On Feb 16, 1:29=A0pm, "Mike Schilling" <mscottschill...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
> Keith F. Lynch wrote:
> > <Willie.Moo...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >> Matthias Warkus <War...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >>> Note this has been said about the last two generations already.
> >>> "Generation X" came out in 1989, after all.
>
> >> The shooter was of those generations.
>
> > The only noteworthy thing about this latest shooting is how much
> > news
> > coverage it and similar shootings get. =A0About the same number of
> > Americans are killed by cars in the average *hour*, and nobody
> > carries
> > on about that.
>
> Yup, nobody cares, which is why seatbelts and airbags are mandatory,
> and drunk driving has become a more and more serious crime
Cars that drive themselves would make all that moot. Ford developed a
car in the 1950s that followed a wire in the roadway, and had radar
braking. You'd get in dial a number and a series of cogs would change
the frequency of the wire pickup. Each wire had a different
frequency. So, by changing frequencies at an intersection you could
get cars to turn and so forth. Amplitude gave you speed. So, each
street would have its own speed. It was eerie to see a car execute a
perfect turn and accelerate and stop. Odometers attached to
mechanical computers would calculate street address. You'd hop in,
dial the rotary telephone dial - and push go. Marketers came up with
the idea of a bar inside the car so you could enjoy drinks with your
friends.
These never got beyond the test track, but they appeared to be
doable.
What Ford found though when they did market studies was that car sales
would plummet along with profits. Why? Because personal buyers
would more than likely disappear as they went to high quality taxi
services that didn't have to pay drivers, and they'd have a large
number of high quality cars sitting around available at little over
cost.. Fleet buyers would dominate and about 1/4 the number of autos
would be sold. It would end congestion, and be more efficient - but
it would kill the auto-industry. So, you don't see it.
Yep, when I was a kid going to the auto-shows in the 1950s I thought
the atomic powered driverless car was just around the corner. By 1970
I wouldn't have a car payment, I'd have a taxi service payment - sort
of like netjets is for jets - signaled with a radio-telephone in
seconds.
It'd kill the motel business too. You'd get a Winnebago for cross
country trips and sleep on board as you travelled through the night.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Nucleon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driverless_car
It says here that 1977 was the start of the driverless car. I guess
that's because Ford's vision in the 1950s was to put tracking wires
into the roadway - which means its a tracked vehicle...
If gasoline is $10 per gallon car sales will plummet anyway, and
efficiencies will be demanded for people to continue using personal
transport rather than public transport - so, that will change the
situation by 2020 - still, it would have been cool to see those things
come to fruition in the 1960s and 70s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Turbine_Car
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