Relax.Nubo wrote:
You can have my steering wheel when you pry it from my cold, dead hands....
You will still have a choice. It's just that your insurance premiums may skyrocket if you choose to drive old-school, which actuaries will no doubt determine to be a high risk factor compared to automated navigation.edatoakrun wrote:Relax.Nubo wrote:
You can have my steering wheel when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
I'm sure your vehicle will still be equipped with all that is necessary to keep you happy...
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41QE-tRzLYL.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It is annoying. But I've realized that if I can overcome the annoyance factor, the zombie may be doing me a favor: creating a buffer between my LEAF and even more serious problem drivers, those who race up behind vehicles in the slow lane at dangerous speeds, brake abruptly and pass, impatiently and suddenly, without carefully assessing the traffic conditions.edatoakrun wrote: ...Nothing worse than when a vehicle slows down behind you, then goes into zombie mode, and continues to tailgate no matter how slowly (or fast) you drive, presenting a "rolling roadblock" to all other vehicles behind them.
+1 I read that the NMC batteries have better temperature performance. I wonder if it will be good enough for phoenix 120 degree weather.GeekEV wrote:Let's get the current issues under control first...
http://www.torquenews.com/1083/nissan-h ... t-sessions" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;Nissan helping organize autonomous vehicle meet up sessions
Nissan’s goal is to be part of the fast growing trend of making vehicles autonomous. NHTSA recently stepped up to help the discussion by providing levels of automation so that vehicles that are being released to the market now can at least be categorized. For example, the current BMW X5 was recently released and it can basically drive itself in traffic. Coming Cadillac models can do the same thing, but on highways. Volvo now has technology that allows drivers to exit their vehicle, and the vehicle will then park, eliminating valets, but also making it possible to extend that vision to include cars that go searching for spots in public areas as well. It will not be long before one vehicle with all these technologies is available for sale.
Nissan's Driving Innovation discussion groups have a meet up like structure and will also be available in podcast form. The goal is to be part of the growing autonomous vehicle world...
Nissan is moving into the Silicon Valley community to try to keep current with autonomous vehicle development and build partnerships with the companies and the community that will make them a reality. To keep the dialogue moving forward Nissan is hosting and attending Meet Ups every other month. It will also post a podcast for those who could not make the meeting, and the general public is welcome to view it as well...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 74116.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;Daddy, What Was a Truck Driver?
Over the Next Two Decades, the Machines Themselves Will Take Over the Driving.
And then one day, man went the way of the mule.
Some 5.7 million Americans are licensed as professional drivers, steering the country's vast fleets of delivery vans, UPS trucks and tractor-trailers.
Over the next two decades, the driving will slowly be taken on by the machines themselves. Drones. Robots. Autonomous trucks. It's already happening in a barren stretch in Australia, where Caterpillar Inc. CAT +2.62%will have 45 self-directed, 240-ton mining trucks maneuvering at an iron-ore mine.
Most of the hubbub around autonomous technology has focused on passenger vehicles, notably Google's GOOG +0.69%promotional wonder, the Google Car. Ford Motor Co. F +4.31%Chairman Bill Ford Jr. says self-driving cars will hit roads by 2025. But commercial uses are where the real money and action lie: rewiring a massive part of the U.S. economy while removing tens of billions in costs from a commercial fleet that today numbers 253 million trucks.
Ubiquitous, autonomous trucks are "close to inevitable," says Ted Scott, director of engineering and safety policy for the American Trucking Associations. "We are going to have a driverless truck because there will be money in it," adds James Barrett, president of 105-rig Road Scholar Transport Inc. in Scranton, Pa.
Economic theory holds that such basic changes will, over time, improve standards of living by making us more productive and less wasteful. An idle truck with a sleeping driver is, after all, just a depreciating asset.
But watching a half-decade of lagging U.S. employment, it's hard not to feel a swell of fear for those 5.7 million people, a last bastion of decent blue-collar pay.
A world without truck drivers may eventually be a better one. But for whom?
At least better for trucking-company owners, who today grapple with driver shortages of as much as 15%, in addition to perennial hassles of fuel costs, regulations and crummy margins. "Holy s—," exclaims Kevin Mullen, the safety director at ADS Logistics Co., a 300-truck firm in Chesterton, Ind. "If I didn't have to deal with drivers, and I could just program a truck and send it?"
Roughly speaking, a full-time driver with benefits will cost $65,000 to $100,000 or more a year. Even if the costs of automating a truck were an additional $400,000, most owners would leap at the chance, they say.
"There would be no workers' compensation, no payroll tax, no health-care benefits. You keep going down the checklist and it becomes pretty cheap," ...
I wonder if inductive charging will actually be that useful in ~20 years.DaveinOlyWA wrote:...I guess those inductive charging stations need to be available
how can a physical plug provide maximum commonality unless the car manufacturer is willing to comply?edatoakrun wrote:I wonder if inductive charging will actually be that useful in ~20 years...DaveinOlyWA wrote:...I guess those inductive charging stations need to be available
...Minimum cost, weight, and complexity imposed on the BEV.
Maximum commonality of charger standards.
And no opportunity for the humans to screw up, by misusing, breaking, ICEing, PHEVing, or BEVing the chargers.
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. announced that the company will be ready with multiple, commercially-viable autonomous drive (AD) vehicles by 2020. Nissan said that its engineers have been carrying out intensive research on the technology for years, alongside teams from universities including MIT, Stanford, Oxford, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Tokyo.
Work is already underway in Japan to build a dedicated autonomous driving proving ground, to be completed by the end of fiscal year 2014. Nissan says that its autonomous driving will be achieved at realistic prices for consumers. The goal is availability across the model range within two vehicle generations after introduction.
In 2007 I pledged that—by 2010—Nissan would mass-market a zero-emission vehicle. Today, the Nissan LEAF is the best-selling electric vehicle in history. Now I am committing to be ready to introduce a new ground-breaking technology, Autonomous Drive, by 2020, and we are on track to realize it.
—CEO Carlos Ghosn
Nissan is demonstrating the breadth of the capability of its autonomous drive technology for the first time at Nissan 360, a test drive and stakeholder interaction event being held in Southern California. Laser scanners, Around View Monitor cameras, as well as advanced artificial intelligence and actuators, have been installed in Nissan...
http://www.electric-vehiclenews.com/201 ... odels.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;Nissan Motor Co. says it will expand its global EV product line to five models.
The company has not announced what additional models it is planning and has not specified a timetable. But it indicates Nissan is taking a long-term view of the slow-growing EV market.
"We haven't announced what models they will be, but we have plans for five," Carla Bailo, senior vice president for R&D at Nissan Americas, told reporters. "The others will come in due time."
Bailo said future Nissan-brand EVs will use inductive charging. Inductive chargers enable an EV owner to park on top of a charging mat to recharge a battery wirelessly without hooking up a connector.
"Once that technology is ready, we will use it across our brands," she said after her presentation...
