
Automated Cars Will Redefine "Home" – Driverless Cars (Part 4/6) - SeerWS
http://www.seer.ws/automated-cars-will-redefine-home-driverless-cars
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Zigurd
I was looking at Google Maps the other day and mistakenly asked for the
driving directions from Massachusetts to Taos, New Mexico. Absurd! It would
take four days, at least!

But not if your automated car can drive straight through: It would take a day
and an half. Four fueling stops. That's enough not to need the loo built-in.
With two passengers, the economics are compelling.

Airlines better figure out a way to reduce the overhead around air travel or
they are toast.

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mseebach
It's hardly the overhead around air travel that's going to disuade you from
flying. It's still 4-5 hours+overhead vs. 36 hours.

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Zigurd
It's a three hour drive to Taos from ABQ. Depending on where you start, there
are no direct flights to ABQ. Flight schedules often require traveling during
the day, and when you can travel at night, a seat that's comfortable enough
for a good night's sleep is expensive. I have experienced two hour delays at
the car rental desk at ABQ. There are many places where air travel is long and
inconvenient.

The US has poor rail connections from airports. Airport security adds
uncertainty to making one's flight and making international to internal
connections. Airlines have cut their redundancy to the bone, so cancellations
and missed connections can turn into an extra day of travel, rather than just
a changed flight.

Of course, I hadn't considered stepping out of the terminal at ABQ and into a
robo-chauffeured rental that arrives precisely when I'm ready to go. So
perhaps the drive at the end of a long day of air travel turns into a restful
nap.

Still, being able to travel privately, quietly, directly, and whenever in the
day makes it most convenient makes elapsed-time comparisons not always valid:
Any distance where you could step into a robo-car in the evening and wake up
at your destination would become tough for airlines to claim greater
practicality, never mind comfort.

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mseebach
> Any distance where you could step into a robo-car in the evening and wake up
> at your destination would become tough for airlines to claim greater
> practicality, never mind comfort.

Now, that I agree 100% with.

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nextstep
Yeah, I don't think this will happen. Why is this different than current
mobile homes? Why don't "20-something's and college students" widely adopt
mobile homes? Because they're inefficient and you don't need to bring all of
your stuff with you everywhere.

This won't change just by making mobile homes autonomous. It will still be
cheaper to have a stationary home and a cheap car, autonomous or not.

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nordsieck
I think for most people this will be true, but with an truly autonomous car,
it would be possible to construct a sort of "capsule hotel" on wheels. For a
certain class of people that is an attractive value proposition.

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mseebach
A mobile home _is_ a sort of capsule hotel on wheel - and you can own one
_right now_. Why does the driver-less part change the value proposition so
much?

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lotyrin
Precisely. Lugging around all the amenities from the article has a huge fuel
cost, and they don't compare to the quality of their stationary counterparts.

I feel like the OP article's "futurist" has a decent grasp on HOW, but
completely disregards WHY.

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mseebach
This seems unlikely. Why would living out of your driver-less car be
significantly different from living out of your regular car?

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randomdata
I can see driverless cars being designed for more household-like activities,
as many will want to travel while they sleep, etc. Whether or not that prompts
many to abandon their homes remains to be seen, but the changes could make it
a more comfortable living space than a car of current design.

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mseebach
A driverless car still has to obey the laws of physics - it has to be
aerodynamic. Sure, the interior of the car will change, but compare with other
modes of transport that you can be on without driving: fights, trains, busses,
even being a passenger in a car. I don't think it's a coincidence that in all
of them, you're sitting or lying still in varying degrees of comfort, while
working and/or being entertained.

Also, there an elephant in the room: The RV. It's great for road-trip
holidaying, but not practical for living. I don't see how driver-less-ness
changes that value-proposition drastically - although a road trip holiday with
most of the driving done at night, while you're sleeping, could be awesome.

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SeerWS
The next article mentions aerodynamics - shear force drag, pressure drag - as
well as something called vactrains which may get us going really fast.

Thanks for discussing, everyone.

