[ExI] self driving cars

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of Kelly Anderson
...
>
>>... each occupant's time was more valuable than the fuel ...

It is now, ja.  May not be in the future.  I can imagine proles' time
becoming very plentiful and cheap in comparison to energy costs.

>...True. And in some cases, you'll want to ride alone...

I think in most cases you would want to ride alone.  Read on.

...

>> I guess you meant drawing as-needed from a 'pool' of cars.

>...I meant that too, but separately...

Ja and that was good thinking.  You can have pool cars, call-up, on-demand,
with seats like what you see on a speedboat:  vinyl ov closed-cell foam, so
the interiors of the cars can be hosed down (by robot) for cleaning.   You
know some drunken prole is going to barf in there, and she is going to be
copulating with her sweetheart.  We need to be able to wash the insides of
these cars regularly, probably daily.


>>... Mass transit is an equally poor name:  Are we hauling the masses as
figurative terminology for what spike calls proles...

I didn't make up the name, credit the brilliant George Orwell.

>...I assume you are familiar with the coffee house argument for why England
became an industrial superpower...

Don't know it.  Why?

>... What if car pools became that kind of social force? Design self driving
cars with a round table around which people sit...-Kelly

Hmmm, possibly for some purposes but remember that cars in the US can only
be 8 ft wide.  I had in mind single ape-haulers which are very close to the
ground (enabled by resurfacing of current roads) and with a low roof.
Reasoning: most fuel is burned pushing air out of the way.  In that regard,
air resistance is proportional to frontal area, whereas length is almost
free, and even that is an understatement: a longer vehicle can have a lower
drag coefficient if it is designed right.  So imagine ape haulers that are
long, low and narrow.  Of course these will not fly if human operated: the
wheelbase makes them unpleasant handlers.  But the software wouldn't care
about that.

One other thing that may be consistently underestimated: the value of one
prole one car, for both privacy and security purposes.  Mister Lincoln has a
roomy center console at my right hand: the bad guy doesn't know what caliber
persuasion I keep in there, and the local constabulary never ask either.
The bad guy doesn't need to know; let him speculate and bet his damn life on
a correct guess.  One of the biggest problems with mass transit is that it
affords fewer opportunities to have instant access to our good friends Mr.
Smith and Mr. Wesson.  Think that over carefully, it is important now and
may become more so in the future.

spike