You must log in or register to comment.
We need something a little more flexible than rail, a little more rigid than current roads. That said, we need rail more than anything because.
- We know it works and how it works.
- Is a solution we can do tomorrow if we actually wanted to.
- Was a solution till modern cars decided to throw all that out the window.
Self-driving cars on a semi-rigid road system is either going to be the solution that is in the middle for everyone, or something we just completely abandon and we try our best to make modern rail happen.
I’m a big supporter of more rail, but I’m not completely against car-train hybrids. I just would like something better than what we’re currently dealing with.
I’m not completely against car-train hybrids
Do you mean like people-movers, trams, or bus-rapid-transit?
What are all these amazing technologies Musky hasn’t invented yet?!
Bikes on trains should do it. The train gets you within a few miles, the last part can be done with your bike. All the efficiency of a train for long distance, all the flexibility for short distance.
With pedal assisted cargo bikes people can even haul a surprising amount of stuff. People here are already using those pedal assist bucket bikes for getting toddlers to school.
You can store most bicycles on trains, where I’m from people have fold-up bicycles that will fit under a seat even just for last-mile transport. Cargo bikes won’t fit on a train though, they’ll block aisles and standing room. I doubt hauling a whole-ass train car just for bicycles is cost effective.
Trains are crabs of transport.
The YouTube Adam Something had similar comments. For example, the Hyperloop from Musk would be more efficient if you’d use pods on rails instead of Tesla’s, and make the pods longer like a train. It’s called a subway. Or other pod like ideas. What if you make them longer which would be more energy efficient, with one driving engine and carts behind it which you can fill with people or goods. It’s called a fucking train. Years and years of development into what we have now, then to have a stupid narcissistic scam artist wanting to reinvent something which works perfectly into some futuristic looking concept which would make a perfectly fine system broken and less efficient. “Please give me money, oh people on Kickstarter, as for I think I know better then years of evolution, research and development. Don’t do the math, trust me, I have a flashy computer animation to prove how cool my idea is. I did not finish school, my dad gave me a lot of money because he says I’m special.” Floating mega cities, pods, self driving cars, terraforming Mars, vacuum washing machines, vacuum tunnel systems, solar panel roads, etc etc etc. Next to Adam Something I can recommend ThunderF00t on YouTube. A scientist joking about Musk his stupidity and other tech kickstarter scammers, breaking their scams with science.
There once was a pipe dream of a dual mode car/monorail vehicle. RUF utube video seemed promising, since cars & busses could dock together for longer stretches on rail.
I believe the furthest it went, was a test track loop and a couple prototype vehicles.Ah, a transport system with fixed entry/exit points after which the rest is manual transportation. We have a similar system in The Netherlands. It’s called trains and bicycles. You bring your bike onto the train or you take a public transportation bike at the railway station. Or a public transportation electric car at the railway station. Or a bus, subway, tram. You can even bring your bike with those. And no parking costs or searching for a parking spot. Just park your bike right outside your destination. Or right in front of your home, even if you live in an apartment in the city center. It’s revolutionary. Check This guy’s channel for more on Dutch infrastructure. We’re number 1 in the world for best roads.
Try doing tight curves on a railroad. Try steep grades on a railroad. Try running a line to every neighborhood, with using eniment domain.
Somethings are just not practical
The people who want these rail lines everywhere aren’t being reasonable. There are other reasons besides schedule and routes that people don’t use trains anymore.
Roads are going to need modifications to be made truly safe for self driving. I don’t think it’ll be particularly expensive, either. Some things that would likely help would be reflectors that only reflect a certain spectrum of light, ferrous materials, passive radio equipment, etc. These are all things a machine can slap onto/into asphalt and shoulders without much trouble. It can be done rapidly. It only has to be decided upon and done. On top of these, it’s not like roads are all that dynamic. Sure, there’s always construction, but for the most part, they don’t change rapidly. Any self driving car should have a very up to date model loaded of the roads in the contiguous land it can traverse.
If society really wanted self driving cars to be a safe reality, it would just require a little more focus. Trying to do it with computer vision without road augmentation is clearly problematic. My car has a travel assist feature similar to Tesla’s Autopilot. It is great on well marked roadways without tight curves, but can be dangerous if the driver isn’t paying attention as it will lose the road lines at times and go off on its own.
