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goobster  ·  2326 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Why driverless cars will be the next battlefield in the culture war

    While I think 20+ person capacity vehicles will exist in the world of automation, I think many <8 capacity vehicles will cut down on wait times and manage the load of local traffic...

Efficiency also looks different.

If a 20-person vehicle needs service, that's a big hole in the service stream.

If a 2-person vehicle needs service, the gap in service is much smaller and has far less impact on the flow of people from A to B. (And it is cheaper to dispatch another 2-person vehicle in its place.)

Automated vehicles will also have much smaller following distances, because they will know what is happening up ahead, far in advance, and can maneuver safely in much smaller gaps. That means they have smaller bumper, less need for airbags and monster braking systems, skinny tires, and less of all the other shit associated with protecting soft meat-people from getting t-boned at 60 MPH by a delivery truck.

Closer following distances also allow for less energy exertion to move forward, because the slipstream of the previous vehicle is occupied by the following vehicle.

And finally, a chain with many small links is far more flexible and dynamic than a chain with huge links. It's rail cars vs glorified barco-loungers. Big massive heavy things that start, stop, and turn slowly, versus... well... basically, go-karts running on "rails" of high-speed data from multitudes of sensors.

Honestly? The biggest problem will be the HUMANS inside the autonomous vehicles freaking out because they are following each other so closely. It will be perceived by the meat-person to be dangerously close following, because the meat-person is incapable of perceiving or processing the stream of data the autonomous vehicle is assessing to determine safe following speed and distance.

Once again... people are the problem! :-)