As someone who no longer owns a car and has no plans ever to own one again, I can't wait for the SMIDSY brigade on their mobile phones, and the idiots who claim to "drive better" after a few pints or spliffs, to be taken out of the game by technology. Just imagine it, cars prevented from getting to close to you by sensors, or whatever! As long as it makes life better for bikers and the boffins don't devise a fiendish way of applying it to motorcycles, I am all for it. Mind you, either way, I'm sure the pre-speed camera era of the Seventies to the Nineties will soon be regarded as halcyon days for bikers as more and more inroads are made into our freedoms too. For it were ever thus ...
Driverless cars have a hard time when the driver is dead Lord Driverless cars have a hard time when the driver is dead Lord They don't have anywhere to go, wondering around from door to door Nobody treats cars like a driver will when the driver is dead Lord Something like that anyway....
As far as I am concerned, motorcycling was more fun in the 90s. The roads were less congested, there were a lot less radar traps and speed cameras, and the roads were more interesting. My parents had a place in Gascony from about 1990 to 2007, and I used to bike over to see them at least once a year. It's nearly 900 kms, which I'd do in a day. Over the years, the road was "improved" by the French, with dual carriageways, a bit of motorway and other by-passes and things. There were less corners, the road was less interesting but faster. So to keep the speed down, they started policing it with speed traps. It was still a good ride (albeit about 100 miles too far) but it became less fun. I know there is nothing like nostalgia, but bikes in the 90s were still very fast, very capable, easily more than you needed for the roads, and the roads were better places to be. It just isn't getting any better, even if you do now have an extra 50 bhp (which you don't really need) and riding modes.
I can see all sorts of issues. You can't just stop a bike, on a camber for example, somewhere unsuitable for the rider to get his feet down and I can't see how you'd get round that. But who knows? Technology seems unstoppable at times. Who could've imagined having a map of the world in their palm in the Sixties or, indeed, GPS etc?
The simple solution would be a pair of arms with casters which drop when the speed drops below a trigger number. A more elegant solution would be similar to a 'track stand' on a push bike where you turn the front wheel around 45 degrees and use the tension in the chain to balance the bike. Or if you make it 2wd and can turn the front wheel 90 degrees it could balance like a segway. Sorry, I nerded out for a minute there
No, because you ride a bike with your weight, not by turning the handlebars. Also, motorcycling is essentially a leisure activity in the west these days. Would you want to go skiing with someone doing the skiing for you? More likely is that when driverless cars become the norm, they will just ban bikes - too much "human error". I can imagine that, I really can.
Weight shift on a motorcycle is triggered by gyroscopic action and could be monitored and controlled by electronic gyros. I don't see an autonomous motorcycle as a form of transportation, but as a small delivery vehicle like couriers now. Also I don't believe autonomous vehicles will ever fully replace human controlled vehicles, we as a species have too much of an obsession with control...
That is how it still is north of Kendal What is all of this weight shift bollox ? Hasn't anybody heard of counter steering ?
Oh well. Seems as if the Driverless Cars thread has ploughed into a brick wall - time to bring back drivers?
The problem is for most people driving is a chore, it's something they have no interest in and therefore do not concentrate on. As long we as enthusiasts are still able to control our own vehicles on public roads I am actually looking forward to the introduction of driverless cars. They will make the roads a safer place for all of us.
That's where I started off. Particularly looking forward to Post Office vans losing the psychopath behind the wheel. Buses/lorries/minicabs too! I think that's the view that I was testing when I started this thread. Any other views?
We could make a start with driverless trains on the railways. Oh well actually the Dockland Light Railway has had driverless trains for many years already. Seems to have gone well.
I can imagine the first introduction would be driverless vehicles on motorways, there are already tests in progress for road trains - where a lead vehicle controls all the vehicles behind. But a mixture of vehicles driven by humans and driverless would probably lead to all sorts of arguments so I can see it quickly changing to driverless only vehicles on motorways. This wouldn't be great news for bikers who want to use motorways, but would make the flow of traffic and consequently journey times consistent. But you could get a bike trailer for your driverless car.
Of course the unions hate it and are campaigning against them being brought in on the tube. But it's all a bit King Canute-like isn't it. You can't hold back progress any more than you can hold back the tide. But in addition to the DLR, I believe the Glasgow metro can operate without drivers, as can the Victoria Line in London and the Copenhagen metro. The Victoria Line has a driver in the cab to open and close the doors though. So automation is on the way ... just a matter of time for cars so if we are not legislated off the road could be great times ahead for us.
yep,, great idea,, just send the bike out and tell it to be back inn 30 minutes,, feet up .cup of coffee.
