Engineering

» OgdenDunes - Would you ride in a car driven by a robot?

Interesting concept but doesn't go far enough for me. It's like the films about the future which have people driven down the highway in robot cars on the way to their job digging in the mine. People won't need to commute to nonphysical jobs, and that'll eventually soak in on corporations. People who enjoy virtual reality won't need to physically visit natural attractions or socialize in person. For that matter, the 99% of jobs requiring no creativity will be performed by machines so the vast bulk of the populace will simply sit in comfort cocoons without need to ever move from the days their born. Until then though, yes, I'll be happier when the incompetent drivers I see around me on the highway are replaced by robots, RR engineers are replaced by computers who can react to obstructions even quicker than humans, and radio DJs are replaced by robots with decent taste in music.

"may soon only need human drivers in chaotic urban environments" Gee, that's where I'd MOST like robots to be controlling the vehicles around me.

"it might be your own car honking at your bad driving" Yeah, I think that's what'll drive these changes. I think it'll come in like seatbelts rather than to actually improve transportation. Gee, will seatbelts and car insurance then no longer be considered necessary? That'll be interesting to see. Politics drives transportation decisions rather than a desire to improve my transportation. And, if you have any political influence, please push for a law which requires all good-looking women to have to drive around in bikinis.

"instead of roadmaps . . . you may only need a good book and a pillow" Actually I'll enjoy looking at my collection of maps more then, when I can actually study them -- hard to do now while I'm driving one-handed. Of course I could be looking them all over now, while driving along, if I still had a girlfriend driving me around.

-- posted by OgdenDunes