Jalopnik asks if self-driving cars will actually happen.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

It's not the money, it's that I don't want to have to deal with a touch screen.

Until you happen to be someplace where there's no cell service :-)

I agree that touch screen is spotty, as I struggle with the same thing. Maybe I'm dehydrated or have too much callus? Either way, I would have the accelerometers be the input mechanism, not the touch screen. Hold the phone as a steering wheel and turn it as you would a mechanical wheel. Tilt forward to accelerate, backwards to slow. I got pretty good at Mario Cart on the Wii using this general method.

As for no cell service, that's why I also recommended a cheap Garmin or Tom Tom unit. They can be updated and don't require a cell service.

Here's what happened the 1 time I didn't have cell service and used the built in nav:



I went from thinking I would have 100 miles of fuel remaining when I got to the first fuel station, to barely being able to backtrack out.

Originally Posted by Xist

Meanwhile, advertisers claim that their systems have larger antennae and stronger signals than cell phones.

Supposedly some guy in a huge pickup used to run cars off of the road near a dead spot outside of Payson. One day, he walked up to taunt a lady in a Cadillac saying there was nothing she could do, she did not have coverage.

She hit her OnStar button.

I will not be bullied or intimidated, regardless of OnStar. I've got no problem colliding with someone if that is their intention. I suspect my Prius will do better staying on it's wheels and protecting from a crash than a truck. A little tap to the rear end of the truck should teach the lesson.

[freebeard]

The California Kid (TV Movie 1974) - IMDb

A deranged desert town sheriff has a murderous habit of forcing speeders to their deaths, until a young man with a souped-up hotrod arrives to possibly end it.
Director: Richard T. Heffron
Writer: Richard Compton
Stars: Martin Sheen, Vic Morrow, Michelle Phillips

[Xist]

You have to reach the bumper to tap it and a steel bumper might do more damage to your plastic one before you make the truck do anything. Rear-bumper? I imagine law enforcement would have something to say to you.



When I had my Prelude, a friend was modifying his Sportage for off-roading. He sent me a picture of a lifted truck with one wheel on the hood of a Camaro.

The truck was fine, yet when I searched for "lifted truck runs over camaro" I found one hundred pictures of lifted Camaros before that picture from "Girl Allegedly Cheats On Boyfriend, So He Runs Her Saturn Over With His Chevy Truck

Funny. The news is full of people doing far worse things, but I do not recall the victim "allegedly" doing anything, it was the criminal caught on camera.

"The California Kid" sounds vaguely like "Nothing but Trouble," but perhaps funnier.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

The Arcimoto FUV is supposedly 'autonomous ready" but I don't see how that could be the case with manual steering.

Maybe an upcoming version to be fitted with EPS? IIRC there are some ATVs already featuring electric power steering.

Originally Posted by jamesqf

It's not the money, it's that I don't want to have to deal with a touch screen. All else aside, they can either not respond at all to my fingers, or over-react, frantically doing dozens of things in response to one touch.

Sometimes a touch-screen interface becomes a PITA, so in an application where an undesirable reaction could become a safety threat it seems to not make any sense.

[Xist]

How about touch screens and gloves? Sure, there are gloves that work with touch screens, or you can modify gloves to work, but some people value wearing whatever gloves they choose.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Xist

One day, he walked up to taunt a lady in a Cadillac saying there was nothing she could do, she did not have coverage.

"Yeah, but I've got a Glock" :-)

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

As for no cell service, that's why I also recommended a cheap Garmin or Tom Tom unit. They can be updated and don't require a cell service.

I don't really see the point. (Unless you're doing something like a delivery service.) I do have a handheld GPS that I got mainly to keep track of a dog who'd keep going off exploring on his own when we were out hiking. Don't suppose I used it more than a dozen times. He always found his way back, so I stopped worrying much. (Except when he brings back bears, but that's another story.)

Here's what happened the 1 time I didn't have cell service and used the built in nav:



I went from thinking I would have 100 miles of fuel remaining when I got to the first fuel station, to barely being able to backtrack out.

While I might have stayed a while. Looks like a pretty nice place :-)

[Xist]

Is it time for the story of your dog fetching a bear yet?!