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GM Unveils Networked Electric Mini Cars
suraj.sun writes "GM introduced its Electric Networked Vehicle prototypes, one third the size of a typical car, as a way to reduce big urban auto emissions and traffic congestion. The EN-V relies on dynamic stabilization technology similar to that of the one-person Segway scooter to keep its balance, and can be operated autonomously or under manual control. In autonomous mode the EN-V is designed to use high-speed wireless connectivity and GPS navigation to automatically select the fastest route, based on real-time traffic conditions gleaned from the Web or some other networked source of traffic information."
"...and can be operated autonomously or under manual control. In autonomous mode the EN-V is designed to use high-speed wireless connectivity and GPS navigation to automatically select the fastest route, based on real-time traffic conditions gleaned from the Web or some other networked source of traffic information."
Seriously? Toyota — the guys who ate your lunch in the marketplace — can't even make a software-gas-pedal work correctly and you're trying to float an EV that navigates autonomously? Good luck with that. You guys need to stick to trying to make what people want now, not what Shatner fanboys are hoping will exist in 20 years. There are so many technical problems here I don't even know where to start. GPS can't detect when little kids run into the road chasing a soccer ball. Trust me, just work on making the Volt not suck, and maybe try to do something like the Aptera, and you'll be just fine.
On a serious note, I don't get why companies introduce "concept" cars with shit they know can never exist in the near future, and with shit no one wants either. If the idea of a concept car is to "WOW" me with all the stuff you're working on making in the next 10 years, how about you start bragging about high density energy storage and biodiesel powerplants that run on algae-derived fuel. This is the stuff people want that isn't practical yet, but might be someday soon[ish]. No one gives a shit about Segway gyro (remember how well the Segway sold?*) and autonomous driving is best left for SciFi films.
*Dean Kamen is a complete badass, though, and despite his misunderstanding of the market, DEKA's other work is amazing.
I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
Why does it have "dynamic stabilization technology" instead of a possibly passive third wheel? Wouldn't it be simpler, cheaper to manufacture and maintain, and much thriftier in its energy use? How much additional energy is used in maintaining balance?
The big problem with automobiles is the problem of space. Modern American cities look like a bomb went off in their downtowns; just a few buildings surrounded by flatness for the sake of parking.
As long as we rely on automobiles for everything, we'll still be consuming too much energy, paying too much to pave too many roads, spending too much money to buy and maintain automobiles, dying in traffic, and wasting time in traffic jams.
Everything besides decreasing auto dependence is just a bandaid. Of course, I wouldn't expect GM to participate in this since they're the ones who killed our public transit system in the first place.
if you are trying to move into my lane, i want my car to be able to send a signal to your car to not allow that to happen. i fully understand the implications and trust our justice system to prosecute rogue signal transmitters. many cars already implement rev limiters, so the only issue is trusting the signal.
Nothing can go wrong with that! Not a thing!
C'mon... I'm not the only one that thought it.
Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
The purpose of that site was not known.
For me, the kicker is the last paragraph. The likely use is to replace bikes and pedestrians in the Third World, not cars in America.
Yup. GM is still trying to move people up the ladder into larger boxes that have more profit per box instead of meeting the demand of people wanting to move down the ladder into smaller boxes that are more efficient but less profitable per unit. But if you hit that untapped market (like the Japanese did in the 80's), it might be better to sell lots and lots of those smaller boxes. This is the muscle car vs. compact story all over again.
http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/11/19/scarab-is-small-scarab-is-fast-scarab-is-hot/ In his MsC thesis that can be requested from the author, he also solves some other traffic problems like flocking in order to reduce commuting time, etc. Basically rationally solving the traffic problem.
This ain't serious, people.
Yet again, they're aiming at inner-city-dwellers who earn more, pay for more expensive accomodation, need to commute smaller distances and are sometimes willing to pay a premium (most of whom use a prius, Merc SMART, bicycle or motorcycle anyway). Hell, segways will pro'lly outsell this.
This product further violates an agreement the general public have with their car - simply put, if you want mass adoption, your car needs to be a car. It needs to be a 5-seater you can pack your friends/family into, not a souped-up golf-cart. Which this is.
This is a gimick that will be dabbled with in a test site or two, and phased away.
GM are busy being the PALM of the automotive industry. We should be setting our eyes on the company that's busy being a Google or an Apple... way more serious and will pro'lly completely overhaul (read: improve on sufficiently for us to want it) how we see, buy and use cars:
http://www.brr.com.au/event/58986/partner/theaustralian
(and several days ago, this: http://www.abc.net.au/insidebusiness/content/2010/s2851753.htm).
yanks: coming your way soon as well.
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To be honest I'd rather ride a freaking bicycle than this boring enclosed driverless segway. Future tech used to be cool, fast and just plain kick ass. But now its just suck ass, partly due to the whole global warming doomsday environmentalist 'green' 'anything you do is a sin' mentality & paranoid obsession with safety that has been going around.
There should be less of this type of slow driverless segway and more Tesla Roadster, Wrightspeed X1 or even a practical 4 seater without worthless gimmicks like integrated twitter and facebook. There is no reason at all why electric cars should be slow, ugly and boring or even as impractical as this thing is. Basically where is my flying car and get off my lawn.
I don't think this will sell well as most cars and trucks because it's so small. It's like a Prius, small and 'cutesy'. Thing is most people when they buy a vehicle want big, bold/macho, not small and tiny. This is why so many people own trucks, not because they have a need to use it to load things from point a to point b, it's because they want it to be big and send a type of message.
People want their 'must-always-have-with-me' electronics small, but something that isn't meant for your pocket is wanted more as bigger is better.
Attention... all grammer nazi"s! Is they're anything; wrong with: my post,
Lean over here so I can smack you.
According to the article, they acknowledge that their target market is not the US, but it's a prototype for the kind of vehicles that will be needed in the future, a future where cities are more crowded than they are now. Peoples' needs will change and autos will adapt to meet them. It's narrow-minded to dismiss concepts like this as a folly.
I have been living since January 2009 in the suburb of Washington DC and why I commute by bike I have ample opportunity to see if people go out in their gardens. ;)
They don't.
During the entire spring, summer and autumn of 2009 I had barely seen 10 times people and kids doing things outside.
So go ahead and yell, "get off my lawn" but at least come and step on it yourself sometimes
...when I look at something like this is why does it has to look so ugly and off balance?
The second is how do I fight my way to work and back in wind and rain and snow? On streets with bone-breaking potholes only a Jeep Cherokee could love.
I believe you mean "Eutopia" (Good place), as opposed to "Utopia" (Unplace or Notplace).
needs to be at autopilot software standards and not rush past QA xbox360 standards.
That 0.01% you pulled out of your ass like all good statistics, comes on TOP of the regular crashes.
So a Toyota driver has a change of a regular accident + a stuck pedal. On the whole, people tend not want to add to their odds of having an accident.
Although personally, I think the whole case smells. I find it a bit convenient that while their have been real problems in this area with several car makers, only Toyota (the car company that has been slaughtering US car makers) is constantly reported on. In the US...
But their are problems with x-by-wire systems. The Airbus that thought it was landing during a airshow in France is just one clear cut case. The problem isn't so much with the systems itself, it is that we tend to rely to much on it to the point that the systems become magic. A russian aircraft crashed because its auto-pilot was partially dis-engaged by a child in the cockpit. The pilots never got it, because the system was too automatic. Old russian systems simply made a sound when the auto-pilot was interrupted, the modern airbus did not. And people died.
Another case, airplane follows a radio beacon down to the runway. Turns out they got the wrong chart and the beacon has been moved. Airplane is landed on hilly terrain rather then tarmac.
Systems are only as good as the people that designed them and they don't know everything. If they did, the Mars rovers would have been fully autonomous.
With a recent train accident in Belgium it has now been suggested that the signal that should have told the driver to stop was disabled, by the magnetic field of another train. This is known to happen on the new Dutch highspeed railnetwork. A fortune invested, countless delays, endless safety checks and they only find out when it is finished that electric trains cause a magnetic field...
Take a look while you are driving. How many cars drive with broken parts? In this new system, will those parts also be broken? Someone driving with a missing collision detection laser? That won't work.
No, these systems can be made to work, but you need to be extremely critical during each step.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
economics.
It isn't technical or insurance or litigation but economics.
What does your car do when you are not using it? Nothing. you spent 30 thousand on a new car and iit spends 99% of it's time doing nothing.
Well a sefl drive car doesn't have to do nothing. It can speed over town 24 hours per day 365 days per year taking people here and there. It can spread the 30 thousand cost over thousands of people an d thousands of journeys.
What this means is that any individual who blows 30 grand on a new car will be at a serious economic disadvantage to someone who simply calls a self drive taxi company and spends 1/30 thousandth of the cost on each journey.
My subject line is a troll, they can exist, but the market is as taxis and the market is far smaller than for individual cars. A taxi can make 50 journeys for a personal car's 2 way commute. Which means the producers have to get 50 time smaller. Good business model. No?
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I would love to see this car in the snow... or trying to balance itself on ice...
And getting 40km of autonomy at -30C, with the heater on.
Try it! Library of Babel
the result is called PRT.
http://www.atsltd.co.uk/
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so how long before the oil companies shut this down?
Be seeing you...