Hot Rods Autonomous Cars and the future (banning of drivers)

Right now the girls are keeping them busy.

WHAT ABOUT HIM ->


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Could have advantages!

 

When we are discussing this concept of 'self driving cars' we are not just talking about one car with a bunch of sensors trying to figure it all out for itself. Or to be more precise, we're not JUST talking about one car doing all this on its own. That's what Teslas are doing today, and actually doing a fine job of it.

In the computing world, there is a concept called containerization that has gained traction in recent years. Each container is a fully capable autonomous unit of computing, but it exists in a system of constant monitoring, feedback, and machine learning. As one container begins to perform poorly, the monitoring senses it, rejects it, and replaces it without impacting the system. An autonomous vehicle with a maintenance problem would be treated in a similar way.

Beyond an individual vehicle though, keep in mind what's being discussed really is a transportation SYSTEM. It is thousands of vehicles with sensors - plus highways packed with sensors - plus satellites - plus anything else that makes sense to monitor - all working in conjunction with each other. Each vehicle is in constant communication with the vehicles around it. If an accident happens, that information spreads instantly throughout this network, and all impacted vehicles will automatically reroute a trip if necessary.

A self driving car will be able to drive just as fast through a foggy canyon as it can along a clear highway, since it's not restricted by human sight. In fact, I'd expect that these cars will not even have windows, or the ones that are there are just cursory, like in an airplane. You won't own one of these cars! They will be operated in fleets. Imagine Greyhound buses on a larger scale but fitted out like a personal hotel room that you rent by the ride. You dial it up like a cab and it will take you wherever you wan to go. You'll be able to drink in there, since you're not responsible for driving.

If you're really interested in knowing some of the technology driving this, here's a primer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_learning

And it's not IF it will happen, it's only a matter of WHEN.

I gotta get back to work, the robot overlords are calling

 

We'll meet at midnight, then blast through the streets on an illegal hot rod drive. Only for the brave at heart!
-Dave

 

...I'll come with and I'll be blasting "Red Barchetta" by Rush on my Blue Tooth. Serious. That reminds me - I'll need to research distilling alcohol and upgrading my fuel system - I'm pretty sure petrol will be outlawed by then too...

 

You young guys don't know the half of it. In my lifetime, I bought a new, novel, microwave oven, saw phones go cordless, saw phones able to walk around just about anywhere and call anyone, then they became "devices" able to compute and roadmap anywhere, literally anywhere. I've resisted buying in, but am being forced to, the computer I type on wasn't done willingly, I need it to continue paying bills and banking, cause my local bank don't want me using paper, or for that matter, using a teller. I need a scanner to let my truck tell me whats wrong, I literally cannot ignore the technical age, I'm being forced to adapt, although I resist. My phone is a flip phone, MEANT TO MAKE PHONE CALLS, and soon that phone won't work no more, I'll have to upgrade. Although I have no cell service where I live, and I relish that, it will change, but not to say that technology is bad, a year and a half ago it was instrumental in saving my life, just commenting on the rate of speed the world is changing. Cars are seen as bad, and the green among us are bent on seeing them disappear, especially gross polluters like us that insist on using ancient technology, I repeat, It'll happen sooner than you think. Where I live, everybody drives trucks, electric and smart cars, popcorn fart style cars just don't cut the winters, but the green, ride a bike in the city, everybody has to think like me crowd are taking over, and have no idea that rural Canada and rural U.S. even exists. It'll be an interesting time.

 

There are a lot of moving parts to this subject and it would do well to look beyond the HAMB themed comments. First off, if you look at the issues facing OHV users on public land and then take into consideration land values of RV parks and you are approaching the perfect storm calling for the elimination or restrictions of several classes of motor vehicles. Throw in some excises taxes on aftermarket parts along with extreme permit fees for car shows and you have some pressure on events like swap meets. Fees to use federal lands have gone up considerably in the past two or three years. According to Bloomberg, California is looking at banning the internal combustion engine by 2040. Paris and London are also planning on banning cars in the intercity.

Unfortunately, everything I've mentioned is either in the works or on the drawing boards right now. We are looking at the biggest cultural shift in the past 100 years.

 

A friend of mine, his oldest son is a terrible driver. Lots of crunched up cars, his youngest son is not too far behind with 2 accidents in 3 months. Oldest had to appear in a NY State Court hearing, think 3 accidents in 18 months does it.

So now the oldest drives a new car with all the collision avoidance bells and whistles. So far so good. I'm holding out for one that will let me go in the back seat, make a sandwich and grab a cold one from the cooler.

 

You Guys are starting to confuse and depress me!
I'm gonna go read Squirrel's Almost Funny posts!
KK

 

I'm 38, i decided to build out my 392 and the desoto from our barn now instead of waiting so i can enjoy it before things get weird. The desoto is big enough to carry a lot of batteries in the future if i have to convert to electric, but i'd rather keep the hemi.

I'll be ragin' that in the streets as long as i can with it, though i can see having a Volt as the DD so i can afford more gas for the old battlewagon.

 

There different ways to look at this.
"Vintage,classics, hot rod, auto enthusiast, lovers of old cars" - we are a small group compared to the majority of automobile owners.
The people who you think that may care about this in the future, are totally out on old cars already. Current teenagers are already not interested in learning to drive as we once were. Your little kid will be much less.

So if you want to leave your kid something, an old, classic vehicle, it will just be a space waster if it cannot be driven. A relic.
I don't even think, if you converted cars to electric it would make a difference, everyone will have to have a "connected" system in their car.

The way it will happen is that gas will be make too expensive, it will force the users to go electric.

So if you want your kid to drive that old car. They may have to have a really good job to have money to burn on gas.
The insurance angle will also make it more difficult. Once they figure out who to blame in AI auto accidents.

It will take a while, but it will happen. But also you need to see the rate of change on things like the terrestrial radio still in cars currently. They did away with the cigarette lighter and people still smoke.

The best best it to retire out to another country that is a generation away from going this route.

...Or just not care about it and enjoy it right now while it lasts.
That is why you need to pair down the collection of non-running projects and get one good nice car to drive and enjoy right now or near future.

 

Gimpy...a generalization of a group means that that group generally does or think something. It is my opinion...thats all. My generalization didn't intend to say "ALL" people think one way or another...sorry if it sounded dumb. Of course there are exceptions. The idea that a driverless car is safer/better than the status quo is not a car guys ideal. Maybe for everybody else....lol. A car guy would work on a project making his hobby/love obsolete? Anyway..sorry if you got offended....not my intention. The real death of this idea will be the liability issue. In California there was a bill that would immunize manufacturers of autonomous cars of liability. Somehow...it got shot down. I wonder if any insurance or Attorneys lobbyists had anything to do with that. If the only thing in control of a car is it's driverless systems, it's makers will be liable...deepest pockets ever (Google) in the history of mankind.

 

Follow the money trail...... with a new generation of car technology, "they" can monitor your travels and send you a bill based upon the route, distance, time of day, etc. It can happen regardless of who owns the hardware (car). "They" can deny service based upon criteria that "they" deem applicable. It will be sold to the citizens as "safety improvements," and "less stress" but will cost all of us. AND we WILL like it.

 

Cuba still has classics,Guess we all will have to move to Cuba before they limit our access to Cuba!!!
Oh wait........

 

If it drives itself......I aint getting in it!

 

anyone who thinks self driving cars are a good thing had never owned a 25 year old car with 175,000 miles on it. old electronic items fail. sensors fail. my "throttle position sensor" failed which gave me an annoying high idle. I would not want it to be some idiot no driver sensor going out as I read the news in the backseat.

all this crap taking control of the car is just that...crap. like the sensor that stops your car for you if you are too stupid to watch where you are going.

even anti lock brakes have issues, a buddy had a new Cadillac in the late 90's that started hitting the brake hard all on it's own when making left turns. 3 times at the dealer to fix it and finally they just replaced every sensor they could think of and it stopped doing it.

 

Look, the greatest thing about new cars are these,

The gov't can tell if your car is polluting by setting up stations that monitor you as you drive by
Cops can tell if you've sped by hooking up to the obd port in the car and downloading the info stored on it
If you don't keep it tuned, the car refuses to cooperate and stops
You can't run over pedestrians, the car will stop
If it's slippery, the 80 year old lady in the computer takes over and eventually you come to a stop, because she won't allow the wheels to spin.
If It's really bad, said old lady applies the brakes on the particular wheel she thinks need it to keep the car straight. (traction control)
She will parallel park it for you.
If you're a manly new age, bearded checkered shirt kinda guy, your new pickup will back up your trailer and make you look like a star.
See? It's not all bad.

Gimme a cranky old motor that floods too easy, farts and coughs, makes your eyes sting while you're tuning it in your shop with closed doors, quits sometimes in the worst places, builds muscle trying to steer and stop it, but best of all, provides kinship with your fellow devotees to old iron that runs and takes knowledge to drive. AND, it's the most unique vehicle in the parking lot.

 

Finally, a sound reason in favor after 50 posts! Or as Boz Scaggs said "One more for the road".

 

Another good reason for being 70+ ...... I won't live to see it !

 

In the future, the HAMB will have to delete threads that are about putting yet another old car body over yet another Volt floor pan - just like S-10 frame swaps.

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My old pickup trucks were my daily drivers until last year when both of them ended up in drydock. I'm glacially slow at rebuilding them so, I got a new Caddy ATS-V (with the six-speed manual transmission) as a daily driver. It has all the luxury and safety electronics so, I let it take care of the lights, wipers and a/c while I content myself to row thru the gears but with electronic rev matching, that's pretty easy too. First time I got an e-mail from OnStar, I was surprised to learn I had two hard brakings and 15 hard accelerations for the week and the left front tire was going to need air soon. It also told me if I didn't quit abusing myself, I could develop carpal tunnel issues that could affect my shifting performance.

When I get my trucks back on the road, I'll be using them a lot more again.

 

Man thought of flying thousands of years ago. We've only been doing that for a little over a hundred years. It's about the same for the automobile v/s the horse and buggy. Both took THOUSANDS of years to become practical. So, self driving cars? Sure, they'll happen one day. But in order for them to be truly efficient, they need to eliminate free will in humans and that's not only going to be a while, but I wouldn't want to around any way.

 

Race cars with no drivers ?

 

Bingo. Winner, winner, chicken dinner. End of discussion . This forum doesn't allow for proper discussion.....nor should it. Part of a much bigger picture......its not about the cars or transportation.

 

This forum does allow for proper discussions on topics...problem is some might not agree. All this talk of containerization and all the cars talking to each other do not address my points. This utopian scenario presumes that ALL cars are autonomous...how is that supposed to work exactly? You'll be forced to give up your car and buy a new one? Make regular cars illegal? What about the 263.3 million cars now registered in the US as of 2015? It's all for our own good right? No thanks. We already have human containerization on autonomous platforms...theyre called subways and trains. First joker that proposes that normal automobiles be illegal should be recalled. Driving your own car...your way..is freedom. Again, the above points raised by others dont deal with extreme mechanical faults and the liability issue. How does a computer containerize a failed wheel bearing....gimme a break. Sometimes there aren't answers. A computer cannot answer all questions..

 

We will all be buying gasoline at the Pharmacy too...

 

And this is exactly why we will most likely not see it in our lifetime. Our data speed is not up to the task. Our infrastructure is not capable, yet, of transmitting and receiving all of that data fast enough to be useful in split second situations. We are gaining that speed at a rapid pace, but it will be decades before it is wide spread enough to have autonomous cars.

But, then you have to consider that is all of that really economically feasible compared to using the human brain? Something so fast and powerful that computers still cannot keep up after all of this time. That’s because we still do not understand the brain and how it works despite 100s of years of trying to figure it out. I’m not the least bit worried. Mass transit has failed to be popular across the country despite its very simple logic and low cost.