New rule in 2017 - cars must talk to each other

[John Galt]

such a huge change will be met by resistance. the change to the transportation industry will put millions out of work. not that this is a bad thing. farming will become even more automated as a result. transportation of supplies? yeah, no more truckers. no more cab drivers. cities design will take into account everyone having their personal transport -- this isn't to say anyone even needs to own one. 95% of the time, your vehicle does nothing. repurposing them for other tasks would reduce costs of transportation across the board as there will be less need for cars. and what else? well, atlanta wouldn't be destroyed by 2 inches of snow. robots could handle the ice, and the entire network would know where any issues are caused by atlantians who still drive and be able to act accordingly. emergency services will be able to get the absolute fastest route to where they need to be

[Mother Teresa]

Oh i have no doubt backwards unions will try to crush any progress. The teamsters, taxi cab unions, all of them will get wiped out.

But yea, imagine never looking for parking again, or programing your car for a 8 hour drive and then just falling asleep and waking up at your destination. It's truly going to transform everything. The suburbs will look attractive again.

[Bauce]

Yeah if I could go out on the town and not have to worry about how to get home, the burbs would be a lot more appealing.

[Professor]

I'm just happy that, so far, every "mandate" that comes through for new cars doesn't apply to cars made before the mandate was put into place. Cars now have to have anti-lock brakes, shoulder harnesses, airbags, catalytic converters, etc. But, if you have a car made before these things were mandated, you can still drive it.

My car has traction control, which I have permanently disabled (technically, I programmed the car so that it limits torque according to RPM, never applies the brakes, and never cuts spark or fuel). It has ABS, which I leave enabled.

I don't think that nannies are an all-or-nothing deal. Some are good. Some are bad. ABS and airbags are good. But, ones that take over the car's control from you, or encourage you to be a lazier driver, are by-and-large, bad (from my perspective).

That said, I really can't wait until we have masses of cars all talking to each other, going the exact speed limit, bumper-to-bumper, in the righthand lane. It'll be nice to not have to worry about people going the speed limit in the left lane, and I can make some good time getting where I want to go.

Yes, I realize that I'm odd. I actually enjoy driving 99% of the time. Even in traffic, I enjoy driving.

Who knows - I may end up having a car that has all these nannies. And, I may use them from time to time. But, I will find a way to switch them off and drive the car myself. So long as cars are controlled by computers, someone will find a way to hack into them, and I'll buy that hack to reprogram my car. (shameless plug for HPTuners!)

[Dylan]

you enjoy sitting in traffic......? why.

[Professor]

Because I'm not sitting. I'm looking for the next opening. I'm finding an alternate route to avoid it. I'm accelerating, I'm braking. I simply enjoy the movement.

But, even when I am "just sitting", I'm singing to my music, looking at the cars around me (usually, looking derisively), and planning my next move.

[exploited]

Make a little strategy game for the dashboard computer that allows car nuts the illusion of control and they'll be happy. Maybe Frogger? But based on real time traffic flow and the results used to train the driving algorithm and identify weak spots in traffic flow.

[Aaron]

Regardless of attempts to further community development, regardless of whether it's in safety, social interaction, responsibility, or infrastructure, there will be a group of conservatives being stupid about it.

[Professor]

[Bauce]

Prof, were talking about transportation here, not competitive racing. Just because we're going to move toward automated cars for transportation doesn't mean you won't have human operated cars on private racing tracks in the future. Don't worry.