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Re: Self Driving Cars

Don't hold your breath for this. Yes, they are coming but nowhere near as fast as some suggest. Legislation allowing semi-autonomous vehicles will first come into force in Europe in 2022. This requires a competent (licensed) person in the vehicle capable of taking control if necessary. Even Teslas will stop if there is no driver input at the controls for a period of time. So they can't operate with the driver asleep, as suggested in some deliberately misleading advertisements (short sellers of Tesla shares!)

It's also becoming obvious that electric vehicles are not a good long term answer to the energy problem. They will very likely be superseded by other fuels (hydrogen cell?) before truly autonomous driving vehicles become legal.

The change to unleaded fuel was expected to be the death knell for historic (vintage) racing, but it hasn't happened. Avgas is still readily available.

Yes, it's all coming but not likely to trouble most of us.

Brian, I read your post with interest, as I have said for years that I didn't think electric cars were the 'be-all-and-end-all' that they are touted to be. Where do people think electricity comes from? I remember quite a few years ago (20+) reading a reliable-source article that stated that 70% of electricity in the US comes from coal. I looked it up on the internet very recently and the number I seemed to get the most frequently: 67%, so obviously not much has changed in a couple of decades. A Tesla 'S' model has an unholy amount of horsepower and my take is that it is probably leaving a bigger carbon footprint than my 4-cylinder Honda!! How is that 'good for the environment'??? They say the sun sends us a thousand times more energy than we need every day, all we have to do is figure out how to harness and utilize it. I had read about a kid in grade seven that had come up with a solar panel concept that was supposed to be many times more efficient than the standard solar voltaic cell we use today. It was going to revolutionize solar energy as we know it and yet I didn't hear anything after that. Big oil probably bought the patent and deep-sixed it! As far as self driving cars - there are so many MILLION possibilities that can cause fatal issues, I doubt we will ever see universal autonomous vehicles in our lifetime. Maybe bus transit routes in cities and certain interstate door-to-door circuits for semis. etc., but open road driving on byways and back roads will always need some help from us humans!!! Lets hope so, for our Packard's sake, anyway!! Chris.

Well I can't wait for Driver-less cars, I find most people either don't know the traffic rules or don't care. Last weekend I spent about 15 minutes behind two clowns on I-40, they were pretty much side by side the whole time not letting anyone by. Traffic started to back up behind them and they didn't seem to care. Also the ones that love to run red lights, as if that's going to save them any time. And the ones that don't know what a flashing red traffic signal light means. Lets not forget the Phantom Traffic Jams, no accident, just people going to fast and then bunching up together not going anywhere fast. Plus maybe we can get some of the people off the road that don't have a Driver Licence or Car Insurance.
A friend of mine in Russia thinks they're have Driver-less cars in five years. Well they have been making major changes in Moscow so I guess we will have to wait and see.
I'll get off my soap box for now, Soap Box I guess I'm showing my age.
Wes

Our Oregon chapter of PAC reprinted an article by auto exec Bob Lutz in 2018 and I created some images for its foreboding message. "The future of automobiles? Kiss the good times goodbye." You can read the 1st Quarter 2018 here:
packardsoforegon.net/Clipper/1stQtr2018OregonClipper_web2.pdf

The signs are definitely here. Maybe a few more donations to the Packard Proving Grounds would give us a place to drive our cars in circles, since it might be illegal for humans to drive at all for safety reasons.

Pebble Beach of the future might feature a 2020 Tesla. "Look, Charlie, it has a steering wheel."

Thanks Joe, what a good read! I had also read somewhere that they thinking cars of the future would be only rentals since the software that controls the car would be still owned by the car maker and the basic car would be of no use once the license would run out on the software.
No matter what I think we're all DOOMED, DOOMED I SAY!
Wes

Little more insight in Detroit from Popular Mechanics Sept. 1953. Power Steering the next big thing.
Wes

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Hey Joe/Wes,
Read both articles you posted with great interest. Joe, I started reading in the mag you provided the link for and, before I knew it, I was 3 articles along! Great periodical.
And Wes, I hear you re bad drivers... up here in Canada (or BC at least) they have changed the law that if you hog the left lane and hold up traffic, it is a pretty expensive ticket!! Seems to work; people do their passing and get back over to the right lane. Re self-driving cars - I definitely think they're 'coming', just not as fast and definitely not as universally as to make today's 'regular' vehicles extinct in 20 years. Farm country, sparsely populated areas, and rural towns couldn't support the infrastructure it would need to HAVE 'autonomous modules', so as long as we don't live in a huge city or commute solely on interstate highways, we will be driving for a long while, yet. At least that's my opinion, FWIW. If you don't believe that, you should see where I live and drive!! Rural, to say the least! Chris

For all the Owners of a 53 Packard, Popular Mechanics August 1953 report.
Wes

I hope this wasn't too long.

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Wesley,

I read the article you posted with interest and equally enjoyed the ads!! Amazing how going back to just '53, a mere 65 years ago, that making .75/hr in your back yard as a hobby-income, was considered quite worthwhile!! Man, how times change. LOL Chris

Hi

"Top speed is excellent - 105 to 107 miles per hour by the speedometer which was fast by about seven percent"

I don't think I'm going to try out my '53 to see if it'll reach that. Now that I've read the survey, I'd still buy Packard!

Steve