Re:Just press go: designing a self-driving vehicle
by jfoutz on Wednesday May 28, 2014 @02:05AM
(#7808611)
I think you're underestimating the amount of pollution/resources that go into making a car. Reducing the overall number of cars produced would offset a huge number of those extra trips.
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Re:Just press go: designing a self-driving vehicle
by newaccountfool on Wednesday May 28, 2014 @02:43AM
(#7808704)
I think people forget about this point, especially tyres. They take a ton of effort to make and you cant really resuse them for much afterwords.
Re:Just press go: designing a self-driving vehicle
by mikeloeb on Wednesday May 28, 2014 @10:32PM
(#7814387)
I keep hearing the "there would be fewer cars" claim, but my counter-claim is that the mileage would be the same, so wear and tear would be the same. Look at how quickly taxis decay to see this.
Furthermore, I looked up reuses for tires. There is already a large, multi-stage chain of reuses and recycling for them, for all kinds of applications, from burning for cement kilns to civil engineering and agricultural products.[0] [1] [2] As one article put it "Those same characteristics, which make waste tires such a problem, also make them one of the most re-used waste materials"
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire_recycling
[1] http://www.designrulz.com/product-design/2012/12/20-ideas-of...
[2] http://www.earth911.com/living/travel-living/recycling-myste...