[GPSCC-chat] [Fwd: [TASC Notes:] The Future of the Automobile]

Gerry Gras gerrygras at earthlink.net
Wed Dec 15 13:02:49 PST 2010 

Maybe it is time to call then Good Americans.  There are
probably more of them than there were good Germans.
(I say that based on the fact that the population of
the U.S. is much greater than the population of Germany,
about 300,000,000 vs. 90,000,000.)

Gerry


Brian Good wrote:
>
>
> I'm sure Steven G. Bradbury doesn't sound like part of the Rice network,
> either.
> He used to live at the hippie commune Synergy House. But that didn't
> stop him
> from writing memos at the DoJ Office of Legal Counsel that authorized
> enhanced
> interrogations.
>
> These Good Germans make me sick.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  > Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2010 12:19:50 -0800
>  > From: tnharter at aceweb.com
>  > To: sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
>  > Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] [Fwd: [TASC Notes:] The Future of the
> Automobile]
>  >
>  > Nope. Not a word about anything in your first paragraph. He did say that
>  > it's unlikely autonomous cars will be regular sights on the road soon,
>  > mainly because of the liability issues. He said that vision for robots
>  > under the hood is a problem for cars because it's hard to keep the
>  > sensors clean over the typical life of a car.
>  >
>  > He did say that between him and his wife, they put an average of 6,000
>  > miles on the family car "because driving isn't fun the way it once was."
>  > I liked that answer.
>  >
>  > The guys background was in cars for the public. He didn't sound like
>  > part of the Rice network.
>  >
>  > Tian
>  >
>  > Brian Good wrote:
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > Did he mention the fact that the immediate beneficiaries of the
>  > > Autonomous Vehicle
>  > > work the CARS program is doing will obviously be the military, who can
>  > > use it to create
>  > > driverless vehicles with infra-red vision to go around killing
>  > > everything with a pulse? Did
>  > > he mention that it will enable such vehicles to be disposable?
>  > >
>  > > I bet he doesn't like to think about that. I don't know how those
>  > > people sleep at
>  > > night. Stanford is getting to be famous for some really shameful
>  > > stuff--Rehnquist,
>  > > O'Connor, Rice, and now robot suicide bombers.
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > > Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:26:35 -0800
>  > > > From: tnharter at aceweb.com
>  > > > To: sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
>  > > > Subject: [GPSCC-chat] [Fwd: [TASC Notes:] The Future of the
> Automobile]
>  > > >
>  > > >
>  > > >
>  > > > -------- Original Message --------
>  > > > Subject: [TASC Notes:] The Future of the Automobile
>  > > > Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2010 04:09:30 EST
>  > > > From: TNHarter at aol.com
>  > > > To: undisclosed-recipients:;
>  > > >
>  > > >
>  > > >
>  > > >
>  > > > >
>  > > > > * Sven A. Beiker, PhD
>  > > > *
>  > > > > * The Future of the Automobile*
>  > > > >
>  > > > > Sven Beiker is Executive Director, Center for Automotive
> Research at
>  > > > > Stanford (CARS), the interdisciplinary automotive affiliates
> program
>  > > > > at Stanford University. The vision of CARS is to create a community
>  > > > > of faculty and students from a range of disciplines at Stanford
> with
>  > > > > leading industry researchers to radically re-envision the
> automobile
>  > > > > for unprecedented levels of safety, performance,
> sustainability, and
>  > > > > enjoyment. Their mission is to discover, build, and deploy the
>  > > > > critical ideas and innovations for the next generation of cars and
>  > > > > drivers.
>  > > > >
>  > > > > Before joining Stanford University, Sven worked at the BMW
> Group for
>  > > > > more than 13 years, and has worked in three major automotive and
>  > > > > technology locations: Germany, Silicon Valley, and Detroit. Since
>  > > > > Spring 2009 Sven has been teaching a Stanford class on "The Future
>  > > > > of the Automobile" to educate students in interdisciplinary
>  > > > > automotive thinking and to get them involved with the industry
>  > > > > early on.
>  > > > >
>  > > > > Sven will describe his work at CARS to bring research with
> automotive
>  > > > > interest from industry and academia together, and his vision
> for the
>  > > > > automobile's future.
>  > > > >
>  > > > Sven began by giving us a brief history of the automobile,
> starting with
>  > > > the first true self powered and steered car back in 1885 in Germany.
>  > > > He explained that in those early days there was lots of debate about
>  > > > engine configuration, steering and so forth. The second period of car
>  > > > history change was driven by different drive trains, chassis, and
>  > > options.
>  > > > These matters have been mostly mature technologies since the 1970s.
>  > > > More recently safety issues, driver assistance, and crash safety have
>  > > > been factors in changing car design.
>  > > >
>  > > > Moving forward, the main challenges for car design that CARS have
>  > > > identified are safety (last year 1,200,000 people died in traffic
>  > > > Accidents worldwide and 34,000 in the United States), efficiency
>  > > > (last year the average commuter spent 36 hours per year stuck in
>  > > > traffic), pollution (last year 1.9 million tons of CO2 were emitted
>  > > > by the transportation sector), and cost (the average consumer
>  > > > spends $8,758 per year for transportation).
>  > > >
>  > > > Driver assistance is one area where Sven sees a lot of room for
>  > > > innovation. One reason is that human error plays a role in many
>  > > > accidents. Another is that computers can run the engine of a car
>  > > > much more efficiently than most drives. Another thing is that the
>  > > > legal challenges involved with a self driving car give the auto
> industry
>  > > > nightmares. The liability is unclear in case of an accident. Car
>  > > companies
>  > > > are already releasing cars with things like adaptive cruise
> control that
>  > > > came from driver assistance research. Sven expects more of that in
>  > > > the future.
>  > > >
>  > > > Electric drive is more efficient than internal combustion engines,
>  > > > if you look at just one car and its power source. The problem is that
>  > > > there are many questions to be answered about where to get the
>  > > > power for millions of cars. That is an area where a lot of research
>  > > > is still to be done.
>  > > >
>  > > > Connectivity is another area where a lot of research is being done.
>  > > > Areas such as vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication and vehicle
>  > > > to infrastructure (V2I) are being explored to find ways to add to the
>  > > > safety of driving. A big stumbling block is the question "who
> will pay
>  > > > for the infrastructure upgrades?" There are regulatory decisions
>  > > > about that coming in the 2013 time frame. In the mean time, cell
>  > > > phones are turning out to be good interfaces for many needs.
>  > > >
>  > > > Looking forward, Sven expects plug in hybrid cars to become more
>  > > > common by 2020 while it remains to be seen how battery electric
>  > > > vehicle will catch on.
>  > > >
>  > > > Tian Harter
>  > > >
>  > > > --
>  > > > Tian
>  > > > http://tian.greens.org
>  > > > Latest change: Added a picture of 2010's quarters culled from
> junk mail.
>  > > > The manga video pin I got in '04 is on an American Samoa quarter now.
>  > > > _______________________________________________
>  > > > sosfbay-discuss mailing list
>  > > > sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
>  > > > http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  > >
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>  >
>  > --
>  > Tian
>  > http://tian.greens.org
>  > Latest change: Added a picture of 2010's quarters culled from junk mail.
>  > The manga video pin I got in '04 is on an American Samoa quarter now.
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