"If you have some extra reading time this summer, and don't mind the tech blogs, read up on the driver-less car revolution. Why? Some day your grand kids will ask you if you really did drive a car."
For those who are sick to death of me writing about trains - I hear you. I wish I were done with it also. But so long as we have unelected idiots on a fiat governing panel, I can't let it go. So now you are wondering your second thought - what has happened with trains which is newsworthy since your last article Bird? Nothing directly, but maybe indirectly.
This morning in the Strib was an article about how MN DOT is getting ready for the revolution of driver-less cars. No - this is not something out of an Isaac Asimov or Ray Bradbury novel. This is not science fiction. It is real science which is getting ready to jump out of the laboratory and test range.
I have been reading quite a bit as of late about driver-less cars and trucks. This will not be a minor change to our transportation system - this is a game changer all by itself. Okay - hold on for just a minute! You said this was about trains! It is. The more I learn about the revolution coming in driver-less vehicles (yes, pilot-less planes are not far behind), the more I realize how much the minions are being duped by the government bureaucrats on trains. Trains have no future with us. Never have had, and never will.
Well - that is not exactly true. We will still have trains to deliver freight (very efficient). And they will also be driver (or conductor) less. But here is the dirty little secret that the Met Council train jockeys don't want you to know. What he scientists are finding out with the experiments and computer modeling with driver-less anythings - accidents will be an almost unheard of rarity. As will traffic congestion. The LRT trains which are being designed for the Twin Cities area on the other hand, are subject to all kinds of problems (as well as great expense).
I know the question which is coming from those who read this article this morning. Why in the Sam Hill are we still pouring billions into trains then? Good question. In fact, that is a great question for you representative. I have asked mine, and I know what his answer is on trains. No, heck no, and hell no. Stronger message to follow.
If you have some extra reading time this summer, and don't mind the tech blogs, read up on the driver-less car revolution. Why? Some day your grand kids will ask you if you really did drive a car. Just like most of us can't believer we a one time drove a "standard" transmission with "three on a tree". This next revolution will make going from standard to automatic transmission look like child's play.
It will be amazing, although I cannot find a single article detailing haw we move through the transformation. Not many people can afford Tesla's, although they do have a lower cost version out now. And a smart phone interface will be problematic unless it becomes a requirement for ownership.
ReplyDeleteToday we were Caught in construction zone traffic on Hwy 52 south of town coming back from camping. Self driving vehicles would of done a much better job of merging down to one lane than the idiots we saw.