I wish we could somehow make a huge self-driving car that could link up to other cars. Maybe we could even have specialized roads for them where they can go on rails or something to help conserve the car’s battery and even recharge it.
Yeah I often imagine something like a self driving podbike “robotaxi”. It weights ~65kg and needs a tiny fraction of the energy to reach 50kmh (30mph) in a city. Or better a longer version with 2 seats facing each other (for two people or for shopping bags).
For longer travels you could even have “roll-on/roll-off” trains so you could get in from your home, roll on and then roll off while staying in a comfortable compartment.
I’d love to know how a “robotaxi train” would compare with public transport in terms of embodied and expended energy. My guess is that it’s rather close and would be much more popular, and easier to maximize utilization, hence more easy to make real.
I mean… I know that your are implying using trains… But trains don’t work on all situations, and something like you say that is a middle ground but that doesn’t depend on rails which is basically the limitating factor in some cases due the height differences or other related issues wouldn’t be that bad.
I wish we could somehow make a huge self-driving car that could link up to other cars. Maybe we could even have specialized roads for them where they can go on rails or something to help conserve the car’s battery and even recharge it.
yes, and we could add one more rail to make it not need a battery at all. I think that would be a nice addition, as batteries are expensive…
Also make it like 300km/h fast
600
Maybe we could even make suspend cables in the air to power them. Seems cheaper than one more rail.
Better for the environment, too!
I love re-deriving the train with people as a thought experiment
I love when carbrains do it themselves 😂
🎵 Deriving that train, high on cocaine
Yeah I often imagine something like a self driving podbike “robotaxi”. It weights ~65kg and needs a tiny fraction of the energy to reach 50kmh (30mph) in a city. Or better a longer version with 2 seats facing each other (for two people or for shopping bags).
For longer travels you could even have “roll-on/roll-off” trains so you could get in from your home, roll on and then roll off while staying in a comfortable compartment.
I’d love to know how a “robotaxi train” would compare with public transport in terms of embodied and expended energy. My guess is that it’s rather close and would be much more popular, and easier to maximize utilization, hence more easy to make real.
https://youtu.be/GcKUYbChE3A?t=671
He calls them gigataxies and terataxies
I mean… I know that your are implying using trains… But trains don’t work on all situations, and something like you say that is a middle ground but that doesn’t depend on rails which is basically the limitating factor in some cases due the height differences or other related issues wouldn’t be that bad.