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“A traffic jam with no emissions is still a traffic jam”. –Bill Ford Jr.
Great talk from Bill Ford an environmentalist that just so happens to head up one of the largest Automobile companies in the world. -Growing up in Michigan, I can remember family members referring to Bill Ford as the environmentalist that was going to screw the company up.
This talk isn't about fuel emissions though, it's about traffic gridlock and "frankly" it's worth watching.
Neon_Ubermensch · 4995 days ago · link ·
Thanks for the post; interesting talk. I'm sure you've read about Google's effort, but if not: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=google-driv...
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thenewgreen · 4994 days ago · link ·
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thenewgreen · 4994 days ago · link ·
Thanks, I was aware of the effort but it was nice to learn more. Plus it led me to this post about the General Motors concept car called the "EN-V". It's basically a Segway with a shell. It's part of the effort to combat congestion and gridlock. But I don't see the how the solution could rely heavily on small individual transport cars. I would think communal rail/bus would be more the answer. If they could develop a way to fit 3 or 4 people in one of these EN-V cars, they might have something.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=electric-ne...
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Neon_Ubermensch · 4993 days ago · link ·
I think the future is personal transport pods and 3-4 person vehicles that can daisy chain and form ad-hoc trains or buses.
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thenewgreen · 4993 days ago · link ·
I've never considered the "daisy chain" approach in relation to personal vehicles. That's a great idea when coupled with "smart" technology that knows final destinations etc. The only problem I see is with the loss of spontaneity. The "road less travelled" will become the "road never travelled". -Suppose that's a bit heavy handed.
I was hoping that he was going to discuss a system that was just mentioned by Ford at the Mackinaw business conference. If I remember correctly, Ford is looking to create a system of self-driving cars in Detroit. I'll do some looking into it. It was an interesting talk, but he really could have said as much in half the time. :)