Hot Rod Forum banner

Is our sport in trouble?

2K views 23 replies 13 participants last post by  86Vette 
#1 ·
Forgive me if this topic has already been covered in the forum. If it has I didn't see it.

Had Velocity on this morning and saw a segment on car to car and car to person communication. They showed a segment where a car was approaching a pedestrian that was in communication with the car, and when the pedestrian stepped into the street the car reacted by stopping. This got me to thinking about the ramifications to our sport as the technology(which is moving at light speed) continues to evolve.

I can envision a time when it will be illegal to personally drive a vehicle on the street, as it will be considered too dangerous as well as causing traffic delays. I thought of a situation where you have a line of driver less cars sitting at a traffic light. Because they are communicating with each other, as soon as the light changes they basically can all start moving together, as compared to the spreading out that now occurs. Having a person driving a car would defeat that advantage. Obviously, the major attraction will be the reduction in accidents, but helping with congestion will also drive the technology.

I also thought about the situation where all cars are communicating with each other. Because of this communication, they will also be communicating with law enforcement. I would think this could lead to automatic notification of any traffic violation.

It makes me very sad to think that there may come a time when the only time I can drive my hot rod is in a parade.

Looking forward to other folks insights.
 
See less See more
#5 ·
The more band aids we give drivers who really shouldn't drive, they will only end up being worse yet...]\

The auto stopping thing that cars are doing. That's great because they prevented the accident, but they did not prevent the driver from being distracted...

My 2014 Fusion has MySync. It's great when it works. I get a text and it will read it back and then I can tell it what to reply. Problem is it almost never works correctly
 
#6 ·
I some software engineering for my day job and Ill attest to it being common for some software to be poorly written. It also seems common the orginal writer expected it too be sold to a 3rd party company after a few years. If the software wasn't a big enough seller to warrant the resale then the poorly written softer never gets fixed and the owner of the vehicle in this case suffers with something that never really worked well or is buggy.
 
#8 ·
Don't know if you saw 60 Minutes last night, but they had a segment on this issue. I think the one part that was most concerning was when they asked the software engineer how long he thought it would be before the driver less car was the norm, and he said he had an 11 year old son and he hopes he doesn't need to get a driver's license in 4 years when he turns 15. This doesn't bode well for the sport.

I'm going to SEMA next month, and I would be really surprised if there are not seminars addressing this. It could have tremendous implications for the industry.
 
#15 ·
Thing is, they can not mandate that no one can drive their 2015 car four years from now....it would have to be worked in very slowly.
I read somewhere about a special highway they are thinking of building for trucks.....it would run in a special corridor and the trucks would be driverless. These would be the only vehicles on that road. Correct me if I am wrong, but other than the driverless part, doesnt that sound an awful lot like a TRAIN?......:rolleyes:
 
#10 ·
Having cars that drive themselves and making cars that don't illegal are two entirely different things! Think about the hundreds of millions of cars on the road today, how long would it take to replace them?

IF this were going to happen it will be many many decades before even a fair majority are seen on the road.

I mean come on, this was going to be the seventies!



So far, in the collision industry as I see it every day, we haven't even gotten close to cars that humans can't crash.

Brian
 
#14 ·
We are not really in any trouble.. the sport and hobby is changing is all. Look at some of the controversy about sportsman racing where some of us want to eliminate all drivers aids electronic or otherwise so it is all about driver skill when you stage. or for that matter one having to have a second seat ,license plates and DOT tires in order to be a pro street class car.

Sam
 
#19 ·
The title of this thread has had me wondering for a day or two. Do y'all consider hotrodding a sport??? I can't find it in my thoughts to call it a sport? Obsession definitely or hobby maybe?? Is it a sport to tear an engine down and rebuild it or just some incredible knowledge gained from life experiences.
I come from a non car background but absolutely love my V8s. My kids have inherited my passion from me as well.
Thoughts ??????????

Later gator
Russ
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top