Driverless Cars

[3930dave]

We'll have complete surveillance here eventually, but it's going to take longer.

The PRC setup has advantages....... continuous monitoring is attractive for a few reasons; makes automating speeding tickets easy, for one....

Speaking of that.... once the gas taxes are gone, and all vehicles are Level 5 driverless (therefore no speeding-ticket revenue.....), what is the govt plan to replace those major revenue streams ?

I'd like to be wrong, but living off-grid is likely to get even more attractive than it is now.......

Rgds, D.

 

[prof fate]

Article in teh paper here that Ohio is having revenue issues - cars are more efficient, using less gas, so gas tax revenues are down.

I live in PA..highest gas taxes in the nation.
Turnpike has raised tolls every year for 11 years now I think, and have said they plan to do so for the next 30 YEARS!

We'll have complete surveillance here eventually, but it's going to take longer.

The PRC setup has advantages....... continuous monitoring is attractive for a few reasons; makes automating speeding tickets easy, for one....

Speaking of that.... once the gas taxes are gone, and all vehicles are Level 5 driverless (therefore no speeding-ticket revenue.....), what is the govt plan to replace those major revenue streams ?

I'd like to be wrong, but living off-grid is likely to get even more attractive than it is now.......

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Article in teh paper here that Ohio is having revenue issues - cars are more efficient, using less gas, so gas tax revenues are down.

That's a significant part of why "Green" is a moving target..... you need new crises to justify new taxes.

I'm for a clean environment, I just have no time for somebody blowing smoke you know where.....

Rgds, D.

 

[Looking4new]

Driverless cars are a replacement for brainless drivers.

 

[Oaktree]

We'll have complete surveillance here eventually, but it's going to take longer.

The PRC setup has advantages....... continuous monitoring is attractive for a few reasons; makes automating speeding tickets easy, for one....

Speaking of that.... once the gas taxes are gone, and all vehicles are Level 5 driverless (therefore no speeding-ticket revenue.....), what is the govt plan to replace those major revenue streams ?

I'd like to be wrong, but living off-grid is likely to get even more attractive than it is now.......

I hear ya, but that's not something most people would want to do. I am surprised as to how little push back there is from the public on these privacy issues though.

As far as replacing gas tax revenue, seems to me the solution would be easy...since most states have some sort of annual vehicle safety and/or emissions inspection where your OBD port is connected to a computer that phones home to the mothership at the DMV, it would be an easy matter for to log mileage, calculate a tax rate per mile and send you a bill, maybe make it part of the registration fee. Obviously, it wouldn't be quite so easy on pre-1996 vehicles, but they're getting more and more scarce every year. By the time eco-cars made up the majority of what's on the road very few of the older ones would still exist.

 

[prof fate]

Did anyone see 60 minutes last night? (mar 2)

A lawsuit has been filed against the US gov't by a lawyer representing kids from across the USA regarding global warming/green house gas emmissions/carbon emmissions - they allegde the US govt is encouraging the use of fossil fuels (thru drilling, tax breaks to oil companies and gas and coal industries) and not doing enough to encourage 'green' tech, and therefore are causing global warming and therefore reducing the 'pursuit of liberty, happiness' and the like of future generations.

The USGovt has been appealing and filing motions - and losing them all.

teh lawyer said "we have facts. and facts are facts. alternative facts are perjury"...

 

[3930dave]

Did anyone see 60 minutes last night? (mar 2)

A lawsuit has been filed against the US gov't by a lawyer representing kids from across the USA regarding global warming/green house gas emmissions/carbon emmissions - they allegde the US govt is encouraging the use of fossil fuels (thru drilling, tax breaks to oil companies and gas and coal industries) and not doing enough to encourage 'green' tech, and therefore are causing global warming and therefore reducing the 'pursuit of liberty, happiness' and the like of future generations.

The USGovt has been appealing and filing motions - and losing them all.

teh lawyer said "we have facts. and facts are facts. alternative facts are perjury"...

opcorn: opcorn: opcorn: opcorn: opcorn: opcorn: opcorn: opcorn: opcorn:

..... we're gonna need a lot more popcorn......... D.

 

[3930dave]

I hear ya, but that's not something most people would want to do. I am surprised as to how little push back there is from the public on these privacy issues though.

As far as replacing gas tax revenue, seems to me the solution would be easy...since most states have some sort of annual vehicle safety and/or emissions inspection where your OBD port is connected to a computer that phones home to the mothership at the DMV, it would be an easy matter for to log mileage, calculate a tax rate per mile and send you a bill, maybe make it part of the registration fee. Obviously, it wouldn't be quite so easy on pre-1996 vehicles, but they're getting more and more scarce every year. By the time eco-cars made up the majority of what's on the road very few of the older ones would still exist.

A modern society needs (or at least wants) large quantities of energy to function. When the diesel engine was emerging in Europe, the British govt studied it, and almost literally overnight, imposed a huge new tax on what was the tiny-at-the-time, diesel fuel market. That fast-tax ramp happened just before the end of the steam-age.

Implementing taxes is pretty much the only activity that you can count on all govts to move quickly on.

Any # of scenarios will/could play out.......... one of the simplest is just crank the ______ out of electricity taxes. One of the favourite techniques here is to load in "special" taxes, then add GST (our VAT) on top. Unless you failed grade IV arithmetic, it's pretty clear how fast that compounds....

Once the honeymoon is over...... (free electricity and special lane privileges are gone, tax breaks stop, and electricity costs ramp)..... it will be interesting to see how many EV fanboys are left.....

I think you'll get more interest from a beagle that you are trying to teach Esperanto, than you will trying to engage much of the public in privacy concerns......

Rgds, D.

 

[prof fate]

The carbon tax has been talked about for years. Similar to recycling electronics - the maker becomes responsible for the 'leftovers' that today they don't have to pay for.

The carbon goes up the smokestack and out the tailpipe and nobody pays - well, pays now today in money. We ALL pay in other ways, and some things have been done - unleaded fuel, low sulpher diesel, catalitic converters on gas engines and DPF on tractors and trucks.

More solar/wind/nuke and even, supposedly, natural gas over coal (fact or 'alternative fact' I don't know).

teh 60 minutes info - Climate change: What 1 presidents have known - 6 Minutes - CBS News

You KNOW it's bad, you KNOW it's a problem - and you do nothing about it. SO they lawsuit claims about 10 presidents and congress and EPA etc.

It's not in the constitution that any of us have a right to clean air, clean water, etc....yet we all want it, right?

 

[3930dave]

Driverless cars are a replacement for brainless drivers.

If we replaced the brains, they'd come from donors named Abbey.......... Normal that is.......

Always loved Mel Brooks.....

Rgds, D.