Robots everywhere.

Electric vehicles are urban vehicles. Period!!
Even if they get the range high enough. Off-road demands would drain that battery in no time. There is no replacement for the internal combustion engine.
Give me a few gas cans instead. At least l know l won't get trapped.

 

Not to mention will long outlast the life of one of those battery packs. That's one of my big issues. I tend to keep my vehicles forever. I've got several 30+ yr old vehicles and bikes, on the OG engines, with no rebuilds. Li-ion batteries are not going to get anywhere near that. Cant tell me replacing those battery packs several times, is friendly to the environment. Not to mention if you dont drive them consistently. I'll let some of my older vehicles/bikes sit for long periods, stored correctly, then fire them up one day when i get a hair. With no issues.

 

My wife has a 2019 Ford Edge ST. The thing has all the bells and whistles. We have yet to use the self-parking feature, as neither of us trust it. When I drive it, I turn off the lane assist thing that supposedly helps you stay between the lines because I don't want the steering wheel fighting me. There's several other "features" that annoy the hell out of me.

 

Nothing like trying to save the environment by using 'Toxic' solutions??

 

I'm all for automation and electric vehicles as long as the shift doesn't involve the financial punishment of those who choose not to. It makes sense for a LOT of people. Will also lower demand for gasoline for the rest of us. And I'd love to hop into a robot car and have it drive me around the city to bars while I drink in the back seat. But I don't see Tesla or Rivian being able to make an off-road capable electric vehicle that I can load up with 1,000 lbs and drive 400-500 miles of rocky terrain with a couple miles of elevation change thrown in in my lifetime.

 

And imagine the electrical grid with an increasing number of vehicles plugged in to charge up. It can barely cope now. I have no doubt that those who don't conform to the "electric vehicle" will be financially punished!!! But they'll say that it's the choices that you are making that are being punished for not falling into line

 

Yep, gasoline will be taxed like cigarettes, lol.

Read a story a week or so ago about some European countries already moving to make diesel illegal. Believe "petro" may have been in there too, cant remember. Sure to follow if not. Next up will be Cali and the like, lol.

 

My wife's uncle (aerospace guy) had an interesting observation about the autonomous driving vehicles. How will they behave if human drivers "bully" them? So if three auto-control vehicles show up at a 4 way stop (and a kid like mine in his old J-10) - who goes first? The human of course! It might even be fun to chase one around a Walmart lot .......... Anyway - so long as they have to share the road with "not so logical" beings like ourselves - there will be some funny maneuvers going on.

I saw one of the self parking outfits doing its thing the other day and I was tempted to jump behind it a scare it off......

 

That's an astute observation.

You can easily fuck with autonomous vehicles. They have sensors all over them and from what I've noticed (I live in the Phoenix area and Waymo is located here so there are self driving test cars everywhere) that they tend to drive like scared little old ladies.

Come along side one and very slightly drift towards them, they immediately brake. They never tailgate so if someone veers in front of them between the next vehicle, they slow down to allow more space.
I think they also act weird at stop lights if they are the first vehicle. Haul ass for the first 1,000 or so feet to get away from other vehicles, then go EXACTLY the posted speed limit -to which all the cars left behind eventually catch up.
I hate driving behind them. They are totally learning to passively drive which is annoying.

So autonomous vehicles really CAN'T be a thing because there are literally hundreds of millions of human driven cars all over the roads (there are probably over a million 2nd gens alone still driving around in the US) so it will take several generations for those to phase out. Even if litigated out of existence, it's not going to happen in our lifetimes due to sheer numbers.

 

Autonomous cars are for people who shouldn't be on the road in the first place!!!

 

Honestly, I wouldn't have an issue with them for mass transit and freight. Passenger cars, I think they will be mostly a novelty for the rich for at least a few decades.

 

I’m getting one when I'm 90, you can thank me then.

 

Or they drive you into the tractor trailer and decapitate you. I hate seeing these stories of people Tesla's that have killed them. I know its only a few, but what a way to go man. Sure its probably safer in the long run, but i'd just rather have my life in my own hands.

 

Seems like the right thread to drop this in. For your consideration. Or if you write lyrics, getting a jump on the concept.

 

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Fixed it for you

 

This, all day every day. If more cars start driving themselves I will be infinity safer riding. Statistics say I'm more likely to be hit by a stupid person than get in an accident by myself.

Also, my 09 has been in 3 accidents, ALL 3 were because somebody else hit me WHILE I WAS STOPPED! It's up to you to decide to use an autopilot/safety driving feature but I am 1000% for things like automatic braking and reverse watch systems.

 

Right on! I've got a '95 Corolla that gets around 37mpg... its ugly as hell but it sips the gas. AC and heat work great and its ridiculously cheap to fix, not that I need to very often. Best Grand ever spent!

 

I need one. Preferably in manual

 

I wish mine was manual but it's all good. I might look for another one in the future with a manual.