
Renault-Nissan lays out plans for electric and autonomous vehicles - crocal
https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/15/renault-nissan-lays-out-plans-for-12-new-evs-and-robo-global-ride-hailing-service/
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cinquemb
> _The company provided few details of how it plans to get to its end points:
> no information about what tech they would use for these self-driving cars,
> and whether or how they would work with partners or if they planned to build
> everything from the ground up._

> _Nor did they give any information about the progress of these common
> platforms for building electric vehicles — although they noted that they had
> sold some 500,000 EV’s all in across the group to date — still just a drop
> in the ocean of the multiple millions sold by the three, and the tens of
> millions of cars that are sold across the whole industry._

> _The group was also thin on specifics when it came to its plan for
> transportation services offered alongside their vehicles._

What is there to even talk about here?

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jakeogh
How about the massive opportunity for surveillance? Roving robo-cop cars on
dual-use contracts, parking, observing, instantly connecting to a remote
operator when a violation is detected. Easily reduces the requirements to be a
police officer to somewhere near "can you stare at a computer screen?". In
places where the "speed cams" went down in flames (~70% of the vote against
where I live) I'm more optimistic the people wont tolerate it, but god help
the nanny states. Just to be clear, I sincerely appreciate the dedicated and
excellent police out there, many of them share my views on the "speed cams",
robo-cops etc.

~~~
cinquemb
Will state actors abuse their ability to tap providers on their shoulder and
siphon the data? Yes

Will consumers use such technology increasingly more, esp as cost and
availability of it increases? Yes.

Will non state actors have eve more ability to use/exploit such tech for their
own purposes? Yes.

What people will do combat such? Who knows, though I know showing up to a
voting booth wont change much in the scheme of things…

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siculars
When demand for oil peaks what happens to all the people - and countries -
that dpened on oil maintaining a certain price per barrel. What is the new
source of demand for oil that replaces internals combustion engines in
millions of cars?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it... just like thinking about those
ramifications.

~~~
lefstathiou
If history is any indicator, it is going to get very ugly. Between this, AI,
process automation etc I am not convinced societies will gracefully migrate to
a social state everywhere which then leads me to believe that population
control will start to get enacted (ie in 60 years people may need a license to
have a child) among one of many potential outcomes.

~~~
QAPereo
Ugly is probably a massive understatement, given the state of that region know
when they are practically rolling in money. I think you can probably expect
the next couple of decades to look like a fairly precipitous decline, followed
by a stupendous explosion.

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dmitriid
No one wants to be left behind. Even if they had no plans they don't want to
be seen as not keeping up after recent announcements from Mercedes, VW, Volvo
etc.

~~~
asciimo
Yes, the commitment to electric (and hybrid) technology seems to be spreading
very quickly since Volvo's announcement in July. It feels like it has taken
forever for electric vehicles to catch on, and suddenly they're on the verge
of mainstream.

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kartan
If they and other companies succed the number of jobs disappearing is going to
be massive. Technologically we are almost there, but socially just a few see
this coming, and we are not prepared.

~~~
henvic
You are short-sighted. Would you say the same about the telecommunication
industry? Would you say the same about computers (machine), because computers
(people) lost their jobs?

I recommend you to read Bastiat's famous Candlestick makers' Petition.

[http://bastiat.org/en/petition.html](http://bastiat.org/en/petition.html)
[https://fee.org/articles/the-candlemakers-
petition/](https://fee.org/articles/the-candlemakers-petition/)

~~~
toomuchtodo
> You are short-sighted. Would you say the same about the telecommunication
> industry? Would you say the same about computers (machine), because
> computers (people) lost their jobs?

I'd say the same about globalization, which is just as powerful as a force as
technology advancement; globalization which has driven populist policies and
candidates into office.

At what point did the guillotines come out in France?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution)

Displace too many jobs at once, be prepared for revolution if you have not put
social policies in place to provide a soft landing for those displaced.

EDIT: This is not meant to be inflammatory or political, simply factual. When
inequality reaches a tipping point, revolution and violence is inevitable.

[http://news.stanford.edu/2017/01/24/stanford-historian-
uncov...](http://news.stanford.edu/2017/01/24/stanford-historian-uncovers-
grim-correlation-violence-inequality-millennia/)

~~~
cinquemb
> _This is not meant to be inflammatory or political, simply factual. When
> inequality reaches a tipping point, revolution and violence is inevitable._

Don't disagree at all, but if people are coordinating their revolutionary
activities with any of the technology that they couldn't learn to leverage to
empower themselves when this time comes, I foresee more metadata drone strikes
at wedding parties outside of the ME, with a lot less casualties defined as
collateral damage, powered by a industry that prefers profits from wars when
they have indefinite timelines…

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wry_discontent
I barely trust most car companies to build a radio. What makes them think I
will trust them to build an autonomous car?

~~~
spiderfarmer
There never was a roadmap for building that radio.

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tryingagainbro
Will a dozen++ automakers license the autonomous versions of "android" or
"iOS" /Windows /Unix or have their own solutions? Gazillion dollar question.

