Concept Cars & Community Homes!

[Magón]

Future Car Story (http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/01/09/cars.future.ces/index.html)

Interesting take on cars and what they could become like in the future?

Concept Community Home (http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/01/05/eco.ark.building/index.html)

Pretty creative and interesting look at homes and the way people could live in the future.


Discuss what you think of these two stories?

[Quail]

The concept community home thing looks like a really good idea. Communities that can generate their own power could be a brilliant solution to the environmental issues around providing power. From the pictures, it looks pretty nice to live in as well (at least in my opinion).

The cars look good, although if they were to be practical for the average family, they'd have to be bigger than the ones in the video. I think that if I had a car that could drive itself, I'd probably only use that feature if I was going on a long journey, or if I didn't know the way. (Sometimes I end up missing a turning, driving back round and missing it again and so on. A car that could drive itself would be so useful in that kind of situation.) I find driving fun and relaxing (unless I'm stuck in traffic or something).

[Kotze]

Interesting take on cars and what they could become like in the future?To me, these car-of-the-future stories all sound like, "Thinking outside the box: The future of wife-beating." You know. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nblloyd/3399179623/)

[The Vegan Marxist]

Can we just say that Jacque Fresco, the Venus Project, and those of the NOS and the rest of the technocracy movement were right, and get on with it? lol I mean, all that's really left is to start energy accounting and it's all uphill from there.

[Rafiq]

That house has Communism written all over it.

[Rafiq]

To me, these car-of-the-future stories all sound like, "Thinking outside the box: The future of wife-beating." You know. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nblloyd/3399179623/)

Not to take hostility toward the opinion that cars may whither away in the future, but are you honestly comparing driving a car to beating your wife?

[Magón]

That house has Communism written all over it.

Why?

[The Vegan Marxist]

Why?

Energy efficient, can provide thousands with adequate shelter, why not? lol

[Kotze]

@Chapayev: Asking what cars in cities will be like in the future is a loaded question, and so is the classic and less subtle "Do you still beat your wife?" — which I was alluding to.

Just look at this crap:
It's conventional wisdom in the auto industry, but the rest of us may be a bit shocked to find out that cars of the future likely will drive themselves. Blahblahblah. It senses how far away other cars are -- and then speeds up and slows down accordingly. Blahblahblah, useful for cutting down congestion in urban settings, particularly high-density cities in China and India, [some other nutcase] said.My beef with the article isn't just assuming cars in the future, but cars in dense city traffic. Anywhere else than rural areas cars are the wrong concept. Cars cannot manage the load that bus and metro can do. The inherent difference between these modes of transportation is so big that there is no way to engineer around this. It's a dead end.
The EN-V (pronounced "envy" and short for "Electric Networked Vehicle") combines two ideas about how to teach cars to drive -- using sensors like cameras and sonar to keep the car from hitting pedestrians; and network technology that lets cars talk to each other.

This "car internet" lets the cars link up wirelessly and follow one another in a sort of wirelessly linked train.It gets better:
The pod-like cars, which are just prototypes for now (GM says they could be on the market by 2030 at a cost of $10,000), look somewhat like large scuba-diver helmets, or smushed dust busters. They roll on two wheels, which are aligned like the front two wheels of a car, not like a bicycle. GM partnered with Segway, maker of those futuristic-looking transporters, to create technology that allows the car to balance.

"It's basically a dynamically balanced skateboard," said [that other nutcase guy], GM's director of [insanity].Look at all these variables. What could possibly go wrong?

Okay, CNN guy. Picture this: A sort of physically linked train of passenger cars, that doesn't require the passengers to steer it, that keeps track of its track by using tracks, and that avoids hitting pedestrians (and also weather problems) by moving through underground tunnels. How about that?

[Rafiq]

Why?

Because, it would be something we might imagine in Communeism.

They are a better alternative to what we have today.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

The dwelling is a good idea, but the car is a terrible one. A dinky two-seater with hardly any cargo space and a high centre of gravity? What possible use could that serve that other types of wheeled transport do not?

Self-drive isn't a bad idea, but doesn't require the horrible design these cars have.

[Sixiang]

I think that concept community home is a great idea. And I agree, it does have communism written all over it :p. I'm not even science-savvy and it seems simple to understand and makes a lot of sense to me.

[Magón]

The dwelling is a good idea, but the car is a terrible one. A dinky two-seater with hardly any cargo space and a high centre of gravity? What possible use could that serve that other types of wheeled transport do not?

Self-drive isn't a bad idea, but doesn't require the horrible design these cars have.

I agree, the cars are not the best for most places. Including where I live where going into the city, there's nothing but steep hills to be climbed and gone down. Some people are even afraid of going down them because the angle of them are so sharp, you feel like you're going to drop off into space. But I think the idea of them is alright for other places, where there might be a lot of cars like today, that take up a lot more space than is needed.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

I agree, the cars are not the best for most places. Including where I live where going into the city, there's nothing but steep hills to be climbed and gone down. Some people are even afraid of going down them because the angle of them are so sharp, you feel like you're going to drop off into space. But I think the idea of them is alright for other places, where there might be a lot of cars like today, that take up a lot more space than is needed.

The thing is, I reckon as far as practicality is concerned, Subcompact (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcompact_car) cars represent the lower limit for four-wheeled vehicles. If you're not moving heavy items that aren't practical to carry on mass transit, what need have you of a private motor vehicle?

But that is the problem - people are expected to own their own vehicles, which then spend 90% of their time sitting on the kerb being useless and clogging up narrow streets.

A much better arrangement would be for people to have access a to a communal motorpool which provides a range of specialist and leisure vehicles that one can take out and use on an "as-needed" basis. As soon as you return it, the vehicle can be checked over, cleaned and/or repaired if necessary, and be ready for someone else to use. Motorpools can be arranged like clubs, with people devoting some of their own time to help repair and clean vehicles in exchange for access to the motorpool.

[Magón]

The thing is, I reckon as far as practicality is concerned, Subcompact (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcompact_car) cars represent the lower limit for four-wheeled vehicles. If you're not moving heavy items that aren't practical to carry on mass transit, what need have you of a private motor vehicle?

But that is the problem - people are expected to own their own vehicles, which then spend 90% of their time sitting on the kerb being useless and clogging up narrow streets.

A much better arrangement would be for people to have access a to a communal motorpool which provides a range of specialist and leisure vehicles that one can take out and use on an "as-needed" basis. As soon as you return it, the vehicle can be checked over, cleaned and/or repaired if necessary, and be ready for someone else to use. Motorpools can be arranged like clubs, with people devoting some of their own time to help repair and clean vehicles in exchange for access to the motorpool.

Maybe that's what these little cars will be made to do in the future?

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Maybe that's what these little cars will be made to do in the future?

Maybe, but why go to the bother of designing a microscopic city car and associated motorpool infrastructure when a tram or underground rail system will do the job just as well?

No, better to use mass transportation and use the communal motorpool concept to fill in the gaps.

[Magón]

Maybe, but why go to the bother of designing a microscopic city car and associated motorpool infrastructure when a tram or underground rail system will do the job just as well?

No, better to use mass transportation and use the communal motorpool concept to fill in the gaps.

That's what I meant. If the motorpool concept you're talking about is to be used, why not use these cars as the ones to be taken from the communities motorpool? I mean, unless your talking about the motorpool concept being for personal long distance drives, then we might want to find different cars/form of transport besides aircraft, etc. But then again, not everyone is going to want to ride on a bus, train, light-rail, etc. to get around the city. I mean, you can't expect every train, bus, whatever to stop near wherever it is you might be trying to get to. (Even though I do see cities in the future being more compact and efficient than say the ones nowadays.)

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

That's what I meant. If the motorpool concept you're talking about is to be used, why not use these cars as the ones to be taken from the communities motorpool? I mean, unless your talking about the motorpool concept being for personal long distance drives, then we might want to find different cars/form of transport besides aircraft, etc.

I'm not sure what you're getting at here. I imagine the kind of vehicles available would depend on the location of the motorpool - microcars for leisurely pottering around large but compact cities, dune buggies for desert locales, ATVs/4x4s for rural areas, and jetskis/powerboats for motorpools next to significant bodies of water.


But then again, not everyone is going to want to ride on a bus, train, light-rail, etc. to get around the city. I mean, you can't expect every train, bus, whatever to stop near wherever it is you might be trying to get to. (Even though I do see cities in the future being more compact and efficient than say the ones nowadays.)

If you place mass transit stops so that they are within a reasonable walking distance of their neighbours (about half a mile to a mile), then your only excuse is extreme laziness or infirmity. In which case, locations adjacent to mass transit stops can have escalators and moving walkways (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_walkway) integrated within their structures to aid such people.

[Magón]

I'm not sure what you're getting at here. I imagine the kind of vehicles available would depend on the location of the motorpool - microcars for leisurely pottering around large but compact cities, dune buggies for desert locales, ATVs/4x4s for rural areas, and jetskis/powerboats for motorpools next to significant bodies of water.

What I was getting at, was exactly what you said. You'd have specific motorpools for these microcars, ATVs, etc. that people can get to.

[Rêve Rouge]

Those community bio-domes seem like a wonderful concept! A good sustainable way of living that benefits both people and the environment. As for those cars, I agree with NoXion. Imagine everyone driving around in those cars. Talk about traffic mayhem waiting to happen. I think more time should be spent on planning out mass transportation methods such as monorails, rather than little individualized cars that might take up more traffic space.