Where Tacoma (and everyone else) is Heading

I get all my info from TW. Am I there yet?

 

I’m a cybersecurity professional. The complexities and challenges with this kind of system are enormous. I worry about the fallout someone hacking the vehicle.

But these challenges can be addressed and mitigated. I am extremely excited for the benefits that can be reaped from autonomy. Long car trips where you talk to the fam face to face. Shuttling kids around will help parents who need to be in 2 places at once. Package delivery...

A few additional questions are:
1-Will dumb gassers be worth more or less in 20 years?
2- How will this impact modding culture (hellooo Tacomaworld)? I can’t imagine the algorithms would be able to account for every variable.
3- Will overlanding/off-roading be possible with daily drivers? We can dual-purpose a vehicle today. I don’t think that will be the case in an autonomous system.

 

Lol no.

 

TW News ( Stay Tuned )

 

If you want a peek into the future just look at the past.
I started driving and modding in 1979. So in the past 40 years vehicles have changed a lot yet we are still modding. Once electric vehicles become the norm (and they will) people will still mod them.
As far as total autonomous driving, I think we are a long way from that. I look to other forms of transportation... rail, air and sea and, even though those have had "autopilot" for decades, they still require a "man in position" for safety.
Here's another...
I can have a dozer hauled to a construction site, self unload from the truck and propel to the grade stakes and modify the grade to an inch of perfection. All autonomously.Yet, it still requires an operator because... big rocks or mud or or or.
It will be the same for vehicles for a long time because of the unforeseen. Fog, blizzards, flat tire, deer strike.. maybe even falling rock from a cliff!
I'm 58. I figure I have maybe 25 years of driving left if I live that long. As an engineer I am also still designing at the cutting edge of tech. I can comfortably say that, for the rest of my driving career I will still have to be behind the wheel if I want to go somewhere.

 

It’s going to be a transition, over a few decades no less. Hip cities are now offering all the car-on-demand services. Pull out your phone and find and unlock the nearest two seater and hop in and drive. Next, those will go autonomous. Existing assist driving vehicles will continue to push the envelope to full autonomy. After a while, the NHTSA will have robust statistics on accident rates. Depending on what that shows, you’ll see the politicians get involved and that’s when the exponential curve starts.

 

Well, our state isn't there yet.

 

Now i can finally drink and drive

 

If vehicles drive themselves then you will send your kids alone in the car to school or grandma's house. Your car or truck will go out to run errands without you. While you are at home or work (maybe the same thing) you will get an income by having your car drive other people around and or make deliveries. It will be really nice.

Cars will be redesigned for non-driving travel. You will have long nighttime trips where you sleep as your car drives you across the country. Motels and gas (charge) stations will create automated clean up rooms for travelers to shower and get dressed after sleeping as their car drove them all night. Airlines, motels, and gas stations will all suffer and go through huge changes. But a lot of tourist trade will be brought about. You will leave your house in the evening and be way across the country when you wake up the next day. You will travel at night, wake up to a vacation spot, then the next night you will drive all night to another far away vacation spot. Many who are now working at home will also start working while traveling.

Criminals will quickly adapt to automated cars. They will learn the routes and ways of automated cars. They will have a little kid run in front of and another run behind to trap an automated car. They will then do as they please because the car will not run over a child. Criminals will figure out ways to trick automated cars into being liable for an accident so as to gain insurance payouts. Automated ride share cars will be a thing with prostitutes.

Then things will change very quickly. Our elite corporate/institution/lawyer/government alliance will bring about laws, regulations, massive cost of the vehicle, massive legal liabilities, massive insurance costs, and taxes. People will therefore not own a vehicle because it will not make much sense. Vehicles will be owned mostly by mega corporations and will zip you around on demand. Restaurants and other retail places will send cars to come pick you up as a way of generating sales. Ads will play in these automated cars. You press a button or say yes to an ad and the car will take you to whatever is being advertised. Where, when and what route you go will be centrally controlled for "safety", "the environment", "equality", and to lower traffic jams. A social credit score will determine your access to individualized "privileged" transportation. And...all of this will be tracked and controlled by our elite betters.


I'm kidding of course. Crazy talk, crazy, crazy talk.

 

No more teenagers getting excited to drive for the first time anymore with self driving

 

They’re already more pumped about the next Gen of smart phone, lol.

edit: and by next gen I mean the same thing as the current gen that costs more and does roughly the same thing.

 

LOL! Hey, I'm 65 and ever since the mid-60's magazines like 'Popular Science' and 'Popular Mechanics' were promising Flying Cars (The Jetsons) ... By about the mid-80's... 40 years later, still nothing.
I know what's gonna happen though. A week after I croak, a new real Flying Car will come out on the market and I'll never get to drive/fly my anti-gravity bubble pod.
OTOH, maybe I should be thankful that when these things finally do come, it would be made by Tesla/Space X, which means it would blow up at any time... I'd like to go out peacefully in bed. Not a giant fireball..

 

Slow down there stud - why don’t you start over by telling us how you really feel

 

I’m in aerospace and working through these same types of questions around autonomy and cyber-safety. I think we’ll get there. I’m a little behind you in age, but I am hopeful that by the time I shouldn’t be driving, I won’t have to be driving.