Yes. When I go to San Antonio on weekends, it is a 3 hr trip at 70-75mph for most of it. When there is a wreck or some stall issue on the interstate, I can end up sitting there for an hour. I’s possibly be stuck.
Also, while I own it - I live in an apartment - and so does my girlfriend. I park in a normal parking lot - not a garage. It would be difficult to figure out how to charge it.
There are also no charging stations in College Station, TX - except for ones at a handful of hotels. And, they are just for people staying at that hotel.
Thanks for the suggestion, though.
Admittedly -it would be nice to put an end to oil changes, and all the various fluid changes. But, I drive a Nissan Sentra. I don’t spend a ton on a vehicle because I do so much driving. It’s not going to last any longer. With the extra cost that an electric car costs up front - it is just too much to justify right now.
I just noticed my Lexus RX350 2007 gets 350 miles per fillup. That is close to the distance on a 100% Tesla. Now that they are predicting 70% charge in less than 30 minutes, I think the transition to Tesla Model 3 is in my future.
Do you think that lidar and some of these other systems that they are trying to use for auto pilot could be used to give feedback to visually impaired to help them drive but let the human make the decisions
I have been thinking about this for a while I am visually impaired what about using self-driving technology to provide relevant feedback and information to the drive but the driver is making the decision maker
That’s how I’d want it to be as a sighted driver, anyway. I wouldn’t want the car to have complete control, but I’d want it to act for me in cases of emergency. Or in certain cases, such as parallel parking, lane changing or city driving.
I am talking about the information from the self driving system being able to be given to the driver in an audio fashion there is a n object crossing your path 100 feet ahead the visually impaired driver then takes the correct actions to slow or stop the car. as a visually disabled person I don’t want the car making the decisions for me I want it to give me the information my eyes can’t process creating a safe way for me to learn to drive and be as normal as possible.
Unfortunately, I don’t think this is a viable idea. For a fully automated driving system, you have to have what’s known as fail-operational capability. If a fault is detected such a bad sensor or even a computer failure, there have to be redundancies that allow the system to keep functioning without human intervention to get the vehicle to a minimum risk condition (that is to bring it to a safe stop).
What you are proposing would be an assist system which must be fail-safe. If a problem occurs the system needs to detect it and alert the driver before disabling the system. At that point, the driver takes over. In an assist system (including systems like AutoPilot or Super Cruise) the human driver is ultimately responsible for safe operation of the vehicle. If a person’s vision is impaired to the point where they can’t safely operate the vehicle without the assistance system (that is anything beyond requiring eye glasses), they probably shouldn’t be in control of the vehicle.
This is exactly what advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) do. Systems like anti-lock brakes, stability control and lane keeping assist are all designed to detect when you are exceeding some physical limit and intervene to help keep you safe. Toyota has been working on a next generation assist system called guardian. Using tech and software from their automated driving system to provide envelope protection. If the car is on the verge of losing control, it comes in to provide a helping hand.
Hi Sam! Have you (or anyone reading) had experience selling/buying on auction sites such as bringatrailer.com? I’ve always enjoyed following listings on there, and I’m thinking about listing my car. I’ve bought/sold at local auctions before but never an online one. If anyone has experience I’d appreciate your insight.
Hi @knewman, I haven’t personally bought or sold any cars online, although I have listed cars for sale on craigslist. Several friends I know have bought and sold cars on bringatrailer and not had any issues with it. The prices for vehicles tend a be a bit elevated on bring a trailer which sucks if you are trying to buy, great if you’re selling.
@MacPhyle, there are some vehicles that enable auto lane changing including the second generation Cadillac Super Cruise that is launching this fall and Mercedes-Benz intelligent drive. These systems don’t initiate the lane change, the driver does that by tapping the turn signal stalk and then when the sensors detect its clear, the vehicle will steer itself into the adjacent lane.
Tesla has this as well as fully automatic lane changes that the car can decide to do. You can either let the car go by itself or require confirmation before it changes lanes. It’s generally not recommended to let it go without confirmation because the system is very inconsistent and often goes when it’s not all clear.
@lltcna, unfortunately, current perception systems aren’t really reliable enough to be relied on for such a system to work safely. I definitely understand why you would want such capability but if the sensors can’t reliably detect and more importantly predict what other road users are going to do for an automated system, they aren’t likely to be safe enough to alert a visually impaired driver. Providing indepence through mobility is one of the motivations to develop automated driving so that everyone can get around on their own. But we aren’t there yet.
There is also the challenge of designing a reliable UI for how to communicate this information to the driver in a timely manner. With so many road users around, especially in an urban environment, an audible system would quickly become overwhelming.
Looking at Forbes now. Thanks!