What cars should already be (core77 design site)

A friend of mine (a great designer, by the way!) showed me to this web site.

They have a nice studying article about what should happen to the cars in the next 40 years. Or -actually- what should have happened to them in the *last* 40 years.

I'll be a lazy jerk and just copy-paste some of the good parts (which are many):

It dawned on us: today's car industry is brainwashed by its own car culture, with its obsession for speed, styling and fantasy. The car business has become one of repackaging, steering people's focus towards style and a narrow definition of performance, not on our true needs.

the desire not to drive. Sure, everyone wanted to get from A to B, but they'd just rather be doing something else while en route: talking to friends, sleeping, or, as our French intern Laure suggested: "I want to enjoy the view with a nice wine, some cheese and a baguette."

Driving is like putting your life on hold.

we have subscribed to a false sense of freedom, the freedom to waste countless hours strapped behind the wheel.

Our conclusion? Humans are not meant to drive, nor should they have to.

...and so on...

Personally, I would love to have a car of their design. But I am realistic it will really take the 40 years - maybe 50 - to get there. Like the Moon is seen as a middle stop to getting us to Mars, I am seeing PRT as a middle stop to getting us to full automated traffic.

When peace came to my browser (no Flash!)

More and more sites have started to "take advantage" of flash ads nowadays. Most of this is just a nuisance, and the carbon footprint of such ads globally must be tremendous! They take CPU cycles even if on background browser windows, or unseen tabs.

I've been increasingly fed up with them, lately. Luckily there is a very nice solution for Safari: ClickToFlash . I took the version 1.5b4 and it seems to be working fine. My good old laptop (PowerBook G4) is now snappier and way cooler on the laps. I hope.

A side notion is that modern SVG + JavaScript can already do most of what Flash is used for, at least on some browsers. Maybe that will turn out to be a headache in the future. But for now the browsers is again at peace. :)

When tides will change...

I've been thinking of writing this down some time now, so that when it actually happens I'll remember I did think about it.

- Canadian dollar will be worth more than the U.S.
- Apple will start building their product in the U.S.

Please feel free to add your own "predictions" as comments. No date stamps are required - dating is waaaay more difficult than saying something will eventually happen.

(such a bad prediction the dollar rate one - seems Canadian momentarily outvalued USD already in late 2007)

Cont'd...

Brad Templeton seems to think fondly of robocars in our (near) future:
http://www.templetons.com/brad/robocars/roadmap.html

I just don't have the confidence they'll make it any time soon, if joined human/automated roads are the target. Let's change this into a prediction:

- Fully automated F1-like races, where the cars drive themselves.

I don't know what would be the fun of it, though. But it would certainly be a real test for the AI of the cars. Are they ready to take risks? Are they ready to not take unnecessary risks? Will they be overwhelmed by the amount of information they'll get from the sensors or are they able to focus on the necessary information?

Once this is done, the next phase would be:

- Joined human / automated F1-like races.

This happened in chess. Kasparov lost to the IBM Deep Blue, when enough reruns were made. It was not a fair game - the way a computer plays a game is so different from the way a human plays it. Same here.

Around _that_ time we might be considering putting completely automated vehicles into public traffic. They would need to pass the regular driver's education tests (s.a. in Finland) first, of course. If they do, I guess they would be as qualified as the average human out there.

But are they allowed to surf the Net while driving...?

Masdar on CNN

First time I come to see Masdar being mentioned in regular news. CNN has this story on the city's progress:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2009/06/26/zero.carbon.city.cnn

To many, this might mean the first touch they have to this project. We should expect much more news about it, later in the year.

The video uses some old concept footage, i.e. showing PRT lines up in the air. They will be below the pedestrian level, and following building arrangement (= there are "roads" and "blocks" below the surface).

Masdar vehicles are called "space age time", which gives me a smile. I thought space age started in the 1960's... :) It's curious to know, which terms reporters find describing this technology. They also used the term "people movers", which I've been told is an inadequate term for PRT's. I still think it describes what they do best.

Did they say "15 billion into the venture"? Really? That is 300000 per inhabitant.

Addendum: An interview with Luca Guala has more detailed info.

Reading patents

I never had realized how many patents there are about PRT's, with that particular keyword or the names of some specific authors.

http://www.espacenet.com/access/index.en.htm

Grab a bottle of wine, some snacks, day or two and do a patent picnic.

Have fun!

Is AtraWiki alive?

I came about ATRA Wiki and wanted to get an account to be able to participate. The site seems clean and maintained, which is good for a Wiki.

However, this may be exactly because people cannot participate. The 'log in / register' link used to give an invalid email id to contact (for an account). Now it just leads here.

Does anyone know the story behind this? I think they should rather close a wiki if people are not able to also edit it.

Prediction: Bond driving a PRT

I would say that within the next 10 years we are seeing a Bond movie, where a chase or other action event happens with PRTs. The overlapping bridges of current Heathrow track give a certain potential to this, but so would the under-street level maze of Masdar's.

I know it is stupid to make such predictions, but this is more of a statement, really. They filmed gorgeously at the Malaysia's twin towers when those were new. And before most of the world realized Malaysia had leaped up to par with West.

The problem remains: how to make the 40km/h vehicles seem fast on the big screen. :> And since Martin said ULTra has solved the podlurking problem, are we restricting the movie directors' options too much.

:P