I am currently at the tail end of a 3 week trip from Amsterdam to Lisbon, all via train. It is fucking awesome. Not to mention that as a tourist you can use the public transportation in various cities for free. Europe has it figured out.
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What is the “self-driving car problem” that the comment refers to?
That we still haven’t managed to build one? The current ones are all considerd level 2 autonomy, level 5 being a fully self driving car
I think the problem is that self driving cars suck
In that they can’t self-drive yes
Techbros really going beyond to invent shittier less efficient trains.
They insist on recreating everything in modern society from first principles, rather than just learning from the past.
They can’t just accept that X is a bad idea, and we know this because we fucking tried it several times. That’s why we do Y, even though it might seem counterintuitive. They just need to go through it themselves, and fuck the people whose lives are ruined in the process. Collateral damage. To learn something that we already fucking know and have been telling them
This is what I bring up with a coworker all the time as to why education is so important. Knowing the mistakes and pitfalls from the road to get to where we are right now is important so you don’t waste time trying to reinvent the wheel. Also it helps when you look at a problem and think “The solution is SO obvious! Just X!”. After education you tend to think “There’s probably a good reason we don’t ‘Just X!’, I just am unaware of it.”. Though you srill need to do your due diligence and research.
That said, there are always ideas that weren’t feasible at the time, or some breakthrough that they never thought of in the past that could make something relevant.
There was talk of embedding sensors in the roads that the auto-driving cars could track… Like Bots’ Dots but with RFID tags in them… I figure that would be a maintenance nightmore though…
you could also maybe make the cars scan street signs to tell their current location? these street signs largely already exist as human drivers have to read them too. maybe add a QR code for easier readability and extra data.
Character recognition takes a LOT more processing power than reading an RFID tag.
But cars already do that, for speed limit signs and such
Not really. Most of the cars that display speed limits do it by retrieving data from an online source. I don’t think any of them actually read signs actually.
A 5 sec google search: the ford fiesta manual says snow/rain covering the sensor under the windshield might make it miss signs.
Interesting. Well that’s terrifying. A little spray point and I can make an 85 mile an hour zone!
? The driver is in charge of driving, the assistant is just that
hence the QR code suggestion, it also wouldn’t depend on rfid tags embedded in the road surface that would get worn and damaged and needs replacement way more frequently than a sign with a QR code.
RFID tags seems like an odd choice. They have such a limited range. It feels like there would be a material that is extra easy for sensors to detect, and could maybe carry a small amount of information.
It feels like there would be a material that is extra easy for sensors to detect, and could maybe carry a small amount of information.
Yes like an rfid tag for example
They have such a limited range
How far is your truck lifted that you couldn’t read the tags in the road anymore?
Probably, but really when it comes to driving there just needs to be an encoded lcoation in it… Hell three-words is all you need to mark any spot on the map to within 10’…
and what they really need is enough range to detect the last one, the closest one, and the next one…
There are a lot of ways to do it…Cameras and GPS are not it… I won’t go near any of the current incarnation of “Self Driving” pieces of shit… 40 years in IT and I know enough about computers that I don’t want one making real decisions for me.
They just keep reinventing trains except shittier.
why would an individual car “train” that can go anywhere (eg. train tracks on all roads for self driving cars) be shitter than a train that has limited availability and is extremely restrictive in where it can go?
Because you have to pay a good chunk of a year’s salary for one, store it around your house somewhere, and then when you finally do get to use it, there are a million other people with the same idea and you have to compete just for space in which to use it.
And that’s before you get to all the maintenance the government has to spend on the paths (and make you pay tax for all that). Oh, and it’s incredibly dangerous, so dangerous that it’s one of the leading causes of death in the US.
We are talking about an equivalent ‘pod/train car’, not a car but I’ll bite anyway
Have you ever been on a train? It sucks, a bus 10000% more, buses fuckin suck so much, I’m sorry for you to hear this in the echo chamber which features ‘fuck cars’.
Like I said, trains and buses have 2 big negatives:
limited availability and is extremely restrictive in where it can go
Trains especially so, my local train would be a 20-30 minute walk away and it goes far south and to the city, if i don’t want to go to either of those I’m in for a 5 hour marathon of a trip at best
But we should invest more in trains you might be saying, and again the question goes back to, why would a train be better than a pod/car that can roll around on train tracks
This whole thread took the original meaning and warped it into a circle jerk about trains which is not what the OP was saying
Have you ever been on a train? It sucks, a bus 10000% more, buses fuckin suck so much, I’m sorry for you to hear this in the echo chamber which features ‘fuck cars’.
Have you?
Trains and buses, when funded, are fine. Millions of people take them every day.
I work from home but I used to daily commute by train. Walk to station. Wait a few minutes. Get on. Arrive at destination. I read so many books and finished so many games.
Have you?
sadly yes
https://translink.com.au/service-updates/june-july-26
and as mentioned I need my car to get there:
Trains especially so, my local train would be a 20-30 minute walk away and it goes far south and to the city, if i don’t want to go to either of those I’m in for a 5 hour marathon of a trip at best
That’s not a general problem with trains that proves they suck. The suck is places have been built out for cars with other modes as after thoughts.
I live somewhere with much better train and bus coverage, and it makes it easier than driving for the vast majority of trips.
The day to day suffering is because of cars. So fuck cars. Fuck the culture that made them primary.
Sure badly built or unprioritized public transit infrastructure might suck, but busses and trains sure are amazing when prioritised, built correctly.
Many European cities combine well functioning train, bus and cycle infrastructure, which together makes it possible to go anywhere at any time for cheap.
I think it really just comes down to prioritizing to develop the infrastructure (costs money and requires political will to move away from car based infrastructure).
Also I don’t think a pod system would solve any of the problems of either cars or trains/busses and would be much more expensive…
can you name all these European cities combining well functioning train, bus and cycle infrastructure outside of the netherlands? (where the average person/household does not have a car as they don’t need it)
Trains don’t rule that much when they lose power in a 40 degree heat which is happening all over Europe right now.
Trains don’t have a higher failure rate than car infrastructure. Most of the rail infrastructure works just fine, at 40C. Occasionally something can get damaged. Aviation is much more fragile regarding weather but interestingly doesn’t get all that heat from transit haters and cars are way more dangerous and on top of that can overheat at extreme temperatures.
Yes, most of it works fine but when it doesn’t:
- the AC stops working, the windows don’t open and it gets real hot real fast
- unless it’s some extreme situation they will not let you leave the train
- you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no infrastructure in sight
- it’s really hard to get you to alternative transport
- fixing the issue can take hours
With a car:
- you can get outside
- you will have to wait 30-60 minutes to get towed
You see multiple news every day about trains in Spain,Poland or Germany with broken AC or just completely failing between stations.
They usually advise you not to get out of your car for the exact reason they advise you not to get off the train.
I’m not sure what’s exclusive to trains about breaking down in the middle of nowhere. It’s not exactly trivial to get a replacement car either, nor is repair somehow instant.
I get what you’re saying, but it’s way less one sided than you’re trying to convey. My car once broke down on the freeway in a city. I had to wait more than an hour for a tow and then walk home, which took two hours. Had to get random coworkers or friends to take me to work while my car was repaired over the next two weeks.
Oh, and traffic jams are routine for cars.
Nothing is gained by pretending there’s no downsides to any mode of transportation. They all have them. In aggregate though, most people would be better off if we had more available than just “car”.
I’m not comparing the inconvenience of both situation from the breakdown to the cost of repair.
I’m talking specifically about getting stuck in train on a hot day. Is that really so difficult to understand?
Have you ever seen red heat alert advisory telling people to drive only if necessary and take precautions? I haven’t. Why do you think they issue those for trains but not cars?
https://www.gbnews.com/lifestyle/cars/weather-air-con-postpone-car-journeys-warning
It adds: “Give yourself the best chance of avoiding delays by checking road conditions if driving, or bus and train timetables, amending your travel plans if necessary.”
This has been echoed by the RAC, which explained that red extreme heat warnings are incredibly rare, and called on Britons to take them seriously.
Data from the organisation states that breakdown volumes are expected to be around 20 per cent higher today than what’s normal for a Monday in late June.
I literally just searched for it and trivially found them.
They’re specifically saying vehicles without air conditioning, while also discussing worsening road conditions, increased risk of breakdown, and a general need to limit travel.
They issue the warnings for trains and not cars because train rails expand in the heat, meaning service cancellation is more likely and deferring optional travel reduces stress on the system.
Any time there is stress on a transit system they advise people to skip using it if necessary.Your position is not hard to understand. It’s just one-sided because you’re only considering the downsides of one method, and not considering what the same situation looks like for the other.