It seems always that CA is the instigator in all things so called 'environmental'. Well, we started this high speed train thing supposedly from L.A. to S.F. Maybe by way of Sacramento, IDK. I've always wondered about distinct destinations like that. It is what is wrong with mass transit in L.A. to start with. One simply cannot move people efficiently with them going helter skelter all over the place. This ain't NYC.

I won't wander off the track anymore. My point was about the train, we don't know when to fold.

“There is no such thing as free money.”

“Countries go to war over it- we NEED oil, and we have a lot of it underneath us.”

There you go, from right here in PPOT. I rest my case. :cool:

What's the problem with taxis driven by people?

I'll be 74 in a few weeks. 75 is pushing it for not being able to drive. 80 - we'll see.

exactly!

California does a lot of stupid, unconstitutional things, and they do it using my tax dollars.

California is a trendsetter, hence everyone should be concerned.

You know, we need to give yet another industry to the Chinese.

No, it isn't pharmaceuticals I'm talking about.

rjp

Looks like Kia will have EVs as low as $15K in some markets. https://electrek.co/2024/04/19/kias-15000-ev2-caught-in-wild-most-affordable-ev-video/

Cars are mere appliances for 90% of people. A cheap EV that never needs maintenance and moves you from A to B and can easily handle the average round trip commute of 42 miles . . .

True. But 50% of those were sold in Irelands capital city Dublin, which has 25% of the country’s population and a small but growing charging infrastructure. The remainder of the country has relatively few electric cars per capita. There are also gov’t incentives to buy fully electric and that will skew the numbers as long as the incentives last.

My thoughts as well. 78 1/2 here and I drive well enough. I know my attention, eyesight and reactions are not the same as they once were. But I have confidence and no accidents or close calls. I'd likely take someone up on an offer to drive at the track at a HPDE, but I'd not be hangin' it out.

I always liked the rhythm of 8 to 9/10ths driving anyway. Much more enjoyable, a little easier on the car and probably safer. Although anything can happen.

While on the subject of older folks driving, it came to my attention today that we are not the problem. We don't talk on the phone, text or mess with the screen/entertainment crap. We just drive. Now attentively more than ever.

Bloomberg reporting, citing analysts, that Tesla's price cuts in China may bring its China profit margin to zero or worse. Tesla's share in China was less than 7% in 4Q23. Chinese EV makers are again cutting prices in response to Tesla.

I wonder if Musk might end up supporting protectionist barriers against Chinese EVs in non-China markets.

huh, took someone to the airport in my miata for a week long trip just this morning.

are you running a bus service? do you really NEED to take 7 people with gear to the airport every day, and need to have every car in your entire fleet have this capability every monring?

also, how would that taxi service not be the perfect application for EVs, LOL

i call this argument the argument from practicality to an impractical level. like its ****ing dumb to think that everyone, always, every day, needs to have a car that take take a family of 7 camping, in the snow, on a whim, with no prep, all the time. like, dumbest argument ever. it is 100% more impractical to think that everyone needs such capability, and as it is to just drive a small sports car 90+ percent of the time.

im glad you can admit that government just picked oil and gas and subsidized them their entire dominate period and thats why it "works"

so, i mean, sorry. you are just mad that government is helping another technology become the next dominate one.

but those are your feelings. and public policy doesnt depend on your feelings. they are for you to deal with.

At one point, there was a dream that robodrivers would make taxis so ubiquitous and cheap that many city-dwellers could do like Manhattanites and not own a car at all - just get around by cab. When Uber was inexpensive, that seemed plausible - if a robotaxi ride was a quarter the price of a human Uber ride, that's so cheap that why bother driving oneself? Now Uber is rather costly and robotaxis are looking very difficult and expensive. I know, Tesla has been promising Full Self Driving for many years, even claimed you would be able to make money using your Tesla as a robotoaxi when you didn't need it, and now says its robotaxi will be unveiled in August, for real this time. Oh, and it turns out most Manhattanites get around by subway.

about what?

that family grocery getters never have to go to the gas station and do 0-60 in under 4 seconds, for a reasonable amount of money?

like what is there to be mad about?

if you want to go the gas station every few days, just hang out, smell the fumes, buy some iciees ... no one is stopping you. im sure the clerk would even take your 60 dollars too. its weird to fetishize big gulps, but ive never been one to kink shame before.

techbros trying to reinvent trains.

Cost. Nothing with a driver will compete with robo-car. This is Uber taken to the next level. No driver, super low transportation cost, no human involved, aside from the passenger.

Additionally, there is a real market for seniors to own a robo-car.

Driving risk is an inverted bell curve. Very high at the low and the high end. You can reduce the risk at both ends, but it's still there. Reduced reflex speed, cognitive problems, reduced vision, etc. In ten years or so you will want/use a robo-car. Maybe.

When I was in Arizona this past January they had a ride share service with self driving cars called Waymo.
They use a Jaguar and, not sure if they’re electric.

GF had been in her friend's Tesla Model 3 and said we (she means me buy it) should get one.

I said "Sure, but I need one with a manual gearbox for towing the trailer." She came back later and said "Ha ha, aren't you funny." but didn't seem that happy about it. It's pointless trying to please some people.

The US taxis I’ve used with human drivers were like dumpsters on wheels. I cannot imagine what people will do to a totally unattended car. I suppose a user can report a car and it would return to some maintenance area where the garbage/vomit/dead bodies can be removed.
We have community recycling bins that are clearly marked as such with placards showing what is acceptable. People still throw trash and garbage in them.

I like the concept and I hope it could be made to work, but I’d give an robotaxi a week before it’s a vandalized, graffiti covered dumpster on wheels full of garbage, used tires, and broken concrete. Our society is too selfish and undisciplined to be trusted with anything nice.

Good point but so far the so called ride share companies have done a pretty good job of having clean cars through customer feedback or the threat of it.
The Waymo cars have enough cameras and recorders in them that the bad customers in theory could be easily dealt with. I was in one that the previous rider had left their phone in. Pushed the support button on the screen, talked to someone and they had the car return itself to the barn after our ride to retrieve it.

So, they have your credit card, they have cameras in the robo-taxi...hmmm. I think they can solve the problem.