Tesla Model 3

[iFreilicht]

The answer to 'Why should I trust an autonomous vehicles with the lives of my family' shouldn't be 'cars deciding for us will, in the long run, be better for society'.

No, it should be: "Because it's a better driver than you and your chances of getting involved in an accident are lower than if you were driving yourself." Addition for the ultra-selfish: "And if something happens when the car drives, you can't be held liable for it."

When you don't consider the human psychology and societal norms about stuff like this, you get anti-LGBTQ bigots, anti-vaccination parents, and anti-GMO activists. No amount of evidence in the world will change the minds of these groups. And yet they delayed the rights of LGBTQ individuals, caused outbreaks that killed children, and denied the farmers of starving communities access to critically-needed seeds. They hurt people, because we sat on high horses and didn't know how to empathize with their very real fears.

This is the more important part. Even if you show evidence and counter-evidence, even if you can prove without a doubt that you are right, that won't change the opinion of the common idiot. They will say that you try to manipulate them, you are already a robot yourself, whatever bullshit they can come up with to uphold their own worldview.

The UK is an example of this with the Brexit decision.

Though the people who were trying to think of themselves forgot everything that will change for the worse if Britain leaves. Progressive or selfish, the correct decision in every case would've been to stay in the EU. Brexit is the result of misinformation, populism and fear-mongering, not of selfish people being rationally selfish.

 

[jeshikat]

When you don't consider the human psychology and societal norms about stuff like this, you get anti-LGBTQ bigots, anti-vaccination parents, and anti-GMO activists. No amount of evidence in the world will change the minds of these groups. And yet they delayed the rights of LGBTQ individuals, caused outbreaks that killed children, and denied the farmers of starving communities access to critically-needed seeds. They hurt people, because we sat on high horses and didn't know how to empathize with their very real fears.

I really don't think those types of fears will meaningfully impact the adoption of autonomous cars as long as the car companies don't royally screw up.

Unlike those things, there are clear and obvious upsides to self-driving cars that everyone can appreciate in their daily lives. Nobody likes commuting to work in rush hour so if the car could do it for you and give you more Facebook-scrolling/Pokemon-catching/forum-reading/Netflix-watching time, that's a powerful incentive to give the technology the benefit of the doubt.

 

[jeshikat]

Apparently floor robots in manufacturing plants these days are programmed to play a tune to alert workers to their presence:

 

[Phuncz]

It would be awesome if each robot would have it's own theme song, so you could nick-name them and play "name that tune" games.

 

[jeshikat]

I wouldn't surprised if they actually do that to make it easier to distinguish multiple bots operating in the same area.

 

[jeshikat]

https://www.tesla.com/blog/new-tesla-model-s-now-quickest-production-car-world

0-60 mph (96 km/h) in 2.5 seconds!

 

[BirdofPrey]

Unsurprising.
Electric motors have much higher torque than internal combustion engines, and they maintain that torque at high RPMs, and Teslas are the high end sports cars of electric.

 

[jeshikat]

Oh absolutely. But saying "electric motors have basically flat torque curves" is not nearly as fun as saying "the quickest car currently in production is electric!" to all those doubters

 

[EdZ]

https://www.tesla.com/blog/new-tesla-model-s-now-quickest-production-car-world

0-60 mph (96 km/h) in 2.5 seconds!

To put this in perspective: a Tesla accelerating in a straight line will now accelerate faster than a Tesla dropped vertically.

Which would end up stabilising at a greater speed would be an interesting experiment. The falling Tesla would be limited to its terminal velocity (assuming it falls stably and settles in a certain aspect, and depending on drop height due to varying atmospheric conditions), and the driving Tesla would be limited by aerodynamics that now have to interact with the ground, friction with the ground (rolling resistance), and heat limitations in the motors and batteries.

 

[Phuncz]

Oh absolutely. But saying "electric motors have basically flat torque curves" is not nearly as fun as saying "the quickest car currently in production is electric!" to all those doubters

I was sold on electric cars the moment they dropped the Tesla Roadster. After driving a CVT I was also sure I wouldn't miss a transmission.

 

[jeshikat]

Speaking of transmissions, I think it's amusing that manual transmissions won't become extinct due to automatic transmissions taking over, but because electric cars either don't need transmissions at all or just simple fixed-ratio ones.

 

[iFreilicht]

I think it's amusing that manual transmissions won't become extinct due to automatic transmissions taking over

Because a lot of automatic transmissions are shit. You have so much less control about what's happening, you get a sudden kickdown when you just wanted to accelerate a little, engine break is much less intuitive to achieve and can vary between cars, it's just no fun at all. I'll take stick over automatic every single day, thank you very much.

 

[Phuncz]

I always wanted a paddle-shifter with a manual mode and double-clutch, but if I would spend Porsche or BMW M money, I could just as well go for a Gojira (Nissan GT-R). I don't have that kind of money though.

 

[EdZ]

Dual-clutch automatic transmissions, if implemented correctly - though if you've built a DCT in the first place you clearly have the ability to not build a crap one and little impetus to - can change gears both faster and more smoothly than any human could ever hope to, even with a manually operated DCT. For ICEs, CVTs are smooth but inefficient due to friction losses, so a CVT + constant-rev engine works out marginally less efficient overall than an automatic transmission and a variable-rev engine.
'Slushbox' automatic hydraulic transmissions are indeed pretty garbage though.

I'm disappointed that there has been so little use of serial-parallel drivetrains (AKA Electric Transmission) and fully-hydraulic transmissions (i.e. hydraulic pump, accumulator and motors) for cars, rather than parallel-hybrids like the Prius. With a 'buffer' (a battery for electric transmission, a hydraulic accumulator for hydraulic) you can use a ICE with a constant RPM tuned for peak efficiency at a single speed, decoupled for the wheel RPM, allowing for practical use of gas turbines and high-efficiency Diesel engines. Normally this would only be feasibly for electric drive, but Digital Displacement pumps have upped Hydraulic drive efficiency (and lowered mass) to the point where it may be competitive.
While fully electric drive has clear advantages in terms of low-carbon emissions (assuming clean generation), hydrocarbon ICEs, and hydrocarbon fuels in particular, have unparalleled power densities, and the convenience of existing distribution infrastructure. Higher efficiency engines combined with hydrocarbon synthesis (Fischer Tropsch process, e.g. the NRL's E-CEM program) from clean generation could rival electric distribution in overall system efficiency while having a significantly lower infrastructure rollout cost (cost of centralised hydrocarbon generation, rather than widespread grid rollout) and a side-benefit of much easier transition period (synfuels in legacy equipment) and the political benefit in the short-term of reducing reliance on import of fuels.

 

[iFreilicht]

Dual-clutch automatic transmissions, if implemented correctly - though if you've built a DCT in the first place you clearly have the ability to not build a crap one and little impetus to - can change gears both faster and more smoothly than any human could ever hope to, even with a manually operated DCT. For ICEs, CVTs are smooth but inefficient due to friction losses, so a CVT + constant-rev engine works out marginally less efficient overall than an automatic transmission and a variable-rev engine.
'Slushbox' automatic hydraulic transmissions are indeed pretty garbage though.

That is very true, but once I'll have the money to drive a car with a very good double clutch automatic, even if it's just a well-equipped BMW or Audi, I'd rather get an electric car. I guess I'll be able to try the BMW automatics out in two months or so with DriveNow, but until then it's the Car2Go Smart and shitty automatic for me, I don't really have another choice. Not that Daimler can't make good stuff in that regard, but they sure as hell don't want to spend that kind of money on shared cars.

I'm disappointed that there has been so little use of serial-parallel drivetrains (AKA Electric Transmission) and fully-hydraulic transmissions (i.e. hydraulic pump, accumulator and motors) for cars, rather than parallel-hybrids like the Prius. With a 'buffer' (a battery for electric transmission, a hydraulic accumulator for hydraulic) you can use a ICE with a constant RPM tuned for peak efficiency at a single speed, decoupled for the wheel RPM, allowing for practical use of gas turbines and high-efficiency Diesel engines. Normally this would only be feasibly for electric drive, but Digital Displacement pumps have upped Hydraulic drive efficiency (and lowered mass) to the point where it may be competitive.
While fully electric drive has clear advantages in terms of low-carbon emissions (assuming clean generation), hydrocarbon ICEs, and hydrocarbon fuels in particular, have unparalleled power densities, and the convenience of existing distribution infrastructure. Higher efficiency engines combined with hydrocarbon synthesis (Fischer Tropsch process, e.g. the NRL's E-CEM program) from clean generation could rival electric distribution in overall system efficiency while having a significantly lower infrastructure rollout cost (cost of centralised hydrocarbon generation, rather than widespread grid rollout) and a side-benefit of much easier transition period (synfuels in legacy equipment) and the political benefit in the short-term of reducing reliance on import of fuels.

I'd say the main reasons here are money, weight and public perception. Electric transmissions need two relatively beefy motors, a battery and corresponding high-power circuitry, and hydraulic transmissions need a relatively large accumulator and much stronger tubing than the hydraulic you'd normally use in cars. I guess technically electric cars with range extenders have an electric transmission, so at least that's a thing. But those just seem like dirty electric cars to many I would assume, and benefits for transmission or lack of one aren't marketed for those kinds of cars.

 

[3lfk1ng]

I currently have a model 3 on preorder.
As soon as I get the announcement to equip my Model 3, I'll be sure to share it here.

In the meantime, this is what they sent in the mail as a way to say "thanks".

 

[confusis]

You lucky bastard..

 

[Phuncz]

Nice car to look forward to, cheers for being part of the electric car revolution !

 

[jeshikat]

itshappening.gif

 

[3lfk1ng]

...still waiting for interior shots.