Tesla – Looking Forward

Is 65 Middle-Aged?

The Marist Poll is
frequently cited for its surveys of voters. Dr. Lee Miringoff, the
Director, has for a few years used his own birthday to assess how the
public views age. He just turned 65, so the question of the year: Is 65
middle-aged? Turns out that most American think so. You can see his
explanation in this video http://bcove.me/vcbs1k25 and the Marist report last week “5/3: 65 Stands Strong as Middle-Aged”

So
in an election year in which the three remaining Presidential
candidates are older than Dr. Miringoff, it does seem that 65 is the new
45!

The Ironic Science Museum

Then, in sort of a follow up to my previous report
about rising seas in Miami Beach, I read this story filled with irony.
Miami is in the process of building a glorious science museum, which
has had the usual kind of fiscal and management issues.

But Tuesday this week an article
appeared with this headline: “Miami’s Doomed Frost Museum of Science Is
a Monument to Ignoring Science … What do you get when you celebrate
science and ignore scientists? Fish in the lobby.” It shows how rising
seas will come right into the lobby of the museum – and we’re not
talking about the planned aquarium.

Depending on how you look at
it, this story is somehow sad, funny, and ironic – and a warning for
all people with ambitions that touch the waterfront.

Combining Technologies

With all sorts of new
consumer technologies that are connected to the Internet, it’s only a
matter of time and creativity for people to integrate those technologies
in useful ways. Case in point is Jason Goecke, the hacker who used his
Amazon Echo – thank you Alexa! – to get his Tesla to drive itself out
of the garage. You can see for yourself in this video: https://youtu.be/CAP3DbyOtGE

There have been all kinds of fun new ways that technology has become embedded into cars to help drivers.

Last Friday, the New York Times had an article about Audi’s testing what might be described as a driver-assisted race car, going 120 miles per hour.

Just last month, Samsung demonstrated a way to see through truck on country roads in Argentina. It was intended to help a driver know when it’s safe to pass and overtake the truck. But, even those of us who get stuck in massive urban traffic jams, would love the ability to see ahead. (See the picture above.)

Another version of the same idea was developed and unveiled last month by the Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain. They call their version EYES and you can see a report about it at https://youtu.be/eUQfalxPK0o

There have been variations on this theme over the last year or so, but so far the deployment of the technology hasn’t happened on real roads for regular drivers.

But Ford Motor Company announced a couple of weeks ago that it will start to equip a car this year with split view cameras that let drivers see around corners. They say it’s especially useful when backing into traffic. This is supposed to be a feature of their worldwide fleet of cars by 2020.

In the old days, when a driver had to maneuver into a tight corner, he/she asked a friend to stand outside the car and provide instructions. Now, Land Rover is helping the driver who is alone – without friends? – to get a better view and control the car at the same time by using a smart phone app.

Is this all a good thing? The New York Times had this quote in its Audi story:

“At this point, substantial effort in the automotive community is focused on developing fully autonomous driving technology,” said Karl Iagnemma, an automotive researcher at M.I.T. “Far less effort is focused on developing methods to allow a driver to intuitively and safely interact with the highly automated driving vehicle.”

Nevertheless, while these features are surely helpful, on balance, they seem to me to be transitional technologies. (Allen Wirfs-Brock provided this helpful slide on the subject.)

A good example was the enhancement of controls for elevator operators when the average passenger could press the very same automated buttons. Or similarly, the attempt by horse-drawn carriage makers to keep up with auto makers until they firmly lost the battle a hundred years ago. Maybe Polaroid cameras were the transitional technology between film that needed to be developed at a factory and pictures you can take on your phone.

The warning signs are there already. In May 2015, WIRED magazine featured this story, “Google’s Plan to Eliminate Human Driving in 5 Years”.

Also in May, Uber and its partner, Carnegie Mellon University, did a test drive of its first autonomous vehicle. Of course, Uber’s plans and its role in disrupting the traditional taxi industry had already led to dire predictions like this one on the website of the CBS TV station in San Francisco: “How Uber’s Autonomous Cars Will Destroy 10 Million Jobs And Reshape The Economy by 2025”.

Based on their promise last October, pretty soon we should soon start to Tesla delivering a car that “will be able to self-drive 90 percent of the time”.

Indeed, taking this idea to its ultimate extreme conclusion, the Guardian reported a few months ago that Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, wants to ban human driving altogether. They quote him as saying:

“You can’t have a person driving a two-tonne death machine”.

So while it will be fun, perhaps we’re just seeing the last gasp of human driving.

[http://njacknis.tumblr.com/post/124749211027/better-driving]

Tag: Tesla

Quick Takes From The Recent News Stream

Immigration to the US

Is 65 Middle-Aged?

The Ironic Science Museum

Combining Technologies

Better Driving?