autonomous cars discussion

[SilverRex]

Correct me if there is a thread started for this, but how does everyone feel about the future of autonomous driving vehicles?

while this isnt news for years but now I am finally starting to hear the media and even car manufacturer like GM and toyota coming out suggesting the pursuit of this project .

Since I work in the high precision GPS tech sector, even my company is preparing entry into the auto sector for this very purpose.

for one, I personally think this will bring a huge benefit and change to one's life style as recent study suggest our cars are spent 90% parked.

So it will definitely bring efficiency. even emission control not to mention.

you can throw accidents and death kill by drunk driving out the window

like GM's comment that cars will no longer be owned but rented.

I cant imagine the amount of time one can get from not having to drive every day and put that time to good use like studying up a degree in the comfort of your vehicle.

But as car enthusiast go, driving manually may become expensive and will most likely be left for the wealthiest as I am sure gov't will introduce huge tax breaks to move people into the new concept while hitting car owners with heavier ones.

I have a 4 and 8 year old kid, I wonder if I will still have the opportunity or even need to teach them to drive

[Sugarphreak]

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[CanmoreOrLess]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
Autonomous cars will bring benefits, but they will put millions of Canadians out of a job. It will be a devastating blow to employment whenever this finally takes off.

Your source for this mass unemployment? 35 million Canadians and millions out of work? I read this WIRED article a while ago, it says there will be increased productivity among other benefits. I welcome the changes, humans are poor drivers with higher level skills best applied to other areas. Although humans are entertaining when racing, so NHRA, F1 and WRC are still safe until the ape uprising.


In a world where we don’t drive, we’re better off. (http://www.wired.com/2015/03/the-economic-impact-of-autonomous-vehicles/)

[CanmoreOrLess]

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[speedog]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
Autonomous cars will bring benefits, but they will put millions of Canadians out of a job. It will be a devastating blow to employment whenever this finally takes off.
I tell ya, it all started with the demise of the floor mounted high beam switch - untold 100,000's of Canadian jobs were lost because of that.

[SilverRex]

speaking of job losses, wouldnt the transition be very slow? it is not like they can shut down manual driving at the helm over night. I would imagine it will be something like a slow change like how they introduce hybrid or electric cars and look how slow that went.

while any gov't mandate can accelerate the change as long as it can save people money, I still think this will be a slow change over and impact will be insignificant. However, I can see certain business sectors would get hit hard like taxi and uber drivers?

[Sugarphreak]

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[CanmoreOrLess]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


Yes, the entire population of Canada drives for a living :rolleyes:

Service Canada had a number of 3.7 Million drivers that included the following categories:


Then take into account other types of professions which require driving (school & city buses, taxis, food and local courier delivery, postal drivers (FedEx/UPS).

The question isn't if a million people will lose their job in Canada, it is how many millions.

You tell me, what sector can absorb this many people?



I don't think it will be that slow to be honest. Once the tech is out there, it will be sought after heavily by companies looking to lower cost.

Think about it from an employers perspective. Drivers that don't sleep, don't get paid, require no training and never break the law. The second this tech becomes available, it will be rapidly implemented.

So you have nothing as a neutral and credible source, just your Dr. Doom and Gloom pondering? If you are in a job and cannot adapt to the changes coming over the next forty years, too bad. The writing is on the wall, how much time do you need? The glory hole industry is expanding, maybe these unskilled folk can find work there?

[01RedDX]

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[SilverRex]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak



I don't think it will be that slow to be honest. Once the tech is out there, it will be sought after heavily by companies looking to lower cost.

Think about it from an employers perspective. Drivers that don't sleep, don't get paid, require no training and never break the law. The second this tech becomes available, it will be rapidly implemented.

well if this was the case then when they first introduced electric cars then it would put everyone in the oil sector out of job wouldnt it? yet here we are still very much dependent on it. Not that I disagree with your scenario but there is also another factor at play and that is the elite and wealthy which controls the oil sector.

it will depend on which way companies make more money. lower cost and efficient running vehicles but forces millions out of work hence their car sales takes a nose dive?

there will be a balance imo, sure the initial reaction may be impactful, but once the dust settles, people will find other ways to survive.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by SilverRex


well if this was the case then when they first introduced electric cars then it would put everyone in the oil sector out of job wouldnt it? yet here we are still very much dependent on it. Not that I disagree with your scenario but there is also another factor at play and that is the elite and wealthy which controls the oil sector.

it will depend on which way companies make more money. lower cost and efficient running vehicles but forces millions out of work hence their car sales takes a nose dive?

there will be a balance imo, sure the initial reaction may be impactful, but once the dust settles, people will find other ways to survive.

switching from oil to electric just switch the jobs from one sector to another. You are changing the product, not the people in production of the product.

I don't think autonomous driving will remove truck drivers on public roads. I believe a human will still be in the cab as operators even he/she is not the one driving.

Private roads like mines, no humans will be needed.

The bigger impact is insurance/government/car manufacturers.

Automated uber/lyft fleet will remove the need of 2nd car in most families. Reducing demand for car ownership. In IT terms, look at what virtualization did to the server hardware market in the last decade and look at what cloud will do for the next 10 years. Car industry will get the same reduction in unit shipped.

Insurance premium base will reduce and possibly reduce profit of insurance companies covering cars.

Government revenue will be less because there will be less infractions.

Economy will increasingly move away from manufacturing to design/service based.

[blairtruck]

uber of the future

http://www.talkingpointz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/JohnnyCab.jpg

[CanmoreOrLess]

On the upside, we won't need all those bicycle lanes as the vehicles will sense the bikes and react.

[revelations]

Autonomous cars/trucks will be fine in busy/warm places like New Mexico or California.

You wont see any 100% autonomous vehicles traveling the #1 highway between BC/AB from Sept - May..... unless the Ministry of Highways implements a road centre/edge marking system that can be used in snow and detected by vehicle sensors.

There will be chain people who just chain up these trucks all day long. New jobs and entire new industries will be created because of this.

The same old whine of big labour - DONT CHANGE ANYTHING - will be cried out, just like those poor typists on typewriters. They went on and adapted just fine.

[StreetRacerX]

It'll be like Maximum Overdrive without the meteor :rofl:

[max_boost]

Oh it's fine Sugarphreak. Ppl will find something else to do lol

[Sugarphreak]

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[revelations]

There wont be a sudden glut - its not like a sudden housing crash/oil prices tanking - it will be more along the lines of a generational change. Less people will get their Class 1, old employees will retire and the middle age folk will stay for specialized work (eg. back roads trucking) or get retrained to something new. :dunno:

Paradigm shifts have happened, and will continue to happen. Free markets are great (over time) of creating efficiency and standardization.


Here is a question - why arent freight trains remote controlled/automated yet?

[max_boost]

Well what are the oil and gas peeps doing right now? Go upgrade, find another job etc. :nut: :dunno:

[CanmoreOrLess]

Sugarphreak, you're moving to Vancouver, you need to worry about the bigger things in life like major earthquakes, volcanoes and a tsunami or two. All those happen without warning and are very real on the coast. All those displaced workers due to autonomous vehicles have many years to pull together a plan as do our overlords.

[Sugarphreak]

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