On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 8:52 AM, Steve Rigby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The auto industry will have to undo decades of pushing the concept that
> driving is an enjoyable experience and is part and parcel, perhaps even most
> of the reason for choosing one car over another for purchase. That'll be a
> damn hard sell, in my opinion, and perhaps almost impossible to accomplish.
>
What auto industry? Are you even paying attention?
--
There's a big American auto industry, in case you haven't noticed.
Honda's in Ohio, Nissan's in Tennessee, Toyota's in California;
Mitsubishi, Subaru, Hyundai, BMW, Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz are also
have models made in the US; VW will have a plant in Alabama. Ford's
overseas units are running at a profit, but they're hurting here because
they still depend on gas/diesel hogs in the US market where gas has been
relatively cheap. When they bring in the successful overseas cars that
get >40mpg, some will sell well here, especially those with 4 and 5-star
EuroNCAP crash test ratings [Aygo, Fiat 500]. Anyone for a Ford Ka? Fiat
500? Ford Fiesta? Toyota Aygo [Peugeot 107, Citroen C1]? Ligier Nova? GM
Chevy Matiz?
I have my doubts about pure electric cars. Batteries aren't ready.
Electricity is not a good way to move vehicles, except maybe designs
with the motorized wheels. Electric cars may not pollute like petro
powered cars--they're worse, and will be until the electricity is
powered by clean renewables, instead of dirty sources like petro, coal
and nukes.
As for self-driving cars, they're only as good as the people who program
and use them. Computers did a terrible job of improving vehicle energy
efficiency, so I don't expect computers to do a good job of something so
complicated as driving. There's a sensible solution: public
transportation, heavy rail like the DC Metro rail system. Just don't
hire contract temps who text while driving. Oh, right, those trains are
automated. Otherwise we'll wait for energy efficient cars with
'avoidance' technology, but not a computer making all the decisions.
HAL? HELLO?
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