Ask Lemmy
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected].
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected] or [email protected]
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
view the rest of the comments
Self driving cars.
We are on the early stages currently; ignore what Tesla/musk says; in 10 - 20 years full level 5 autonomy will be common place.
In the 80's the Cray 1 supercomputer was made, now I have so much more computer power in my pocket its frankly ridiculous. And it's runs on milliwatts rather than kilowatts.
I work in the automotive industry. I believe we could be there in 10 to 20 years, but I'm not convinced we will be there.
Specifically, because vehicle autonomy has been a big buzz word in the industry for a decade or so, and it's starting to lose its zing. And when buzzwords lose their zing, the money dries up and the industry moves on.
Things like speed-adjusting cruise control and lane-keeping assistance, for example, are trivial to implement from a technological standpoint and don't cost much to add. But they don't show up in too many vehicles, because consumers stopped caring. I worked on a trailer backup assistance feature in a 2015 pickup that added zero production cost, but very few vehicles implement anything like that. Not because they're not valuable features, but because the industry loses interest and moves on.
The automotive feature that boggles me most is 4-wheel steering (where the rear wheels can move about 10 degrees or so). I've driven a vehicle with this feature, and it's an absolute game-changer. And it doesn't cost that much to implement either. Too bad the big OEMs don't care, because once you've driven one, you want it on every vehicle ever. Sigh.
End rant.
Besides parking, what other benefit is there for 4-wheel steering?
General maneuverability is the main benefit. The back wheels more closely follow the front wheels, so for situations like a curved drive-through (curbs on both sides) or even just making turns on roads with narrow lanes, it's easier to not clip the curb (or other vehicles) on the inside of your turn. And at high speeds, you can implement "crab walk" to make lane changes easier. It makes a big difference with towing as well.
There is a massive profit motive, especially for trucking companies.
When there is enough money tho be made, it will be implemented.
I agree the logistics industry wants it. Though I think there may be problems to be solved for autonomous deliveries outside of the driving aspect (that is, the driver does a lot more than just drive). So I wonder if it'll pick up more if some of the other roadblocks for that are resolved...