WEBVTT - Underground Robotic Highways 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:14.120 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:17.960 This is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. And you know, Julie, 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:20.520 I was. I've been thinking about The Time Machine a 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:23.959 lot lately in preparation with this particular podcast. I have 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:26.360 you ever read H. G. Wells The Time Machine? I 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:29.040 have not. Oh well, I had not until like the 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:30.880 past couple of years. We ended up like picking it 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:34.120 up and and uh, you know, it's it holds up 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:37.880 surprisingly well. Like it's it's a much much more beautiful 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:40.680 novel than one might expect if you're not, you know, 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:43.880 really familiar with with the actual writings of H. G. 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:46.240 Wells and are more familiar with just his ideas and 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:49.280 they end up popping up in our movies and pop culture. 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:51.760 And not to say that the ideas are not fabulous, 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:55.240 but but for an older book, it it holds up 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:57.720 really well. And one of the key ideas in it 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:02.400 when when our time traveler character Um travels an enormous 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:07.640 distance into the future, he finds that society has a 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:11.200 surface world and a sub world, and the surface world 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:14.559 is all tiny little dream people just having a great time, 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:19.000 while the underworld is the domain of the morlocks. And 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:22.039 these are just hulking monsters that do all the grunt work. 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:25.760 They maintain the machinery, so all the pretty stuff on 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:30.240 the surface, all of the necessary mechanics and infrastructure underneath, 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:33.200 and uh in the in the book, it's kind of 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:36.040 a well, it is a nightmaric vision because it's because 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:38.200 the people on the surface are stupid from not having 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:40.800 to do anything in the people underground or monsters. And 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:42.160 it all has to do with you know, the the 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:45.080 you know, what is the you know, the industrialization of 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:49.680 of society doing to us. But um, you know, I'm 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:54.320 not arguing that having cannibalistic creatures underground doing all of 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:57.400 our work is a great idea. Yeah, I'm not saying 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:00.840 that's a great idea. Um. But yet you see merit, Yeah, 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:02.680 I see there's a little merit because I mean, let's 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:05.560 face it, what's what what do we prefer? Do we 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:07.520 like power lines or bury you know, up in the 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:09.680 air or buried power lines. I gotta tell you, I 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:13.880 like esthetic h harmony. Yeah, so the more stuff we 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:15.880 can bury, the better, right, we put our put our 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:18.080 sewer lines underground, we put our you know, our power 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:22.400 lines won't available underground. Um, if it's if it's kind 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:25.160 of unsightly, then then let's see if we can put 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:29.120 it in the basement. Right. So, Um, there's this really 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:34.760 interesting idea UM of the underground automated Highway, which basically says, hey, 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:40.080 let's take our highway system and bury it underground. And 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:41.560 then and then on top of that, well, it will 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.280 also be basically robotic, so that it'll you know, the 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:48.640 cars will drive themselves. It's all underground and everywhere that 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.079 we currently have a big you know, you know, eight 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:53.919 lane wide stretch of asphalt. You know that that can 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:56.320 be just you know, grass again, or a city park 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:58.840 or you know, whatever whatever we want to make of it, 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:00.960 so that the sur is can be beautiful and more 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:04.680 natural and we can just bury all of our necessary infrastructure. 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:07.919 I like it. I love this idea of these rolling 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.600 hills you calic view, and underneath all the there's a 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:15.880 slight rumbling because everybody is hanging out underground getting from 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:18.359 point A to point B. Yeah, and probably and since 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:19.840 they don't have to drive the car, they get to 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:21.880 you know, get to lounge back and read read that 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:25.040 book even wanting to read or or or or you know, 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:28.320 play video games or checkers or or you know, talk 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.160 to your child. You know, the sky's the limit. Anything 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.400 you want to internet, surf the internet, anything you want 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:37.520 to do, take a nap, uh, you know, just not driving. Yeah, 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:40.320 in this scenario, I definitely see a lot of tinted windows. 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.520 I have to say, well, or just no windows? You know, 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.040 what do you have to see underground? Just more? Oh no, 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:47.600 I think it's I don't know that i'd want to 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:51.680 see into my fellow passenger passengers got cars, you know, 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:55.720 when they have so many choices of activities to partake in. Yeah, 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:58.640 it's a frightening enough proposition, just you know, on the 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:02.320 connector exactly. Yeah, yeah, I agree with you on that. 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:06.120 So it's on one level, I we both have a 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:08.760 lot of thoughts about this vision, especially I mean especially 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:12.240 when you factor in that some experts and and real 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:16.600 supporters of the idea say will happen fifty two years 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:22.400 extremely optimistic. Um. But but also there's this you know, 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:24.400 when you when you start talking about, oh, let's let's 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:27.440 automate our transportation and put it underground, you know, instantly 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:31.000 think of like subway systems, like preferably the really good ones, 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:35.200 um like London, um. Where Yeah, it's like the idea 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:38.400 of taking an automated mode of transportation that's underground and 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:40.120 out of sight to get from point A to point B. 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:45.080 It happens every day in major metropolitan cities and goes 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:47.120 off without a hitch. Um. And I'm actually thinking of 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:50.599 two other examples, one great, one not so good, and 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:53.520 one is the chunnel right right, I mean that connects 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:59.159 um Paris or Brussels. Can't remember, um, but Paris stuff 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:02.200 Paris and done and it's brilliant. Right. You don't have 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:04.800 to worry about getting on a boat. Um. You know, 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:06.840 I don't know, in a couple of hours, you're there, right. 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:08.960 They didn't actually though there at one point there was 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.520 the you know, the idea of building a bridge, but 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:15.159 that basically instead of taking the the sea route, you 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:19.799 can just take the underground highway, right yeah. And it's lovely, um. 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.080 And it's proof that it can be done. You can 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:24.760 build a giant underground road. I mean we have you know, 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.880 some some really impressive tunnels, uh, you know, mountain tunnels 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:31.920 in the world that connect areas and you know, we 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:35.200 we have the technology, it can be done, but is 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:37.920 it really feasible? Right, And that's where I think about 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:42.440 the big dig which in Boston, they took the artery 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:45.080 that was going around the city and they rerouted it 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:49.039 underneath the city, underneath the city center, and it was 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:52.800 horribly expensive. Um. There are all sorts of problems that 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:55.760 continue to this day, leaks, so on and so forth. 0:05:56.440 --> 0:06:00.600 And actually they think that it actually uh meets traffic 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.240 even worse because it allowed so many more people to 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:07.279 dump into the highways underneath. So you know, any Boston 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:09.880 nights out there, shout out and let us know about that. 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.560 But UM, my understanding is that it probably wasn't the 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:18.440 perfect project for this. Now another but but a big 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:21.560 plus to this um like dissecting it a little and 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:25.480 like ignoring the underground aspect for a minute, um, which 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:29.840 which is in itself actually pretty great because when when 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:32.440 you look at the amount of of the world that 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.320 is taken up by roads, it's pretty staggering. Well, and 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:38.839 not to mention the fact that our population is exploding, 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:41.599 and of course we don't have much more land to 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:45.960 spare in terms of developing in any more buildings or roadways. Yeah, 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:47.920 and Uh. And when you look at accidents, I mean, 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:50.720 the roads tend to be pretty dangerous mainly because of 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:54.880 human error. I think it's like n of of accidents 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:58.560 can are generally be attributed to human fault. Yeah. In fact, 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:02.200 a World or Help organization has estimated that it costs 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.160 the United States two and fifty billion dollars a year 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:09.800 because of traffic accidents. And of course, the larger the population, 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:12.360 the more cars on the road and the more futilities. Right, 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:14.480 So if you could, if you could, we can actually 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:16.880 get to the point. And I think the automated roadways 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:19.840 is that's far less far fetched. I mean a lot 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.800 of as we'll discuss a lot of Yeah, a lot 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:25.360 of the technologies are are on their way or even 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:29.760 already here. Uh for that to be a very real possibility. 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:32.600 And again, you take the you take the wheel away 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:35.080 from dangerous humans, put it in the hands of a 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:38.600 of a of a robotic system, of an automated system, 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.560 and uh, and you're gonna have much safer roads when 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:44.920 it's working. So if we were to do an underground highway, 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:49.440 what would need Well, um, first of all the big 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:51.960 things that automated the highway system, because you can't bear 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:55.239 to bury it. We must first have it, you know. So, 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:59.640 um so this and when we talk about automated highway system, 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:04.160 we're in visioning roads that have buried magnetic sensors that 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:06.800 were contained them with the cars onboard computer. Right. Yeah. 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:08.840 Much of the technology that that we're talking about has 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:11.200 been around for for more than a decade. Back in 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:14.960 the n U S Department of Transportation sponsored the National 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:19.560 Automated Highway System Consortium. And uh, this was just a 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:22.480 test of a number of different technologies you know where 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.560 it's um where they they equipped like eight cars with 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:29.040 several different automated driving systems that included a radar to 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.360 detect other vehicles, ut you know, magnets like we said, 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:36.080 visual sensors to follow the length of highway marked and 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:38.520 uh and more and like buried sensors and visual markers 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:41.360 as well. And over the course of the demonstration, the 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:45.040 vehicles travel to combine eight thousand miles and carried four 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:49.200 thousand passengers without incident when out went off without a hitch, 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:52.800 right yeah, yeah, no problems. And that's the really cool part. Right, 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:55.280 So we have the technology, we know it can be done, 0:08:56.320 --> 0:09:00.280 and that's the first thing that we need, right and 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:02.559 we have it. Yeah, and a lot of the other technologies, 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:05.520 I mean self driving. The the the dream of the 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:08.640 self driving car is like, think of it like a 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:11.199 wall composed of many bricks. And a lot of those 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.240 bricks are already in existing automobiles, especially the more you know, 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:17.520 the higher priced vehicles, um uh you know, especially when 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:21.839 you get into like really complicated electronic deferentials, but then 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:25.680 also anti lock breaks, um you know, even cruise control. 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:29.080 These are all examples like a little, little or substantial 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:33.520 bricks in this wall I think we're building. Um. And 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:37.160 actually to to talk about the automated highway system in Japan, 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:41.440 the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization NATO is 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:45.080 researching and developing automatic driving and driving information and carrying 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:48.280 out these proof of concept test right now, right so 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:50.760 they're well on their way to developing it. A few 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:54.840 years back, we also have the the DARPA Urban Challenge UM, 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:58.520 which was all about taking robotic vehicles, putting them in 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:02.079 an urban or mock urban environment and having them successfully 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.360 navigate and uh and and out of that has come 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:06.720 a lot of the same people that were involved in 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:10.200 these The successful aspects of this operation have gone on 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:12.720 to say, work with Google, so you have like the 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:16.720 Google robotic car. Yeah, and it's probably should be mentioned 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:18.920 to you that the Darker Grand Challenge was sponsored by 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.600 the Department of Defense. Yes, and of course that we 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:23.720 start to think about it, that makes sense because they'd 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:25.640 love to have some self driving convoys. I mean that 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:27.840 would save a lot of lives. Yeah. Yeah, they've put 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:30.280 they've been been some pretty I'm not sure what the 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:33.760 current plan is, but they've put some pretty ambitious um 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:38.440 uh plans in place about automating their their their wheeled 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:42.440 vehicles in the military. And of course we already haven't 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:43.800 a number of you know, we have the U a 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:46.400 v S like the Predator and the Reaper up in 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:48.680 the air. So so there's been a lot of work 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:50.640 going into it because you know, like take take the 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:54.080 human out of the equation, get a robotic vehicle on 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:56.440 the road, right, So we're making strikes in that sense. 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:59.000 We we've got the automated highway system, We've we've got 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.920 the technology for that. Uh, we are we've got the 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:05.599 technology for driverless cars and uh. The other thing that 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:09.200 we need is improved tunnel boring machines. So if you're 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:11.160 going to go underground, what are you gonna do? I mean, 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:13.320 you've got to You've got to have something that's massive 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:17.400 and powerful that can bore its way through rock. And 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:21.200 these things are incredible looking there, like the giant tubes. 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:24.560 They look like worms with teeth and not like beetlejuice worms. 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:29.000 Put more like the sandworms from Doom Warms with teeth. Yeah. 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:31.720 They also remind me of the scene in Labyrinth where 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:35.000 the cleaner thing comes through the tunnel, you know, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:38.679 I mean they're they're incredible looking. Um, they've got rotating 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.280 disks at the front that have cutting teeth so they 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:43.240 can cut through the rock, and then the rock particles 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:45.640 fall into a conveyor belt and it's whisked away. And 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:49.160 then they've got hydraulic feet that essentially push uh they 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:53.080 have touched themself to the tunnel and forced their way through. Yeah, 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:56.240 they're like those worms from Tremors, except their robotic yes, 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.800 yes exactly, or mechanical rather, but I guess they're not 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:04.000 so fulware yeah right yet yeah. Um, but of course 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:06.680 the problem with that is that they're super expensive. Yeah, 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.160 and just uh, like laying out a link, the tunnel 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:13.720 can can be extremely pricy. So if we had improved 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:16.520 tunnel boring machines in other words, we had maybe more 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:19.080 efficient ones where the cost came down, that that would 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:21.880 be in the realm of possibility, right right, And then uh, 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:24.440 but then they're also they also say that we would 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:26.760 really need zero emission vehicles if we're gonna have a 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:31.280 massive underground highway system. Uh, you know, you have to 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:33.400 keep the gift to manage the air down there, right, 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.240 They like a bunch of exhaust would be awful, right, Yeah, 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:38.040 So I mean, even if you're like sealed in the view, 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:40.240 you know, it shouldn't be like deep sea diving or 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:42.320 going to the other planet. You know, they want to 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:46.559 add some you know, monicum of of of of air 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.800 quality down there in the tunnels. Um. You know, otherwise 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.400 you're gonna have, you know, people evolving to breathe it 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:55.240 and becoming a you know, a hideous underground cannibalistic race 0:12:55.440 --> 0:13:04.840 if nobody wants really, we don't want it. This presentation 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:11.680 is brought to you by Intel Sponsors of Tomorrow. But 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:14.880 back to the automated UM vehicle system for a second. 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.280 You know, it's one thing, as always with any technology, 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:19.360 to say, here's the prototype doing its thing in a 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:23.880 control environment. But to unroll that to to to say, 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:25.440 you know, it's kind of like with the the the 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:28.880 digital TV ent and a thing. You know, if someone 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:31.720 were to say, all right, by this October, only automated 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.640 vehicles on the road, that would be unrealistic. Like it 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:37.679 would be unrealistic if you were to say, okay, guys, uh, 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:40.600 starting this October, if you don't have cruise control, you 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:43.200 can't be on the road legally, like that would inconvenience 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:46.360 a large number of people and then rightly so right, 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:50.240 I mean, the outcry would be, of course understood. Yeah. 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:52.839 It's like the question would be, all right, we're you 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.440 gonna pay to have cruise control installed on my vehicle? 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:57.600 A you're gonna buy me a new vehicle? Uh, you know, 0:13:57.640 --> 0:13:59.640 and then are you gonna to say nothing of the 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.440 costs of say, all right, now, all government or state 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:05.079 owned vehicles have to have cruise control, and then you 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:07.439 know the ones that don't need to be fixed. So 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:10.520 i'm i'm. The estimation seems to be that you would 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:12.480 end up having, say like a in the same way 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:14.480 we have an h OV lane, you would have an 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:17.960 automated vehicle lane, so you could find a way to 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:22.360 slowly integrate into into have to have your automated systems 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:27.040 more or less alongside um the normal drivers. Huh. Okay, 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:30.880 So if I have my BMW two dollar collision a 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:34.080 version vehicle, yeah, then I could join that lane. Yeah, 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:38.080 you could travel down like Ritchie Highway, and and and 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:40.440 I only drive with other robots. Because the other thing 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:42.640 that comes to mind is that, you know, it's one 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:45.200 thing to come up with an automated system where you know, 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:49.840 individual robotic cars drive alongside other robotic vehicles, but then 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:51.800 it's it's a different thing entirely to say, all right, 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:55.800 these robotic vehicles are driving alongside crazy people who are 0:14:55.880 --> 0:15:00.040 driving their own vehicles. You know. It's it's that you 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.040 have to account for so many other things, right, because 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:05.840 the idea is to lower the incidents of traffic collisions. Right. 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:08.520 So yeah, in the real world setting, does that negate 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:12.000 it entirely? Yeah, some like crazy man driving around flipping 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:15.640 off robot cars because they're inconveniencing him because their their 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:18.640 draw driving the speed limit because they're programmed to write, right, 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:21.320 and who gets the ticket? It's a robot car yeah, yeah, 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:24.360 who Yeah, who gets the ticket? Who? Who's responsible in 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.720 an accident? Um? You know, is it the manufacturer? Is 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:29.120 that you know what what does the driver have to 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:30.880 do with it at that point? Yeah? Which makes me 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:35.040 think about the Google car, right because it has been developed, 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:38.120 right and uh it naturally did there was one incidence 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:41.840 of an accident. These are truly driverless cars, like they 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:45.280 have them cruising around San Francisco with no one in them, 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:47.600 and it turns out that they one of them did 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:52.200 get rear ended by someone. So it does beg that question, 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:55.000 like who's responsible, Like with if Google starts working with 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:58.560 Toyota or Ford to give them their technology. You know, 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:01.160 if I've got a banged up car, who's gonna Who's 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:04.840 gonna assume responsibility? Right now? One thing that comes to 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:07.160 mind in all of this when we again we we 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:10.320 talk about like underground automated highways, and you think of subways, 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:13.280 you think of automated highways on the surface, and you 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:16.800 end up sort you think about trains, you know, and 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:19.560 uh so on one on one level, I want to 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:21.640 there's a part of me that wants to make the argument, Hey, 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:23.760 this is all stupid. Why don't we just have awesome 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:27.920 public transportation. But that flies in the face of especially 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:30.640 of the like the very like American idea that you know, 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:33.000 I want my own car. I want to control that 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:36.640 environment because like the train ride this morning, I listened 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.480 to my own music, I read my book and uh, 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:41.440 you know, kind of shut everybody off. But then again, 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:44.800 I also had to like stand like ear to ear 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:49.520 with with some random stranger. Um the platform had to 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:52.440 weight on the platform was you know, my schedule was 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:57.800 entirely at the mercy of whatever Martha was doing this morning, 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:00.280 and you had to enter the social contract, right like, 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:03.280 you know there, I'm sure there was no belching. I'm 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:05.800 going to assume you have not written Heart of Lately 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:10.080 from you. Yes, yes, there was no belching on my part. 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:14.040 But but yeah, yeah, I mean yeah, I guess you 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:15.840 could make that arguments like, man, I wish I could 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:18.760 ride my own little slight you know, capsule, so I 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:21.360 could just totally let myself go on the ride, right, 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:24.760 you know, like, but is it but is it possible 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:29.160 to continue to pursue this, this American ideal of freedom 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:32.200 and cars into the future, you know, like this is 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:36.320 a very cool system. Driverless cars are amazing, but you know, 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:39.359 is it something that we can sustain? Yeah? Just does 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:41.439 the car eventually just become way too expensive? I mean 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:46.240 cars are pretty freaking expensive now. Um. So, um, you know, 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:48.639 at what point does it just is become beyond the 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:50.880 pet the pail, you know, just something that an individual 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:54.040 cannot own a car, which actually you look at some 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:57.720 interesting models with like uh, you know, a car rental 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:01.360 or shared use situations like one level like zip car, 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:05.240 which is already in use a lot of places. Um 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:08.399 and uh. And then there are other neat ideas like 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:11.720 you you see examples of like stackable car systems systems 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:15.120 where you say, you you fly into a city, check 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:16.960 out a vehicle to airport, and then check it back 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:19.640 in in another check in station. Uh. They're a number 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:21.679 of different kind of like the d with bicycles. In 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:26.600 some cities, there are a number of different um experimental Amsterdam, 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:30.959 Yeah yeah. Um. There's also something called the road trains, 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:35.480 which are basic basically groups of cars with similar destinations. 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:38.879 And Volvo is actually working on an EU initiative for 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:42.840 road safety and has created a platoon road train and 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:46.080 so these are guided by a lead vehicle and that's 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:49.800 being driven by a human um but the other cars 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:52.680 follow in succession, and they all have computer controlled cars 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:56.480 that are electronically tethered in this sort of convoy, and 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:59.720 each vehicle in the platoon measures the distance, speed, and 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:02.639 erection the vehicle directly in front of it, so it 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:06.360 adjusts its movements to stay information. And of course what's 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.520 the weak linked here. If the lead car goes out 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:11.880 of gets out of control, or has a breakdown, then 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:13.880 you don't know where you're gonna end up. Yeah. Of course, 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:17.160 no Volo is built in a breathalyzer, so if if 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:19.600 that lead person is drunk, then they can't even start 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:22.679 the car. But it reminds me of like some of 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:26.080 the situations where you have dolphins or whales beaching themselves. 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:28.399 Some of those have been tied to like a dominant uh, 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:33.119 the lead whale becoming disoriented and it just like it 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:35.040 ends up on the on the beach and then they 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:37.439 push you a well meaning humans come out push everything 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:39.040 back out to sea. They just wind up on the 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:42.879 beach again because the lead vehicle is broken, right, yeah, right, 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:45.320 Because there's always going to be some sort of user error. 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:48.000 So I mean to hit your wagon to someone I 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:49.720 don't know how I'd feel about it. I didn't want 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:52.639 to know the person, you know, um find out if 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:54.960 they had any sort of agenda. And and plus it 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:57.640 sort of makes it a train, right yeah, I mean 0:19:57.680 --> 0:19:59.359 that that's the concept of a train. You just have 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:02.440 a bunch of car ours um that are fixed together, 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:06.000 rather than that the actual trains. But then the idea 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:08.880 of completely removing humans from the equation that also has 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:11.560 some problems as well, right yeah, I mean, actually, think 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:16.680 about pilots. They thought the automated system right, and essentially, uh, 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:18.879 that was put in there so that pilots didn't have 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:21.439 to worry about a thing. They could take off, they 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:23.199 could land, they didn't have to do anything. It was 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:25.720 it was all going to happen for them. But what 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:28.480 they found is that the pilots, when they didn't have 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:32.280 anything to do, became really kind of like daisical. They 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:35.680 got sleepy, they weren't paying attention, and so they said, okay, 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:38.520 this is this actually is not a good idea. What 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:41.200 we need is for the pilots to assume the responsibility 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:43.399 on takeoff and landing. And of course we've got the 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:46.720 automated system and that's the backup so that made things 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:49.080 a lot safer. Yeah, I think some of the that 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:50.800 you look at some of the plans for you know, 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:52.760 automated highways, and I think it would it would kind 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:55.760 of resemble that because obviously, like the automated highway would 0:20:55.800 --> 0:20:58.919 not necessarily begin at your driveway, you know, in the 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:00.600 same way that you don't actually get the highway to, 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:03.600 you know, take the entrance ramp. So it would be 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:05.840 something along those lines where, yeah, you you drive through 0:21:05.840 --> 0:21:08.080