Slashdot Mirror

They're not all that dumb (or bought). Senator John McCain (R, in case you'd forgotten) said quite a lot of nasty things about the B-21 being a 'cost-plus' contract:

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.c...

Indirect link, but hey.

AC

Some companies have already declared that they'll assume liability for their autonomous vehicles. They do this knowing full well that autonomous vehicles are going to be an order of magnitude or two safer than human drivers, mainly because human drivers, on average, are pretty terrible drivers.

Quite frankly, I'm much concerned about sharing the road with other humans who get distracted, don't pay attention, or drive impaired / recklessly around me, and I'm very much looking forward to the day when vehicular-related deaths are a much more rare occurrence than they are today.

BTW, one more thing humans are notoriously bad at is risk assessment.

Your company had a multi cylinder camless engine being utilized for actual work. I call BS considering the only examples of camless engines have been single cylinder machines retrofitted by researchers and college kids. Proof or gtfo.

Koenigsegg (you know, the supercar company) has had a running four-cylinder prototype car built from a Saab 9-5 for years under their Freevalve (formerly Cargine) division.

http://jalopnik.com/what-its-l...

That article's two years old and they were working on their sixth generation design at the time.

Where is the gain?

The gain is in efficiency. Or, in more output. You decide which. Want to change combustion cycles, whether from otto to miller or even all the way to two stroke? You can do that.

Yes, assuming that you can actually still get the engine to run reliably with the much more complicated system with a much larger number of potential failure modes. A couple more percentage points of fuel efficiency or another horsepower is awesome, but not if your car keeps blinking out due to a lose connection, chafed wire, bad sensor, etc.. These things need to handle the abuse and neglect of owners and maintenance shops and still function most of the time. Cam shafts work, and work well. Any gains would be incremental to the added complexity.

Where is the gain?

The gain is in efficiency. Or, in more output. You decide which. Want to change combustion cycles, whether from otto to miller or even all the way to two stroke? You can do that.

And the US Air Force did plan to operate their own Shuttles, even building a launch site for them (Challenger convinced them to go with expendable launchers instead). But it can't reasonably be claimed the Shuttle itself was a military product.

Here's a really great article on the US Air Force Shuttle program. The pictures are amazing!

They already do.

I think it's a pretty decent deal, honestly. There are a few factors making the Nissan Leaf a good deal. Doug Demuro had a nice post on Jalopnik outlining some of the reasons why they've become so cheap. Admittedly, he exaggerates for humor in his articles, but it's pretty on-the-nose. The man used to manage a Porsche dealership, so he does understand the automotive market reasonably well.

GM went bankrupt in 2009 Why? Apparently because GM was deliberately selling cars with poor reliability so it could make more money selling new cars, and so GM dealers could make more money fixing GM cars.

Here are a few examples: The Ten Worst Cars GM Ever Built.

Apparently, nothing has changed. 2014 General Motors ignition switch scandal.

GM is moving away from being a U.S. company: G.M. Will Import Buicks Made in China to the U.S.

JATO are for beginners. There are far better ways to go fast.

http://jalopnik.com/5481005/vi...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

A Tesla did almost that same trip in just under 59 hours recently: http://jalopnik.com/they-drove... ...they'll get better times every year, I'm sure.

Apparently. http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.c...

Jalopnik has a first person account from a reporter who spent three days in a Virginia jail for doing 93 in a 55 mph zone.

That is because it is using a smaller amount of fuel. The problem with hydrogen cars now is they are still using tanks to store hydrogen, so they make smaller tanks for the hydrogen and use less. Hydrogen has more energy per mass than gasoline. http://jalopnik.com/mazda-once... The future is storing hydrogen in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... and using https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... to produce hydrogen.

I hope it turns out better for them than when they held a press conference to demonstrate their new crash avoidance system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... http://jalopnik.com/5533328/vo... ....or a few months later when their pedestrian avoidance tech proved to be a autonomous Death Race 2000 contender: http://jalopnik.com/5648126/vo...

I hope it turns out better for them than when they held a press conference to demonstrate their new crash avoidance system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... http://jalopnik.com/5533328/vo... ....or a few months later when their pedestrian avoidance tech proved to be a autonomous Death Race 2000 contender: http://jalopnik.com/5648126/vo...

One, how many other automakers in the world have been 'gaming' the system like German automakers apparently have been all along,

Well, in fairness, the same university that found the issue with VW did test a diesel BMW in real world conditions and it passed with flying colors.

And when you say "German automakers", you should say "German automaker". It's only VW (and its subsidiary Audi).

And a number of US large truck manufacturers were previously caught doing the same thing:
http://jalopnik.com/how-the-ep...

a 10 year old kid making one out of cardboard

Batman: "Quick Robin. To the Batmobile!"

Robin: "Damn it, Batman! The rental again?"

nana-nana-nana-nana

What the hell are you on about? All current VW diesel vehicles in the US are using urea exhaust treatment.

Uh, no they weren't. Thus VW's cheating, and this scandal.

As of this week, though, current VW diesel vehicles use urea injection...as the others are have been banned from sales.

Not sure where you live, but in my state, the left lane is for passing. If you linger there while not passing or turning, you are technically violating the law. Here's a map: http://jalopnik.com/5501615/le...

Many other iterations of the law specify that you should not block the "normal flow of traffic", specifically distinct from the "speed limit".

Speeding in a residential area can be more dangerous, but you're still often in the wrong if you're doing exactly the speed limit in the left lane.

I have seen car charging spaces oversubscribed. It is a chore for the electric car drivers to have to go move their car into a space when a space becomes available. This is really lousy when the car charging spaces are far away from where they work, and if the weather is bad. It does not make sense for the store/company to install chargers at every parking space, as it is wasteful.

However, I don't think this tentacle charger is really for those who own the car. Here is an article that suggests the reason why Tesla would do autonomous cars:

http://jalopnik.com/musk-s-deafening-silence-during-tesla-earnings-call-spe-1722577227

A couple months back Uber exec Steve Jurvetson made the offhand comment that if Tesla made 500,000 autonomous cars by 2020, the ride-hailing service would buy every single one. The internet had a laugh and the world moved on.

During the call, a financial analyst asked if that was something Tesla would consider or “does Tesla just cut out the middle man and sell on-demand electric mobility services directly from the company on its own platform.”

After an achingly long six seconds, Musk responded, “that’s an insightful question.” Followed by “I don’t think I should answer it.”

So, you can have uber without the uber drivers.

...and debuted it in their 2015 CLS. Unfortunately, due to federal laws, they couldn't put all the features in the US market: http://jalopnik.com/a-50-year-...

I'm surprised it took this long for the bureaucrats to issue silly regulations. I mean, they're only 20 years behind.

Having looked at the proposed regs, they kinda make sense.... if every Tom, Dick, and Harry were to be driving a self-driving car. If any schmuck with a bit of disposable income had a self-driving car, then overbearingly specific regulations might make sense. However (outside of a perhaps very rare to nonexistent hobbyist (this ain't a cheap game)), all of the self driving cars are owned and operated by large institutions. Since these institutions 1) have deep pockets, and 2) care greatly about their reputation, I can write appropriate regulations in a tweet:

"Self-driving cars shall be bonded for 2 million dollars each against damage to life and property, burden of proof lying against the owner."

Tweak the amount per currency or the value you place on life as you see fit, so long as the amount of the bond is whinging enough to keep out rich fools.

They’re great. I’ve never seen a cell go bad or a module. I’ve had to crack a few open (only twice) and put new cooling fans but other than that they are perfect. The camry and prius burn battery packs like crazy.

It sounds better than some previous ideas...

Firethorn, http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.c... says that the F-35a also is a POS.

wait, I thought that was one of the bells and whistles they were flogging with this.
So why does the pilot need to turn his head to see behind the plane? He shouldn't even need to set down his beer.

And yes, if you're left foot braking you're doing things horribly, horribly wrong.

Says you. Left foot braking has been proven to be quicker, therefore improves stopping distance and reduces chances of a crash.

Citation.

Er every professional racing car driver that needs to stop in a hurry...
Oh but if you need a link to some website then try this: http://jalopnik.com/why-you-sh...
If you can't do it properly that's fine, but it doesn't make to wrong for those of us that can.

Batman getting pulled over in Lamborghini.

http://jalopnik.com/5895956/im-batman-getting-pulled-over-in-a-lamborghini/

I really dig the Elio, both as a consumer and a "car guy."

Then you are in a small minority. It's a fairly impractical design for most people. Most people will think it is pretty ugly too. This article sums up pretty well why it is likely doomed to failure.

But a sub-10,000 dollar automobile that gets fantastic mileage, in America?

A sub-$10K vehicle with limited seating, small cargo capacity, limited practicality in snow, weird looks, three wheels, slow, etc. If all you care about is MPG and don't need to transport anyone or anything then yeah, it might be a fine choice but that doesn't describe many people. It would be utterly useless to me personally. I can assure you that in the winter it wouldn't even get out of my driveway. (That's not hyperbole on my part. My driveway is a challenge even in a 4WD truck with snow tires sometimes)

No, I disagree. If Ford could have built his cars to the level of quality he desired with a cheaper workforce, he would have done so.

Sure, Ford had a strange concern for the morality of his workforce to the extent that he created a sort of "secret police" who monitored off the job employee behavior. But he also obsessed with reducing the costs of his cars and wages are an obvious cost. For example, it took decades for the labor unions to get into Ford plants.

As to the "five dollar day", it was definitely used as propaganda by Ford both for marketing and hiring. Propaganda doesn't mean falsehood. It means distributing information and stories with a particular bias in order to promote a particular viewpoint.

Except that cash-for-clunkers was a COMPLETE failure:

First as an economic program, it was a joke: http://hotair.com/archives/201...

Second, even in terms of the environment, it was a joke: http://jalopnik.com/5973474/su...

The pickup is in the works...

http://jalopnik.com/tesla-will...

Regarding the motorcycle, would you take a harley?

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/1...

This brings us one step closer to DUI Telepresence Crown Victoria Figure-8 racing!

Fortunately pilots are less likely to do it to themselves then drivers are :).

http://jalopnik.com/progressiv...

Min

jalopnik article

'"It's much easier than people think" says Musk, outlining how most of the sensors and systems available right now can handle self-driving duties on the freeway, something Tesla showed off late last year with its AutoPilot features.'

As someone who has spent a career working on safety-critical real-time systems, I can assure you that it's not in any way "much easier than people think". Quite the opposite. Sure, driving a car down a well marked highway on a clear sunny day with little traffic and no system failures is easy. But if you obscure the lane markings in any of a number of ways, add inclement weather, throw out random obstacles, random system failures, etc. the problem gets monumentally harder. Throw in an urban environment with all sorts of other issues just keeps making it harder and harder. And solving all of those problems takes up well over 90% of the effort when designing an autonomous system. Hell, developing something that can recognize the problem in the first place is hard enough. Being able to differentiate between sensor failure and sensors indicating a failure is a non-trivial task. He's full of it if he thinks we're anywhere near having a self driving car that's ready for public consumption.

Sure, there are self driving cars out there on the road. But they have huge engineering and support teams using them as an evaluation platform. And it's good that we have made as much progress as we have. I look forward to seeing the work continue and advance the technology. But it's not an easy task. It's going to take probably decades before we're really ready for a fully autonomous self driving car that's ready for public consumption. We'll probably see some of the technologies work their way into cars between now and then. And that's a good thing too. But it's not going to happen overnight because it's much harder than people think.

We had enough to destroy them 10x over. Being able to do it 20x over doesn't make us any more powerful.

Of course, it does. Your logic only works, if all missiles available will remain operational and reach their targets if launched.

But that's not a valid assumption. Consider, for example, the possibility of one side's launchers — submarines, bombers, mobile launchers, or stationary silos — being disabled and/or taken-over somehow. They aren't run always by the best, unfortunately...

If a mere handful of such installations need to survive for us to remain capable of annihilating the enemy, they would not risk it. But, if our counter-attack requires, say, 50% of them to be operational, the enemy might attempt such an action.

Similar arithmetic applies, if the target's defenses are deemed capable of destroying a significant fraction of incoming missiles. Russia already fears our interception technology, for example, and has its own. If such defenses can take out 90% of the incoming, you do need to fire 10x more. And you better use 20x more to be sure...

No, Elon says it's $35,000 before subsidies.

I'm still mourning the loss of Trapster.

http://jalopnik.com/trapster-w...

I got a ticket doing 65 in the left-most lane; Reason: Car coming up behind me had to break.
It's an enforcable law in most states, that left lane is for active passing only.
More so in Utah, apparently.

The law in ALL 50 states of the US requires that SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT.

What part of that law did you not understand, you brain-dead piece of shit ?

No, it's not the law in ALL 50 states. Though it is the law in most of them:

http://jalopnik.com/5501615/le...

There used to be an adapter to play cassettes in the 8-track players.

I would certainly be interested in a bio-based Diesel oil just from an environmental perspective, but I don't actually need it since my VW is an old one (1998 A4) that doesn't suffer the post-injection problem. It can safely run anything full-synthetic and CF-4 or better, so I usually put Shell Rotella T6 in it.

Incidentally, one of the major reasons I'm still driving that '98 is that (because of their inability to use biodiesel, lower fuel economy, and HPFP failures) I think the new cars are actually not as good as the old ones, which is unfortunate.

My other car runs Valvoline NextGen (which is 50% recycled); even a diesel-spec version of that would be nice...

...The only reason for needing to know if the police are nearby is if one is a criminal and/or thinking of doing something criminal.

(Expecting downvotes from the "all police are pigs" idiots)

I have mod points right now, but rather than downmod you I'll jump into the discussion. While I wouldn't say that all police are pigs, anybody who maintains that the average law abiding citizen has nothing to fear from the police either has his head in the sand, or is trolling. If your qualifier had read "if one might be viewed as a criminal and/or thinking of doing something that the police claim is suspicious in order to further their own ends", I'd agree with you. But then, there wouldn't have been much of a reason for you to post, would there?

Of course, you may actually believe that Driving While Black, clenching your butt, wearing a backpack with graffiti on it, or carrying cash, are crimes simply because they seem suspicious to fucked-up and/or corrupt police. If that's the case, then shame on you.

Norwegians are probably still willing to pay *extra* even for *used* Teslas.

I concur. I have no idea why anybody would want to watch a football game.

Now, here's a sport that *I* would watch.

Anyone who could afford a Karma and wanted electric would have already bought a Tesla S or Roadster.

And given the Karma's perchant for catching on fire if you stare at it funny, going with the Tesla is probably a better idea. At least those only catch fire in accidents and generally in ways that don't consume the entire car.

Seriously, Hurricane Sandy destroyed a fleet of brand new Karmas when they shorted out. Sure, it destroyed a LOT of brand new cars when it flooded the port (about 15,000 cars in total), but the Fiskers were most notable for being the ones that burned completely out.

No, the high voltage EV system isn't at fault. The cause was a short in the 12V system. Something ALL the destroyed cars had in common, and they couldn't get that right.

Hey, the only thing that stopped the flood of Fisker fire news was them going bankrupt. And it's obvious why this Chinese car company has to make changes. Or are we going to have Ford Pinto 2.0? Except instead of just having a bump from the back, just blinking would set them off.

We have them to generate income for the government, specifically local and state government, to the tune of $6.2 billion last year.

While some towns and small municipalities are notorious speed traps, who abuse the law to generate revenue - applying this to all speed enforcement is an outright over generalization.

The fact of the matter is that speed limit enforcement costs our governments more than it takes in. Your assertion only accounts for revenues, and does not take into account the cost of enforcement; such as police, equipment, court costs, collections, and incarceration (states like Virginia criminalize speeding and actually mandate jail time for exceeding the speed limit by greater than 20 MPH).

I posted this reply in another forum in response to a similar claim where I did some quick back-of-a-napkin math in my own county where traffic laws are very aggressively enforced. I'm not trying to pass my post off as especially scientific and of course my statements aren't universal. However, what I wrote does include sources, and I did the same math in another county deeper in the thread. But it does shed significant doubt on the broad generalization that speed enforcement is motivated (either partially or entirely) by governmental revenue enhancement. Here are a few excerpts if you don't feel like reading the whole thread:

Let's take this out of the theoretical and use my own county as a case-study, just to put things in to perspective. (Don't get me wrong, I'm no expert, just a geek who can type things into Google.) Here is my county's revenue's report from 2011. See page 2. Fines and forfeitures came in at $16M in 2011 compared to $2B in real estate taxes. That $16M is a drop in the bucket for state revenues (0.8%). Not a lot of money made, but how does this stack up against what we spend on it?

I'm glad that you asked - here are some more recent examples: In 2014, my county government estimated fines and forfeitures at $14.8M or 0.4% of annual revenues. However, when you look at where the money goes - judicial administration is 0.9% ($33.2M) of the budget and public safety is 12.3% ($442.8M) of the budget...a combined 13.2% of our annual fiscal budget. If you do the math, it simply doesn't add up to a money-making racket for the state. The facts seem to point to a different conclusion - and I don't claim to have the answer as to why and how (although I could probably google for this).

Anyway, hopefully this will shed a bit of doubt on the blanket assumption about speed enforcement for revenue enhancement. That's not to say that speed limits are always correct, or that speed enforcement is usually done with the best of intentions (e.g. to prove that the police are actually doing something - or perhaps for entirely political reasons)...but it should shed reasonable doubt.

http://jalopnik.com/5913416/co...

It has cost billions going into trillions of dollars and the only thing accomplished is the politicians have achieved the back door standing army they have been trying to get since the end of the civil war.

Snell updated the testing some time ago, the AC above is correct and 2009 a piece was run in the NY Times, written by a Motorcyclist editor:
http://jalopnik.com/5582380/ho...

The fundamental flaw was that the Snell testing did not account for the weight of a S-M-L head and the fact that foam density needed to change with head size as head weight changed.

Revised in 2010, and later standards, they did correct the issue. To be fair, Snell was already going to update the standards, they do so every 5 years since 1970.

I don't own a Snell rated helmet because only 2 Modular helmets pass the Snell 2010 tests and neither is the right shape for my head.

I wear a Shoei Multitech, which is ECE and DOT approved.

At least they don't throw your ass in jail for speeding.

Yes, VIrginia is a schizophrenic state. North and DC area is surprisingly liberal for being south of the Mason-Dixon, and having spent some time in the Shennandoah area, they seem to have the idea that Atilla the Hun was a liberal pansy who didn't mete out the death penalty often enough.

Makes for some strange experiences. Fortunately, I get along with them okay. I'm lily white and look Scotch Irish. And can drop in and out of whatever accent I need. I like to go there because it is one of the most stunningly beautiful areas in the country,

Regardless, the dude was speeding way past the speed limit.