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Driverless public transport pods

General discussions of the systemic, societal and civilisational effects of depletion.

Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby Sixstrings » Mon 21 Sep 2015, 15:42:13

Image

First driverless pods to travel public roads arrive in the Netherlands

The WEpod will be the first self-driving electric shuttle to run in regular traffic, and take bookings via a dedicated app
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/11879182/First-driverless-pods-to-travel-public-roads-arrive-in-the-Netherlands.html


Definitely a wave of the future.

We'll be seeing this everywhere within the next ten years. Uber is already popular; driverless car taxis (pods) will exponentially increase convenience and efficiency and lower costs.

Everyone will have an app on their phone and just push the button and the EV pod picks you up, takes you where you want to go.
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby dohboi » Mon 21 Sep 2015, 16:42:38

Oh.

I thought you were talking about an invasion of these kinds of pods:

Image

http://cappatoons.com/2012/10/28/invasi ... on-siegel/

:-D :-D :-D :-D
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby Tanada » Mon 21 Sep 2015, 16:44:10

Sixstrings wrote:
First driverless pods to travel public roads arrive in the Netherlands

The WEpod will be the first self-driving electric shuttle to run in regular traffic, and take bookings via a dedicated app
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/11879182/First-driverless-pods-to-travel-public-roads-arrive-in-the-Netherlands.html


Definitely a wave of the future.

We'll be seeing this everywhere within the next ten years. Uber is already popular; driverless car taxis (pods) will exponentially increase convenience and efficiency and lower costs.

Everyone will have an app on their phone and just push the button and the EV pod picks you up, takes you where you want to go.


More technotopia. We can't even get streets pothole free around here and you are dreaming of eliminating all those big buses and their drivers. Where do you think the money for this huge technological restructuring is going to come from the Federal Reserve Fairy Godmother?
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby dohboi » Mon 21 Sep 2015, 16:52:09

Who is liable if a driverless vehicle hits or kills someone?
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby GHung » Mon 21 Sep 2015, 17:58:13

Six said: "Everyone will have an app on their phone..."

I don't have a cell/smart phone. I don't want a phone. I won't get a phone. What we need is an app to get people to stay the fuck at home or walk/ride bikes more. What we'll get is more of a clusterfuck world from people who want their planet and to eat it too.

BTW: Where will the phones and their components come from after China implodes? Where will anything come from?
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby Plantagenet » Mon 21 Sep 2015, 18:37:54

GHung wrote:Where will the phones and their components come from after China implodes? Where will anything come from?


The driverless pods come from the EU---they were funded by an EU-wide development program to produce a self-driving EV to replace cars.

6 is right----the Driverless pod being put on the roads in the Netherlands is a big deal. They've previously been used in Finland and Switzerland in limited tests, but for the first time they'll be used by the public. This is the vision that Google and Apple are pursuing here in the USA. Its interesting that the EU is ahead of the US on this particular technology.

These pods represent a more personalized vision of mass transit in the near future. Rather then having to go to a bus stop to catch a bus, when you call a pod on an ap---the bus comes to you.

Image
One way or the other driving is going to die out soon----either because of peak oil or because cars will be replaced with autonomous pods
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby dinopello » Mon 21 Sep 2015, 19:47:47

dohboi wrote:Who is liable if a driverless vehicle hits or kills someone?


The manufacturers will try to make the owner liable. The way they are attempting to introduce the driverless car is rolling out the automatic braking systems, blindspot warning systems and other 'safety' features but if you read the fine print, the driver is responsible.
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby Newfie » Mon 21 Sep 2015, 20:17:57

GHung wrote:Six said: "Everyone will have an app on their phone..."

I don't have a cell/smart phone. I don't want a phone. I won't get a phone. What we need is an app to get people to stay the fuck at home or walk/ride bikes more. What we'll get is more of a clusterfuck world from people who want their planet and to eat it too.

BTW: Where will the phones and their components come from after China implodes? Where will anything come from?


1+
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby Sixstrings » Mon 21 Sep 2015, 20:36:08

Tanada wrote:More technotopia. We can't even get streets pothole free around here and you are dreaming of eliminating all those big buses and their drivers. Where do you think the money for this huge technological restructuring is going to come from the Federal Reserve Fairy Godmother?


Odlly, while there doesn't seem to be any money to fix potholes, stock market investors have limitless cash for anything with a iphone app.

Uber is worth $50 billion.



Heck, I'm sure Uber will be the first to roll out the driverless pods.

Seriously folks, this is no joke, the "driverless car" stuff has been in steady development for years now. It's not just going to stop. This really is the future. Your own future personal vehicle, and the future of public transportation.

If one is concerned about the environment, then the EV driverless pods are a good idea.

The article I linked is about these things already being rolled out in the Netherlands, as public transport.

The money for this, from the market, is most definitely there. It's a refinement on the uber idea. The ride costs will be cheaper -- no human driver to pay. And vastly more efficient, since it's computer controlled and these pods will just be running all over town 24/7. You'll get picked up by a pod, then someone pushes the button on their app along the route, and your pod will stop and pick them up. All routed in the most efficient networked way, that a computer can do.

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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby GHung » Mon 21 Sep 2015, 20:50:09

Yeah, guys, well I'm thinking 'public transportation' for most of the world will look more like this:

Image

Considering the global nature of finance, manufacturing and supply chains, I would be surprised if humanity can keep its collective shit together enough to maintain the hyper-complex set of arrangements required to provide such an 'autonomous pod system' for even a few privileged societies and locations. Whatever resources economies can muster will likely be tasked with relieving other countries of whatever resources they have. Some of you seem to think this is going to be some kind of marvellous technological party. Overshoot ain't like that.
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby Sixstrings » Mon 21 Sep 2015, 20:59:08

GHung wrote:What we need is an app to get people to stay the fuck at home or walk/ride bikes more.


You're actually right about that, old bicycles and smaller-scale walkable / bikable towns would be best. Just for the exercise. Though bad weather is a problem, nobody wants to ride a bike in a tropical storm or 100 degree heat or a blizzard.

Bikes are a good idea but in a free country.. you can't stop people from buying ice cream if they want to eat ice cream. It's the nature of the market.

I think there's less car ownership, especially with the younger crowd, because people are poorer than they used to be and can't afford a darn car. Now, there's always been taxis -- but taxis are a bit overpriced and therefore limit their market potential.

And that's where uber stepped in.. undercutting taxis.. and add to that, the convenience of ordering your uber driver from your phone. For some reason, a lot of people that use uber would normally never call up a taxi company.

Uber alone is worth $50 billion. Who knew, there was so much money, in taxicab 2.0? 8O

Now enter the driverless car into the equation.. that will cut the ride cost by another 50%.

Driverless taxis will be more convenient and possibly cheaper, for some, than owning their own driverless car. It's the principle of distributed cost / shared use, and it makes it cheaper.

A certain percentage of people will still want their own cars, of course. Overall, the roads and highways will be FAR more efficient (computer driven cars), and nearly 100% safe (saving millions of lives per year), and better for the planet since fewer new roads and highways will need to be built (due to the enormous efficiency of computer-driven vehicles).
Last edited by Sixstrings on Mon 21 Sep 2015, 21:16:35, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby Sixstrings » Mon 21 Sep 2015, 21:11:46

Plantagenet wrote:These pods represent a more personalized vision of mass transit in the near future. Rather then having to go to a bus stop to catch a bus, when you call a pod on an ap---the bus comes to you.


Well said. Really, the idea is long overdue. There used to be this old "pod" ride at disney Epcot, was a vision of public transport in the future.

Little "driverless" EV pods running all over town like data packets in a computer network, remind me of that.

Image
("Peoplemover," Tomorowland Transit Authority)

So anyhow, why are some in this thread not happy with the idea? It's good for the planet (fewer roads), it's safer (will save millions of lives and injury from wrecks), it's essentially carpooling (isn't that what greens want?).

Other than eco issues, this would be great for the disabled and elderly, etc.

Who wants to call a darn taxi and pay $30 to get a mile down the road. Who wants to wait out in the hot sun for a bus and have it take two hours to get as far as 20 minutes by car.

The "driverless pods" solve all those problems.
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby Sixstrings » Mon 21 Sep 2015, 21:20:02

A few more pics of the WEpods:

Image
Image
Image
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby SeaGypsy » Mon 21 Sep 2015, 21:27:21

"The new-generation trucks are not remote controlled, they are truly autonomous.

They have seven in-built safety features which prevent them from colliding with other trucks, allowing them to operate alongside manned vehicles.

"It has a GPS and a number of scanners on the front of the machine, and a number of sensors on the machine itself," 


http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-2 ... wa/5412642
Last edited by SeaGypsy on Mon 21 Sep 2015, 21:29:46, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby GHung » Mon 21 Sep 2015, 21:28:51

Six: "So anyhow, why are some in this thread not happy with the idea?"

Whether or not we're happy with the idea is irrelevant. You either believe industrial societies will be forced to simplify due to resource restraints, environmental degradation, financial system implosion, etc., or you don't.

Cool idea though...
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby Apneaman » Tue 22 Sep 2015, 02:27:57

Dream, dream, dream, dream
Dream, dream, dream, dream

whenever it gets doomy
all corns have to do is dream


Dream, dream, dream, dream
Dream, dream, dream, dream
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby Newfie » Tue 22 Sep 2015, 20:33:59

I've spent 40 years working in public transit. I'm working on a people mover rehab right now, until I retire.

There is some almost sexual appeal in these silly technologies for some folks. Beyond reasoning. "Train buffs" "rail fans" "jolly trollies" "train chasers" call them what you will, they are fascinated beyond all reason with their particular fetish.

I suppose it's the same with planes and trucks and boats, etc.

To these folks I always ask .... "exactly what problem are you trying to solve?"

It would seem that this particular driverless vehicle solves a couple of problems
1. You don't have to provide parking
2. You don't have to maintain it
3. You don't have to worry about it

So it just appears and transports you and then disappears once again.

How wonderful.

How terribly green and sustainable!
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Re: Driverless public transport pods

Unread postby Sixstrings » Tue 22 Sep 2015, 22:05:40

Nice post, Newfie.

What's your favorite mode of transport?

Pesonally, I wish there were still steam locomotives around:

Image
Image

Driverless cars will be a massive innovation and change, for all of us.

I'm looking forward to it. I'm getting tired of dealing with traffic and driving, really. Sometimes I don't go somewhere, just because I don't want to deal with driving in all the traffic. But.. if I could just push the autopilot and take a nap or watch tv or read a book or waste time on this forum.. that would be nice. :lol:

With a driverless autopilot, I'd probably do more day trips, farther distance. It would be just so convenient, such a breeze, watch a movie and voila you're two hours away and relaxed when you get there and didn't even have to so much as fight to find a parking spot -- the computer did it all, for you.
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