth in the industry? Colorado holds cannabis job fair.
At the same time sessions and the majority of the repugs want to destroy the new growth industry. DOJ and POT.
Who will win? It must remain important to continue to fight a minority rule prez. a complicit rnc and corrupt congress. May the grassroots movement win.
Well, here are the current figures released by the State of Washington:
“A new, 28-page report from the Washington State Institute for Public Policy examined employment and wage data for businesses with marijuana licenses in the state of Washington and found growth in wages and number of workers.
From 2014 to 2016, licensed marijuana businesses reported employing an equivalent of 6,049 full-time employees statewide and paying $286.1 million in wages, adjusted for inflation.
For Clark County, the study reported that an equivalent of 222 full-time workers were paid $1.9 million at the end of 2016, earning an average hourly wage of $16.58 and a median hourly wage of $13.01.
Statewide, the average hourly wage was $16.42 and the median hourly wage was $13.42.”
source http://cannabis-chronicles.com/
Great minds with a single thought division of human affairs. Berkely Breathed takes on Uber with a tip of his cartoon hat to Alice’s Restaurant in the comments along with a whole job creation discussion.
Apologize to the car “with meaning”
Really enjoying the new Velshi and Ruhle show on @MSNBC. Lots of actual economic information.
trumpence currently trying to dump hot potato of healthcare on the dems….pale face collapse.
Bloomberg:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s new proposal to simply repeal Obamacare appears to already be dead, less than 24 hours after he dropped his replacement plan for lack of support among fellow Republicans.
GOP Senators Susan Collins, Shelley Moore Capito and Lisa Murkowski said Tuesday they’ll oppose a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. McConnell said late Monday the Senate would vote on a repeal with a two-year delay to give Congress time to agree on a replacement, but he could afford to lose no more than two Republican votes to advance the measure.
“We’ll let Obamacare fail” and then Democrats may want to agree on a replacement, President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House. “I am disappointed because for so many years I’ve been hearing repeal and replace.”
[…]
On Monday, opposition from four Republicans sank McConnell’s repeal and replacement legislation, which the majority leader drafted mostly in secret.
well, if they do bring repeal only up for vote, I hope someone amends it to include repealing the senators’ healthcare largess at the same time.
The author of ‘The Art of the Deal” is really The Art of the Steal. This is what happens with a minority prez and inept repug congress work to steal our election and attack our institutions. We need to declare more than resistance to this guy…it is war and trump is responsible for bringing it to our shores. He is a war criminal to me and was always a tool of putin.
“But, the more exotic the battery, the more that can (and will) go wrong. Look at the hoverboards burning down homes, or cell phones burning pants off, or laptop computers going into roast mode.”
Um, what? A lithium ion battery isn’t exotic, it has the exact same design as every other battery. They explode because morons charge the battery while running the device, overheating the battery, not because they are “exotic”.
The challenge related to “batteries” is getting the weight of them down by finding an alternative to heavy metals for the electrodes.
President Paleface
Hahahaha
#45 is a coward.
From the NYT, 2000 article about money laundering? Irakly Kaveladze is named in the article and he was the eighth attendee at the now famous junior/ruskie meeting at trumptower.
On a happier note, all the best to Toby Dog.
President Paleface speak with forked tongue.
All those alliances 75 years in the making made possible by American victory in WWII were pissed away in less than 6 months by our criminal Usurper. Things aren’t magically going to get better.
from the 1990 money laundering claim —
In an interview, Mr. Kaveladze said he had engaged in no wrongdoing. He described the G.A.O. investigation as a ”witch hunt.”
Dirty Don said no Dems helped — something for Democrats to be proud of and Chuck Schumer sounded good his morning
It ai’t over till it’s over.
Robert Mueller
It will soon be his turn at bat.
Meanwhile, Jesus is coming…….Look busy.
Thanks for keeping your eye on the ball and for helping to keep us informed, BW.
Blonde Wino,
It will be illuminating if Mr Kaveladze is behind the Russian Banks that financed the Golf Courses for #45 a few years back.
sturge says —
Robert Mueller
It will soon be his turn at bat.
and it will soon be time for the trumpence junta’s tumble in the barrel.
I find myself enjoying a witch hunt much more that a fishing expedition.
There was a reason the rnc never vetted trump.
sj…probably half of the trumpence cabinet was part of the shell corporations and money laundering.
wilbur ross of sword dancing fame comes to mind…citi servicing and the cyprus bank.
Not quite sure if this is sad news since it is to be expected and as with these things a long, long time coming.
Glen Campbell update: Finally Loses The Last Ability He Had. Can no longer speak but sings to himself.
Thanks to his final recording, he can still sing for us.
Thank You Jamie for the Glen Campbell clip. I remember the Goodtime Hour; fan of John Hartford.
There is a flock of impossibly white guys on my TV talking about why the Healthcare bill nonsense failed. Oh my God, this is embarrassing that they in any way, shape or means represent this country.
Good, Bad, Indifferent that female GOP Senators were crucial in ending this?
The Reactionaries bumber stickers (not to be found on driverless cars): emails, emails, emails; Lies, lies, lies; Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi; will soon be joined with the “Dems destroyed health care”. The last one being circulated today as the next big lie and dog whistle. BW beat me to the big lie earlier.
Are Women better Leaders because they don’t have to be worried about looking emasculated in defeat? And does it help to elect older women so the usual “emotional” crap need not apply (how sexist or wise is that?)
“There is a flock of impossibly white guys on my TV talking about why the Healthcare bill nonsense failed.”
sjwny, notice that the 3 republicans who have declared they will vote “no” on repeal are women. myrtle should have listened to the little ladies to begin with or at least put an equal number on that special trumpDONTcare team he built. they might have discovered that most of those folks they want to throw off Medicaid are female….. and a lot of those are the elderly in nursing homes.
20/20 Hindsight division. This 538 article from FiveThirtyEight before the General reveals exactly why the Bernie folks helped destroy Hillary particularly if you refer to the bottom chart in the preferences by state for Democrats vs Independents
The Hidden Importance Of The Sanders Voter
query: how did Natasha….I mean russian lawyer natalia veselnitskaya… get through lower and higher ed without becoming fluent in english? it was my understanding that that’s a given in russia. how does she successfully perform her lobbying work in critterville without it? can’t imagine there are many if any other non-English speaking lobbyists in the capitol who have been there as long as she has.
gopers are eating their own now.
wapo: An article called for John McCain to ‘just … die already.’ A GOP official responded: ‘Amen.’
A member of the Republican National Committee in Nevada apologized after retweeting an article that begged for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to die.
Diana Orrock, a national committeewoman for the Nevada GOP, shared a story headlined “Please Just F—— Die Already.” In retweeting the piece, which was published on Medium, Orrock wrote “Amen.”
Several hours after posting the now-deleted tweet, Orrock apologized to McCain and to the Nevada and national GOP, calling the ailing senator “an American hero” — and her own post “disrespectful.”
[….]
In the article, writer Caitlin Johnstone said McCain “can die a proud, happy man.”
“And he should,” Johnstone added. “Like, yesterday.”
Throughout the article, Johnstone did not mince words. At all.
She described McCain as a “murderous warmongering neocon” and an “evil man” who has “supported every US military bloodbath in his obscenely long lifetime.”
She wrote:
Orrock emphasized that she only wants McCain out of the Senate, not harmed or dead.
“People are going to read things into things,” she told CNN.
BB. Interesting post today. Two thoughts keep running through my mind re: your post: car chases and car insurance. Will Hollywood have to change its car chase scenes to reflect slower more precise driving? And, what role will insurance companies play if there are fewer accidents?
I’m sure Hollywood will find a way to keep audiences on the edge of their seats with some kind of death defying driverless students with people stuck inside these moving robots
Because insurance companies are not going to want losing out on the trillion dollar automobile money making insurance scheme, I am sure they will find a way to monetize this new technology. Just like home owners insurance, customers wanting to go from point a to point b in a driverless car will have to get there in insurance company owned vehicles with the customer forced to buy insurance in order to ride someplace. Just like leasing and Uber, car ownership is dwindling. Customers will have to pay for insurance to ride in the driverless vehicles of the future
Just saying! Thx for the post BB. You have almost made me stop thinking about Trump, Russia Gate, Health care, and all the other 24/7 stuff going on for a few minutes or more today.
For my Dad, despite his many ailments, I do think not being able to drive (macular degeneration) was the hardest of all. But a driver-less car wouldn’t need a backseat driver, which he’s good at.
John “Bowzer”Bowman…….from Woodstock to Vegas……
patd – Natalia Veselnitskaya is fluent in English. Her “interpreter”, the American one is supposed to be clean. The other Russians are all agents of various Russian intelligence agencies. As is she. All Russians have to be thought of as Russian agents even if they are not formally associated with one of the agencies. What was funny is the first or maybe second “reason” for the meeting used the same phrase among three of the participants.
So far eight people are in this “adaption” meeting, including several Russian agents and money laundering types. Also, from the timelines, SFB started tweeting about HRC emails twenty minutes after the meeting ended. I would not be surprised if SFB was in the meeting too. From experience we know the guy lies about everything, so he and his minions stating he was not there means nothing.
Important is that the people in this meeting are known to have been meeting with SFB since as least 2013, pictures of a meeting then show them all together.
Glenn Campbell had a lot of hits, but one has been important to me. Southern Nights. This girl had three years in the deep South. This song is one that has never left.
Ever hear of the Wrecking Crew? They backed almost all groups of the sixties. If you have Netflix, search on Wrecking Crew. The movie is there and worth the tiem to watch.
I think a driverless car is perfect for the backseat driver
These African Countries May Fall Into Famine By 2018
Report on the current state of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. For those who remember the event, LiveAid happened in 1985 to provide funds against famine in Ethiopia when the population was 40 Million. Today the population of Ethiopia today is almost 102 million.
Okay, I read all through From Horse Dung to Car Smog, and have yet to find the gawdam horse dung.
False advertising ! I wants my money back or I’ll sue you for ever horse apple you’re hiding !
G’night, Goldbarg
And, over to you, Dexter
sturge, thanks for the “goodnight, trumpcare, well it’s time to go” vid. did y’all notice that guy on the left holding the trumpDONTcare sign. it was oly on for a fleeting few moments between 20-36 secs in