Autonomous cars versus old motorcycles

[AFJ]

This is very much like checking the air pressure in your tires as your car is plummeting off a cliff. If this world does not put a priority on getting population under control, these 'feel good' green initiatives will be pointless; and population control will happen under nightmare conditions, and despite us. I don't believe human technology or politics is remotely close to balancing the needs of 12 billion plus people in this century. I agree that things can and need to be done, but all of these conversations ignore the elephant in the room.

This discussion about self-driving cars was useful in that it discussed a looming problem for those of us who still would like to be able to ride our old bikes on public roads. Off-topic posts about perceived immense problems such as you describe are not very helpful, particularly as you do not propose any solutions to the increasing human population of this planet.
AFJ

[exeric]

Your criticism is absolutely correct, and I have no solutions, and unfortunately, I have yet to hear of any solutions. I'm sorry for being such a gloomy Gus, but you have sort of proved my point. No one wants to include over-population in conversations about the environment, transportation, medicine, or land use. We can talk about technology, and how it could have a positive effect on the future, but we have all seen what fuels massive change in human behavior and it's historically something bad. This has been an interesting conversation, but I'm afraid I am too cynical to contribute, so I'll bow out. I will say that I ride a bicycle every day, and try to do all my errands with it. I have tried to live in harmony with the natural world, and avoid useless waste, and squandering of resources. I think if that approach to life was more pervasive, we might not be having this conversation.

[T. Cotten]

We could still put up a fight, Folks!

Our immediate concern is insuring that new regulations will have a "grandfather" clause, allowing "obsolete" or "Historical" vehicles to remain in service.

The best advocate would be as large and broad of an organization as possible, representing as many voters as possible.

Sometimes you gotta hold your nose and take the medicine.

....Cotten

[tfburke3]

I hope these headlesss cars and trucks have some kind of head,maybe with eyes,so I can still get a read if the driver(computer) sees me or not.I get extra cautious if Im coming thru an intersection and the car waiting to pull out has all blacked out windows.I like to read the drivers and the roads.
Tom

[Rollo]

There are a whole host of issues regarding this and a lot that haven't even been touched on. What if you are taking a road trip to the west coast and live in a state that sill allows fossil fuel vehicles? Are you stopped at the border and denied entry? Another big what is how will the insurance companies weigh in on this. They are going to want to be able to assign liability in case of an accident. Is the vehicle at fault? How does it pay for damages? I too have no answers but I can tell you that the rush to put autonomous vehicles on the road is fraught with questions and problems that have yet to be resolved. Yes there are a lot of people on the planet but they are concentrated and not dispersed and for a myriad of reasons. China's one child policy looked like a great idea at the time but now they are starting to realize the down side of that policy. No males. Just remember one of the scientific principals "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" If people would remember that when dreaming up stuff we might have a more harmonious world. Bash away!

Tom (Rollo) Hardy
AMCA #12766

[fillibuster]

tfburke, ditto. Tom Cotten, grandfather yes. Eric, you must be telepathic -- i caught myself saying the same thing re population.
Perhaps someday you all will wish you lived in South Dakota!

[sny]

The solution to population control is to colonize other planets. In the meantime we can move to South Dakota, limit the damage we do to the environment and make better use of our existing roads. I highly doubt an outright ban on existing ICE vehicles would ever pass (short of something catastrophic happening like the atmosphere changing dramatically and rapidly) however a phasing out of new ICE vehicle sales will likely happen. If the market doesn't do it to itself, it will likely eventually be legislated. Most manufacturers are already committing to that direction anyway. And we should support it for new vehicles as the technology/range is becoming better. There's nothing exciting or special about buying a new gasoline commuter car versus an electric commuter car! Much like there is nothing special about getting your electricity from a coal plant versus a windmill. There is something exciting about clean air and water though and shorter commute times! Now just because you stop producing new ICE vehicles and make new vehicles autonomous doesn't mean you ban existing vehicles. And there is plenty of precedent there already too just look at smog laws and seat belt laws. Both were phased in and old vehicles were grandfathered in as Cotten points to. If there wasn't there would be a lot of posts about how to get that total loss oil flathead with it's toilet paper roll looking carburetor and bird deflector to pass a 2017 smog test! Speaking of smog I was recently taking apart a 1997 Harley and the smog controls were kind of an interesting system... ugly and I doubt they made much of an impact but interesting to see how they worked.

[Rubone]

One word, Pandemic. Coming soon to a world near yours....the sooner the better.

[sny]

Pandemics are autonomous

[sny]

Here’s a link to General Motors investor day slide presentation all about Autonomous Vehicles. Browse through to see how $erious they are

https://www.gm.com/content/dam/gm/ev...set-11-30-2017

[Peter Cooke]

One word, Pandemic. Coming soon to a world near yours....the sooner the better.

It may have already started Robbie.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-d...-rise-in-cases

[AFJ]

It may have already started Robbie.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-d...-rise-in-cases

While there is a bubonic plague problem in Madagascar at present it should be realized that the plague organism is bacterial and is therefore treatable with antibiotics.
Plague was introduced to Australia (Peter Cooke's home) and the United States around the year 1900. It was carried by infected black rats on ships from China. By 1925 plague had been eradicated in Australia and has not appeared there since. In the USA, the last large outbreak was in the Los Angeles area in 1925. Since then a few cases occur each year in western USA, New Mexico being the most recent area with fewer than 10 cases each year with only a few deaths in cases where treatment was delayed.

The idea of a plague "pandemic" runs counter to the present scientific evidence.
AFJ

[T. Cotten]

One word, Pandemic. Coming soon to a world near yours....the sooner the better.

Now there's a real Holiday sentiment...

Glad I don't share "Robbie the Rag"'s world!

Meanwhile, back to vintage motorcycling: Should we support an able organization to lobby for our interests, or just wank about it?

....Cotten

[AFJ]

Meanwhile, back to vintage motorcycling: Should we support an able organization to lobby for our interests, or just wank about it?

....Cotten

Since the AMCA is currently preparing to have a discussion of this issue at their next National board meeting, it would seem logical for AMCA members to put their views as to what could and should be done to protect Antique Motorcycle Club member's rights to use their "non-autonomous" old motorcycles on the nation's public roads before that meeting.
AFJ

[ihrescue]

I really appreciate the thoughtful articles and your objective approach. I doubt we would change the direction of the autonomous vehicle trend but we can be aware and continue to make a case for driver responsibility.

Mike Love