[Pants-of-dog]

Or you live in an older city with a good transportation system.

Or you cycle a lot.

But, yes, you can also save a lot of money by not having a car.

[Rancid]

Speaking as someone that has spent years using public transport having your own means of transportation is really convenient, and that's for someone that's single -- for anyone with a family, the only reason I can see not to is poverty.

My comment of millennials being more willing to take public transport is just to show that they don't care about owning cars as much as older generations care. Which means they will be more willing to use a network of automated cars that they don't own.

- Why would it be inconvenient to have a private automated car that you don't own come to you at will?
- There will be a network of ready cars everywhere that will get to your house within 5 mins (0 min if you pre schedule).
- You will not need to worry about maintenance, insurance, inspections, break-ins.
-It will be more socially responsible, since you would need fewer cars to service an entire city. Fewer resources will be used to build cars, but also, less energy will be used because you will be able to optimize the shit out of a fully automated ysstem. This is also a thing that is very important to younger generations.
- Public transport will simply be a cheaper alternative to calling a private car to your house. Public transport will too become more efficient and more reliable since it will go through the same optimization process as cars.

Why is any of this not convenient?

In this sense I would argue younger generations are far more moral and compassionate towards future generations than those that came before us. This makes them car more willing to ditch cars.

Here's another bit of information for you:
I'm a "car guy" (I like to talk about my VW GTI here), yet, I will be TOTALLY willing to ditch my car. I'll just save the GTI for the race track.

I also believe that automating cars will also increase participation in amateur racing.

I should revise my earlier claim. Car ownership will not become illegal (for example, if you own a race car for hobby). However, driving on the streets will become illegal.

[Doug64]

Or you live in an older city with a good transportation system.

Or you cycle a lot.

But, yes, you can also save a lot of money by not having a car.

Absolutely, when I was using public transportation cost was the only real plus it had, but at the time that plus was major.

My comment of millennials being more willing to take public transport is just to show that they don't care about owning cars as much as older generations care. Which means they will be more willing to use a network of automated cars that they don't own.

- Why would it be inconvenient to have a private automated car that you don't own come to you at will?
- There will be a network of ready cars everywhere that will get to your house within 5 mins (0 min if you pre schedule).
- You will not need to worry about maintenance, insurance, inspections, break-ins.
-It will be more socially responsible, since you would need fewer cars to service an entire city. Fewer resources will be used to build cars, but also, less energy will be used because you will be able to optimize the shit out of a fully automated ysstem. This is also a thing that is very important to younger generations.
- Public transport will simply be a cheaper alternative to calling a private car to your house. Public transport will too become more efficient and more reliable since it will go through the same optimization process as cars.

Why is any of this not convenient?

In this sense I would argue younger generations are far more moral and compassionate towards future generations than those that came before us. This makes them far more willing to ditch cars.

Here's another bit of information for you:
I'm a "car guy" (I like to talk about my VW GTI here), yet, I will be TOTALLY willing to ditch my car. I'll just save the GTI for the race track.

I also believe that automating cars will also increase participation in amateur racing.

I should revise my earlier claim. Car ownership will not become illegal (for example, if you own a race car for hobby). However, driving on the streets will become illegal.

Whether automated cars acting as public transport will ever get to the point you think, I don't know -- they could well end up being as mythological as the future flying cars of the thirties and forties. But whether the electric cars people are driving are owned or rented by the minute the question Card asks remains, what happens to the gas stations?

[Rancid]

what happens to the gas stations?

Most of them will have to shutdown. Plain and simple. I'm sure some percentage of them can remain viable as convenience stores, but more probably can't survive that way.

[annatar1914]

Electric cars in my opinion won't be viable enough of an option before the final crisis of Capitalism sets in, and private automobile ownership will be a distant dream for future generations. Mass transit or bike riding and foot traffic will be the future for the laboring classes, as the wealthy will be the primary consumers for what remains of the automobile industry.

[Crantag]

Electric cars in my opinion won't be viable enough of an option before the final crisis of Capitalism sets in, and private automobile ownership will be a distant dream for future generations. Mass transit or bike riding and foot traffic will be the future for the laboring classes, as the wealthy will be the primary consumers for what remains of the automobile industry.

Ironically, how you describe is how people in my town in China (i.e. younger people) describe things here when they were young. Now there are so many cars and few bicycles (though many electric scooters). Ferraris are not really uncommon.

The Chinese working class will sustain the auto market.

[Doug64]

Most of them will have to shutdown. Plain and simple. I'm sure some percentage of them can remain viable as convenience stores, but more probably can't survive that way.

Which is basically what Card said, though he offered a way that a bunch of them can survive along the interstates -- their natural environmental niche once electric vehicles become common, as places for bathroom breaks and for people to restock on munchies and grab a bite to eat on long trips.

[annatar1914]

Ironically, how you describe is how people in my town in China (i.e. younger people) describe things here when they were young. Now there are so many cars and few bicycles (though many electric scooters). Ferraris are not really uncommon.

The Chinese working class will sustain the auto market.

Not in the face of the coming resource wars, and ''Peak Oil''. Don't you know that's what ''One Belt One Road'' is really all about? Prepare for the coming hard times.

[Crantag]

Not in the face of the coming resource wars, and ''Peak Oil''. Don't you know that's what ''One Belt One Road'' is really all about? Prepare for the coming hard times.

We'll see how the Chinese initiative of advancing the development of hydrogen autos goes. They already have utility vehicles which use hydrogen here. I don't agree with your persistent doomsday scenarios. So no. I don't 'know' what you claim to be the case.

[annatar1914]

We'll see how the Chinese initiative of advancing the development of hydrogen autos goes. They already have utility vehicles which use hydrogen here. I don't agree with your persistent doomsday scenarios. So no. I don't 'know' what you claim to be the case.

Agree or not, without personalizing these issues, I believe that this is one of those moments where a person is just going to have to see for themselves. Also, I do not believe that other powers will allow a rising Chinese Bourgeoisie to lead China into Hegemony, nor do I believe that Capitalism will be China's savior economically speaking.

[Rancid]

Not in the face of the coming resource wars, and ''Peak Oil''. Don't you know that's what ''One Belt One Road'' is really all about? Prepare for the coming hard times.

I think One Belt One Road is akin to the great wall of China. That is, it will ultimately fail and actually be one of the biggest strains/wastes China ever engages in.

3D printing should help accelerate this.

[Pants-of-dog]

Absolutely, when I was using public transportation cost was the only real plus it had, but at the time that plus was major.

It depends where you live. If you live in Montreal or Manhattan, it is often faster and more convenient to take public transportation than drive a car.

Whether automated cars acting as public transport will ever get to the point you think, I don't know -- they could well end up being as mythological as the future flying cars of the thirties and forties. But whether the electric cars people are driving are owned or rented by the minute the question Card asks remains, what happens to the gas stations?

Hopefully, they all disappear. Fossil fuels are already a major pollutant, and their use should have been discontinued decades ago. Gas stations (like homophobia) should never have been as ubiquitous as they are.

[One Degree]

It depends where you live. If you live in Montreal or Manhattan, it is often faster and more convenient to take public transportation than drive a car.



Hopefully, they all disappear. Fossil fuels are already a major pollutant, and their use should have been discontinued decades ago. Gas stations (like homophobia) should never have been as ubiquitous as they are.

I am confused by the connection you are making. Are homophobes the supporters of gas stations or the opponents?

[annatar1914]

I think One Belt One Road is akin to the great wall of China. That is, it will ultimately fail and actually be one of the biggest strains/wastes China ever engages in.

3D printing should help accelerate this.

Indeed. And the attempt to integrate Eurasia/Pacific into it's own Capitalist sphere by the Chinese will no more be tolerated by the other Capitalist powers than the Japanese Imperial attempt was. Not sure to what degree 3-D printing will accelerate that failure, but it won't help, certainly.

[jessupjonesjnr87]

My comment of millennials being more willing to take public transport is just to show that they don't care about owning cars as much as older generations care. Which means they will be more willing to use a network of automated cars that they don't own.

And where exactly am I supposed to store my loose change?

[One Degree]

Population growth will result in putting wheels on the mini houses. The houses will disappear, not the vehicles. We will live in our vehicles.
Our culture has gone from ridiculing ‘trailers’ as a House choice to promoting the same size abode without wheels. Our hypocrisy is hilarious. We will put wheels back on the mini houses.

[Besoeker]

Speaking as someone that has spent years using public transport having your own means of transportation is really convenient, and that's for someone that's single -- for anyone with a family, the only reason I can see not to is poverty.

EVs have been around for about a hundred years longer than gasoline powered vehicles. Some applications suited them. Milk floats, fork lift trucks in an enclosed. Short defined trips and local recharging when not in use.

One of the applications I can see for EVs for families with children and the need to do the school run. Or a local office commute. I had a 50-mile round trip so an EV would have worked for that. But then I quite often would have a round trip of 400 miles or more. Not so good for that.

Range and recharge times limitations. Perhaps the more fundamental issue, and one that doesn't get aired much, is beefing up the electrical power distribution infrastructure to cope with recharging.

[One Degree]

EVs have been around for about a hundred years longer than gasoline powered vehicles. Some applications suited them. Milk floats, fork lift trucks in an enclosed. Short defined trips and local recharging when not in use.

One of the applications I can see for EVs for families with children and the need to do the school run. Or a local office commute. I had a 50-mile round trip so an EV would have worked for that. But then I quite often would have a round trip of 400 miles or more. Not so good for that.

Range and recharge times limitations. Perhaps the more fundamental issue, and one that doesn't get aired much, is beefing up the electrical power distribution infrastructure to cope with recharging.

If your electric production is dependent upon fossil fuels, then electric vehicles are worse than gas driven. Conversion always is inefficient.

[Pants-of-dog]

Fossil fuel power stations should also go the way of the dinosaurs.

[Rancid]

If your electric production is dependent upon fossil fuels, then electric vehicles are worse than gas driven. Conversion always is inefficient.

Not exactly, it's better to concentrate pollution around power plants, than spread them around cities through car exhausts.

Also, renewable energies are slowly gaining share of the energy production market, so as time moves on, it should be less polluting to run EVs