Originally Posted by soundman98
last i recall, which i want to say was around 2009-ish, the FCC(no idea about canada) was de-listing the V2V frequency allocation to use for something else because V2V was a disaster of competing standards from every OEM, with no movement to create any sort of universal standard. i haven't heard any rumors of V2V being revived, with most OEM's pushing for using LIDAR, GPS, and mapping software, so every vehicle operates independently.
have there been some changes in this lately?
have you followed that first uber pedestrian accident at all? while i get the point that it wasn't full autonomy, i feel it was 'close enough for the 10:00 news'. been at least a little interesting to read into the people calling for outright abandonment of all autonomous testing because of that single death.
at the same time the NHTSA is starting to send out commercials about getting people to stop walking in front of moving trains. how long have trains existed?
one death isn't good, but it's not like it's worse than where we're currently at.
exactly. i keep comparing it to the age of the industrial revolution. before safety standards. i've done work in WW2 era bomb manufacturing and tank production buildings. in many of the buildings, pieces of that era still exist tucked away in corners where they don't bother anyone, and it's fascinating to look over. everything i've come across from that era, it's like it was commonplace for workplace deaths, that the company secretary just routinely made calls at the end of the day because Dan, Bob, and Dylan won't be going home that day, but let your friends know we've got some job openings!
just one example, the rail cranes they used at the time (now they're all remote operated from someone on the ground) had a spot for an operator to sit. it amounted to a 'cage' that used 4 pieces of steel to suspend a platform, with the controls and a 'chair' that was more like a barstool, with no cross bracing, or chains across any of the 4'-5' wide openings...
and i agree that i see the world pushing very hard towards a fully-electric future. but i'm highly suspicious that the push is a very large leap into the darkness. i'd prefer to see a diverse approach to the problem. i don't agree with an outright abandonment of an aging, but prevalent technology we've already built up the infrastructure for. while the use of electric has zero immediate emissions(insert fair argument about powering electric cars from coal-fired plants at an efficiency rate higher than ICE vehicles), the rare metals needed are anything but efficiently extracted, and many are currently not recyclable. i'm of the belief that electric does have undesirable environmental costs that won't be fully understood for a number of years, but is overall better than gasoline.
electrically speaking, most houses are woefully underprepared for electric charger installation, which is going to have some massive socioeconomic issues after considering the 'mortgage' that's become commonplace for new vehicle purchases. most counties i do work in, upgrading the electrical panel requires upgrading the entire house to the most current electrical code. most houses in the area were built between 1920-1980. most counties are on 2014 code now. it means that what could have been a $200-500 job balloons to a $5,000-8,000 job...
my company has also had multiple instances where a dealership sales person will blindly quote the buyers how much it costs to install a charger off of some random OEM marketing material--normally based on costs/codes/building practices of the OEM's HQ county, or nowhere near my area. they can't possibly know all the locations of the equipment, or electrical codes to quote a close number most times, so then i come as the d!ck trying to rip people off when walking a job and quoting barely above the material costs, but coming in a number of times higher than the 'expert' car sales guy.
it's gonna be a wild ride one way or another.
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