• DrCake@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Who would win. A cyberpunk looking “$30k” robotaxi or one speed bump/pot hole

      • TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org
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        2 months ago

        In the future, there are no potholes or imperfections of any kind. The ground and buildings are smooth, shiny, and constantly maintained to perfection somehow. Everything looks like a starship.

        • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Camera pans down to the lower levels. Dark illuminated streets are visible, illuminated by sparse sunlight that manages to find cracks in the starship like road above. Flickering mismatched neon signs offer work, with long lines of broken humans waiting to find any job not taken over by AI and Optimus robots.

        • JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz
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          2 months ago

          Of course, they will all be made of perfectly smooth glass because they will be Solar FREAKING roadways! Everyone knows this, duhh.

          • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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            2 months ago

            I don’t want to yuck your yum but I think it looks badass. I think the concept is badass. I don’t want to own a car but I also can’t afford a chauffeur. We don’t have much of any public transit in my area. Bike paths are making progress but still not what I would consider safe. An autonomous van that carries 20 passengers would be very cost-effective. It’s not an ideal solution but may be the best one we could actually implement using existing infrastructure and without voter approval.

            Also that bottom part appears to be a similar height to any typical car to me, and is supposedly just an aerodynamic skirt that will fold up if it actually hits anything. That’s what I’ve read but obviously can’t verify.

            • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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              2 months ago

              I think the concept is cool, and it would probably make a good replacement for buses. In my area, we have on-demand vans run by the org that runs the buses, and they basically take people to/from any transit stop in the area. A robovan would replace those, and potentially replace buses as well, and they could run more frequently because you don’t need to have drivers.

              So I absolutely like the idea, but I still think it looks dumb. Why screens instead of windows? Why does it look like it’s from a video game?

              • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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                2 months ago

                Why screens instead of windows?

                I mean theoretically you could use Miracast or similar technology to cast whatever you want onto those displays, whether that’s watching movies/TV or doing work from your computer.

                It has windows.

                Why does it look like it’s from a video game?

                I mean why do vehicles from video games looks like they do? Because they’re cool. You can say a lot of things about Tesla but you can’t call them conventional. Sometimes that’s good, and sometimes not so much. Beauty is subjective.

                • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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                  2 months ago

                  It has windows.

                  On the sides, and they’re like 1/3 of the total length of the vehicle, and on the ceiling. At least from the bit that I saw in the presentation. Buses today have much better visibility.

                  Because they’re cool

                  Nah, I think it’s because it fits the art direction of the game. Cyberpunk has a certain feel, and GTA has another.

                  The robovan and the cybertruck don’t match anything in the real world, or anything that came before. So it sticks out like an eyesore IMO.

                  But yeah, beauty is subjective, and I guess we’ll see what it actually looks like if it ever hits the market.

                  • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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                    2 months ago

                    Yeah, I mean it’s like any art. I may not like it, but I appreciate diversity. In the case of the van, I actually like it. And where other autonomous companies are just taking existing vehicles and modifying them, Tesla represents a new way of thinking about autonomous transport from the ground up, much like they did with electric cars in general.

        • Kwozyman@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Unfortunately a lot of people do. So many people care they made him the richest person in the world. I always hated obscenely rich people, but there’s something special with Musk, he manages to add insult to injury.

      • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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        2 months ago

        No statements on production for the robovan. Cost he said would be $0.05-0.10/mile, though unclear if that was to the owner or to the customer. Double that for the customer and it’s still very cost effective.