Does Anybody Hear an Echo...echo...echo

Have You Heard  This Before?

So  I am only going  to  take a  few minutes  of your time today.  Take the the rest of  your time reading  this article…. because  maybe  if you’ve been reading along here  you’ve  heard  some of this before.   If you are a person  “adversely impacted”  by this stuff.  It is time to make your voices heard and the evidence is out there.  Solutions are  available.  It’s time.  

https://www.ecowatch.com/how-self-driving-cars-could-harm-marginalized-communities-2630060365.html

Don't Worry Be Happy?

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY?

Almost two years ago the state of Michigan passed evolutionary legislation regarding autonomous and self-driving  vehicles.  The law addressed  definitions, insurance, and some of the questions facing  state after state and nation after nation as they  move toward an integrated, efficient people moving plan.  One  thing notably  missing  in the law was  how  the state was going  to ensure access for people with disabilities from design to deployment.  Well Michigan (AND EVERYWHERE)  there is still time.  Right  Well are  you so sure  Day after day  the market announces new  companies entering the market and  to date  not a one of them has  pointed out how their design is superior  based upon accessibility.

So  in this blog post I am asking  specifically if you are a policy maker has this even crossed your mind?  I think you may have  thought  about employment implications, and traffic implications, and oh lord  do we hear about safety implications.... so is disability on the radar and if so what is the position of your office.  I will be sending this post to all the  legislators in the  MI state house and would encourage  leaders to "borrow liberally"  my questions... let's not steal each other's words, however let's see what law makers are thinking or at least what their aids are being asked to  study.



Okay Lawmakers what are  you doing for us now?   What are your ideas?

There  are people  out here with valuable ideas, however, unless you are asking  valuable questions your working paths may not cross.  Let's try  to move things in that direction.

Ready Set GO!

Solutions Please

Well... another day of Google Alerts and  other  media sources filling the information superhighway with "the ugly realities" of self-driving or autonomos vehicles.  Today's version is that a study  has shown that  driverless  vehicles(especially one owner/one passenger vehicles would likely add to the traffic congestion in a major city.. Washington D.C.

Well the trouble with there great majority  of these  reports is they  sell the potential  trouble far stronger and first in the news story.    The headline could read "The Value of Multi-Owner Low  Emission Vehicles  is highlighted by another  study.  Or it could read.  Innovative higher ed programs fusing transportation safety and urban planning  will provide  great job opportunities well into the future.     No we conjure up a horrific  image of robotic traffic jams crawling through  metro areas theater  already crowded and a bit daunting to  unfamiliar drivers.

So if I may be so bold as to suggest that some Higher ed. institutions  start offering a degree in this combination  of technology and planning and thus prepare  people to teach these classes and advise our current  cities. Can we get this cranked up  like  yesterday?  This fall is not too soon  for this type of academic training to  get launched and it is not  too much to ask from the industry and  government  to fully back these efforts perhaps offering scholarships and incentives galore.

Yes  and being a disabilities  advocate  I would that our State/Federal system start such programs if the  conventional system  does not....or maybe even if it does.  These types of jobs are going to exist very soon and  having qualified  consumers/clients ready to fill  the demand would be a very wise business move.

The good thing about  the news  today is that the  realities are being described fairly  clearly and are based on the "current thinking" in our culture.  Training then can redesigned to change  that thinking to a  more efficient traffic and mobility  model as long as providing  solutions to the difficulties as mobility evolves over the next quarter century.    I only would say that there is some urgency as the technology is already here.  The potential is ready for the unlocking... we  just have to apply the intelligence capacity in training and  design we have to  the current circumstances and to the process of building more effective  mobility  environments  in the near future.  So... change the headlines to solutions rather than problems and let's get the solution-based efforts underway.

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE OF THINGS.. JUST FOR A MOMENT

Let's face it this blog has been pretty hard core  with  the message that it is time to get moving on the advocacy of making  self-driving or autonomous  vehicles  affordable , accessible, and available for all and have warned that the time  to do so is now.  So  here's the thing... we have not addressed  two  of the more important  factors in this whole  "robot car"  discussion.  We have danced around it a bit... but not quite faced it head on so to speak.  

These  new cars (slash monitored shuttles) will not  know all the places that teenagers throughout the ages have learned to so  to hide out and make  out and  dream about  their futures.  Kids won't look forward to their late teen birthdays when they can get their freedom machines.   Since  many of these cars are going to be electric and charging stations will be easier to find than  gas pumps ...there will be no "well  we would have been there but we ran out of gas" defense possible.  Saying we forgot  our extension chord just doesn't have the same ring to it.  

There may be  less drinking and driving and that  would be a real bonus, but there'll be less opportunities for some people to make decisions on a regular basis.  Driving teaches people to ake decisions on a regular  basis.  Of course there will still be a lot of  times that decisions  are needed in these cars...like which mvieshould we watch or now that I don't really have to drive in here...can I move a desk or couch in here depending  upon whether  you want to get an hour of work in ora nap?   

There are some problems we haven't  thought about... like when you are at a stop light trying to show off  your powerful ride are you going to play a really loud recording of  a Dodge Charger circa 1967 or  maybe a 1971 Torina?  Or if you want people underestimate  your speed  will you blair out the sound of  the AMC Gremlin?  

  Decisions, decisions, decisions.   

Oh what about  taking driver's ed?  will that be a half-day  meeting where  the instructor stand up in front and  says....

"okay when you get in double check  your preset destination set  your alarm and get out of the car when it stops?"

I guess what is being  asked  here is  how is today's car culture going to  change and  is si time to start considering  some of these things too?   Probably so....

And  will there be a bumper sticker that says "My other  car is a toaster?

The self driving crystal ball

IT DOESN’T TAKE A CRYSTAL BALL—IT DOES  TAKE A VISION  FOR THE FUTURE

…and a will to lead…

Every day  and sometimes twice a day the news (no matter where you get it) features the latest new phone, the most convenient  new app, and “the ease of doing things in “our  new innovative way.”   Yet most of the reporting  I’ve seen  on autonomous vehicles and  all the “levels” is filled with “predicted” launch dates, time “estimates”, projected costs,and osorted public opinion polls.  There is, however, one  theme that gets overlooked.  

A whole  lot of us are still acting as  the question is not  when  things are going to happen…. we are still acting as if the question if “IF” this going to happen.  

Well wondering  if or when this is going to happen is like standing on the railroad tracks, seeing the train, and wondering  how fast the train is coming.  

The questions that we should be asking are  not the elusive who, what, where, when, or why… we are  better off turning our  leadership questions to the alphabetic outlier HOW.

If you are a person with a disability—how are you going to influence  your policy makers to require these  new vehicles to meet the standards that guarantee your right to equal participation?  If you are a policy maker how  are you going to build financial structures  that will allow people with disabilities to own, subscribe to, or simply have  geographic  access to  the new forms of transportation being developed.  No matter what time table we are using  there is always time for equal opportunity.  

As a forward thinking  manufacturer how are  you going to support access up front so that the engineers of the future “don’t have to  retrofit your defective designs?  Ask the housing  sector  about the ease of  building  access in versus the cost of  going back after the fact.  Please look at the demographics  of the U.S. and understand that the silver  stampede (older Americans  who often have physical limitations and money) are going to be   voting for the  policy makers that will free the cities up to create the welcoming  environments for your new  vehicles.  

The time  is now and the question is HOW?  

We all have an investment in this thing that is  already happening and in some places has already happened.

How are we going to reform  our schools to develop  youth who can conceptualize and  invent a post  industrial society?  There will still be industry, however, the labor force will be consuming voltage not Mt. Dew and Skittles on their  15 minute  break?  

“This won’t happen overnight” said the 8-track player engineer to the cassette company as the CD-Rom  folks chuckled briefly— so in summing up.  If you are person with a disability start asking your elected officials and  anyone involved in this process “how can I help you include me?”   If you are a policy maker start asking the “auto” industry how they are going to include every citizen?”  If you are in the auto industry start asking policy makers how  are we going to smooth the transition and start asking the  people in your lives  who experience disabilities or age “how can we make  this work?”  

Get in some rooms together and start talking  about…. not  when or if or why….. start figuring  out How.  

OK folks with disabilities it’s time to begin

Building the Infrastructure of Access

Over the course  of the last month a number of “trade associations and shows” have really  highlighted the “status” of Autonomous  vehicles in all their  stages of development and of course in our  current dualistic  mindset many doubters have raised concerns about the wisdom of this technology.  

Well there were a number  of folks who thought the smart phone just wouldn’t  catch on…. oh well.

The point is I am going to continue to provide  some education about this technology  and keep spreading the word in the disability community because  traditionally  people with  disabilities and the poor are the last to have access to technology that impacts  all lives and  in this auto  revolution this simply  cannot  or should  not happen  again.  So… that’s what this version is about.  

I am not starting  out with  a technical  description of the vehicle technology, nor am I starting with  the BIG number of 80 percent which is  about how many  people  with disabilities experience transportation as a major barrier to work and social life….. 

No I am starting  by asking everyone who reads this to pass it along to  a person  who has  one of four roles: 

1. Anybody with a disability
2. Anyone who works for  a State Vocational Agency  at any level 
3. Any state or federal legislator, their staff, and anyone who works in a big building tax payers  pay to heat,and provide wages in.

4   Anybody  who works in the auto industry who  has a family member or friend with a disability (which is everyone in the auto industry).

So here are the three main issues that need to be considered—no let’s make that resolved.

1. People with disabilities  need to get  Places

Our  State/Federal system  for helping  people with disabilities live full and productive  lives have administrative systems  that change at the speed of snails walking  uphill against the wind and these systems need to be ready to  either purchase  access to these new vehicles, build ride sharing  networks so that multiple client so multiple-owner systems could be  put into place (where four or five  consumers/clients could own a single  accessible  vehicle and have constant access, and/or they need to get together with the manufacturers and  bargain for a lower  price based upon  a “fleet buying” mentality.  The State Federal System  could also  partner with employers  so that  home to work shuttles that will soon be automated include accessible spaces, therefore  that type of barrier would be eliminated.  We don’t  need an electronic shuttle showing up  at the front of a  place of business  dropping off employees followed  by the local paratransit  van pulling up behind.

Okay tht’s enough about that for now—I didn’t  forget why  you need to spread  this word to people with disabilities —I’m leaving that for last.

Well…legislators  provide resources so that  the VR folks  can assist  their consumers/clients.  Also as a legislator  you will  need to  make the same sorts of decisions  that were  made when codes  were written for the ADA, Section 504, and the Able Act.  If you are a legislator  or an assistant to one and don’t  know  much about those statutes  don’t bother to look them up just call your local Center for Independent Living or Regional ADA  Resource  Center (you  can get  really great info and quickl).  As lawmakers you can tell car producers that 2 in 10  of their  vehicles  need to be  wheelchair accessible  and  that all shuttles need access.  You can design tax credits for businesses  that provide employee shuttles that have this type of access.  You can build in provisions to the ABLE  act  that allow for two or three families to jointly own a vehicle as an asset or save income  aside for this type of  resource.  While you are at it you could modify  social security  regulations  so that the purchase  of these vehicle  regardless  of whether is used just for  work is an acceptable work/life related expense and thus exempt from  counting as  as asset and counting against benefits.  In short lawmakers  have a great opportunity  to really break down  some barriers here.  Oh and let’s not  forget about  requiring  adequate coverage and testing for small town and rural  settings.   Right now a lot of buzz is focused on cities and urban consequences …let’s not  forget to see how these  “new fangled cars”  do when  a deer jumps  in the road or  the Johnson’s hog fence gave way again.  When do you need to start working on this?  Well about three years ago, but  maybe tomorrow would be soon enough.

People who work in the  auto industry…. look for a century you have produced an assembly line of vehicles that have changed the culture of our country.  Unfortunately, members of your own families with some types of disabilities cannot even drive the cars your company makes all day long seven days a week.  Cars come with standard features like seat belts USB ports, cupholders, places for a spare tire and a crappy jack.  Almost every vehicle  has a stereo system of some sort and adjustable seats-some of which will  heat your  body on the cold winter days.  Yet  you have seen no real need to  include hand controls as a standard feature or many other features that might  help a person with a disability operate  a car coming right off the line.  You wouldn’t have to design every vehicle  for access,  however, you could  make it easier  to add ramp  conversions, tie downs, etc than you do now.   You could  wait for the law makers  to demand  that you do this or you could  consider  the members of your own families that  could use them.  The  reality  is that until the car people start thinking  of access as a standard we have to count on  lawmakers and small market vendors to  figure  things out.  Well, have you seen our  healthcare system?  Do we  really want to waste  an opportunity for industry driven  change or wait  for the bureaucrats?  

Okay… people with disabilities…now Us—-

I have been reading  and reading and reading some more about  this vehicle  revolution and what i have not been seeing most of the time is a standard comment by  people with disabilities  educating the public about the importance of inclusion  from the ground level.  Well…. we finally  after years  of having planes break enough wheelchairs did something…but  are we going to wait that long on  this car redesign?  It’s time to contact  your local VR folks and ask how they are going to  purchase these vehicles or at least provide drivers training on them or demand that the regular  methods of training  include  folks with disabilities.  We should not have to go to an occupational  therapist  tto learn  how to push a button.  Many lasmakers and their staff are  not aware of the impact of autonomous vehicles or self-driving  cars and have not considered the access questions that we need to be asking right now.   For example do these vehicles recognize  curb cuts and have the built in  capacity to easily  be adapted  with switches and joy sticks for driving etc.  Can a wheelchair or a cane be modified  to be able to communicate with these vehicles that will be communicating  with each other?  

The point is you  need to be asking the car companies  these questions and asking the legislators around the country to  be asking them too.  

There is a lot of money and freedom at stake  here…. Let’s  Get  Moving.  

New form of transportation may clog streets? Really?

New  TECH VEHICLES  MAY CLOG STREETS-REALLY?

In a continuing  effort to provide education connected with autonomous  vehicles today’s blog  briefly presents a history of  urban  mass transit.  Well sort of.  

The folks  who have worries about  fleets of  driverless cars roaming the city and clogging  the streets might  have a valid point if we keep thinking  in the  present  where EVERYONE owns their own car and  drives to work and finds  a parking place.  By the way current  autos spend 95% of their  time parked someplace.  So if you are thinking  your  teens spend too much time parked in front of their  xbox or Youtube.. well your F150 isn’t exactly  using  all its time  very wisely either.

Okay, back to the history… of traffic congestion.  The link below pretty  much sums up the state of affairs only about  125 years ago.   If you want to be objective about increased  congestion drive in rush hour  traffic in the DC beltway or in Chicago,or in LA on just about  any work day during  “drive” time which may as well be called “wait while you burn your fossil fuels time.”  

Anyway click on the link below and  read a bit and try to understand that the move to autonomous vehicles may be scary but I suspect a lot of stables, blacksmiths, and shovelers worried about their jobs too.  Do we want those jobs back? 

Maybe that’s the next topic…jobs in the new “car” era.

Have a Great  Day and as you imagine your downtown streets of 1890 well just watch your step.

 https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/09/when-horses-posed-a-public-health-hazard/

Every 23 seconds

 I don’t know what you can do in 23 seconds -I can probably Thai  both of my shoes  in 23 seconds if they are on and ready and probably brush my teeth in 23 seconds which isn’t nearly long enough and there are probably countless other bodily functions I can take care of and about that much time however I would like you to  watch this video below to find out why 23 seconds is significant and then I will discuss it further






https://youtu.be/sRxaMDDMWQQ

MY CHALLENGE TO YOU TODAY…. 

Ok if you watched the video this won’t be a spoiler but if not …go watch it in a few minutes.  

EVERY 23 SECONDS  someone around the planet dies in a vehicle  accident.  With them could be vanishing the ideas that will cure  disease, figure out the  best way to address global warming, or be the person who eventually brings a winning team  to Cleveland for the Browns.  

I spent about  27 minutes writing and editing the material above the link (which accounts for the  time it takes to prepare the blogspot template….there goes 73 human lives.  

If 9  out of 10  accidents  are caused by driver error and these  wrecks were  not tragedies …then  we are talking  about 8 people  being killed  instead of the 72 that  disappeared from the  planet while i was working on a few words.  

Well I don’t take too much more time with this  entry because it  is  a time for living on the weekend… but I am issuing  each of you a challenge.  Your smart phone  has a stopwatch or you can probably count to 23 even if you have to take your shoes off and use your toes and then count three more fingers.  So see what  takes 23 seconds or more  in your everyday  lives and then think about the global initiative that autonomous  vehicles  really means.  

Ok that’s enough but strangely enough that  old Bob Dylan line is streaming through my head

“How many deaths will it take till we know that too many people have died?”  

Anyway have a good  weekend at least 23 seconds worth. 

Solid and positive information about informed safety and a positive future for autonomous vehicles

 SAFETY OF SELF-DRIVING-A REALISTIC PERSPECTIVE

https://youtu.be/KrOOXE3SW-A

 This is the link to the presentation take a look at it at any time it will help this blog make more sense 

Unfortunately-especially for  the US marketplace, our current “tribal” tendencies  have in some ways impacted the  advance of autonomous  vehicle  development.  These  machines  get presented to the public as either a miracle of modern convenience ready to solve a ‘car problem” that we have  developed  over a century—or they are robots out of control that are  going to clog our cities and  hit our children as they chase a ball into the street

Well just as the car of today  looks  a wole lot different than a Model A or Model T, the vehicles fo the future let’s say  10  years from now may look much different from those we see  in the infancy of AV or Self-Driving machines.

I recently reached out to  get more informed about  the  status and fears surrounding  this  topic and received  an absolutely  terrific  recent  video that I think makes a great point and offers a term that I believe  have real practical value.

That  term described in the video below is  “informed safety.’  I  will let the video  do the talking, however Iwant to make one of the main points  just so you will be watching for it.  

Informed Safety is nothing new… how many products  in your home already  come with  labels  like Keep Out of Reach of children or in the case of  our hair  dryer “do not  operate in the tub or shower.

Anyay…  Watch the video it makes a great number of  points and asks some very  important questions…

Speaking of questions… please keep sending them along and following  these blogs at  the initial sight, via email notice, or I will leave  twitter and  Facebook links  regular intervals.

Anyway watch this and gain a global  perspective that just might hit home.

Yep I’m 

Imagine it’s Valentine’s Day

 This video is going out on all of my blogs today because it’s Valentine’s Day and I’d like to imagine there can be a better world where everyone has access to opportunity and environment that we can all live in have a great day

Poor little google

ÎgGOOGLE: (or How the Self-Driving Story Doesn’t Drive Itself)

A couple of blogs ago the idea of becoming  educated  about the  topic was a valuable first step in understanding and if then motivated, promoting the value of the coming technology roughly  known as self-driving vehicles.  Then this blog hinted tha there would be a “google” oriented entry.  Well this is it.

Let’s  get one thing  on the table  right from the beginning—-I Love Google and you can go there by  entering  http://www.google.com or  by telling your  phone to search google  for or in some cases  just by saying  “hey google.”  That my friends is fabulous!  Wait for it…..here it comes…EXCEPT….

If you set up a google alert  expecting to learn  a great deal about  the status of self-driving technology and hope to understand the variety of activities going on…. Google Alerts and searches  aren't going to get you there.  Why?

There are three  main reasons:

First if you pick up a daily alert there is likely to be at least  three stories  about the same topic that appear in  three  media sources… but are either by the same writer or written from the same template or news release.  This is nothing new in our “syndicate” dominated  news era, but reader be ware.

Second the stories tend to be  pretty  one-sided on the negative side.  Why?  Well who wants to read a daily account of automated vehicles successfully  traveling another twenty miles today and read it  day after day and week after week?  Nobody  really wants to read this type of story and yet if you want “news” that addresses  the concerns over safety at least one of these stories should make the Google feed every day.  After all…. at latest count  self-driven vehicles  have traveled  over a Billion that’s Billion with  a B and there have been only four fatalities   Now what does that mean?  Well you probably  don’t  really know the whole story based on that number either.  “Miles traveled per fatality” isn’t a stat you are probably familiar with.  It’s kind of like  talking about an amp or a kilowatt.  For all most people  know  it takes 9 amps for a trained monkey to ride a bicycle  3 blocks.  By the way given the huge amount we drive in this country and around the world without  killing each other is pretty  impressive, however,  self-driving  vehicles  are winning the battle of that  stat by a three to one  ratio.  Yes AVs even in their infancies  are safer than  we are when it comes to driving but  that’s not something that gets into Google  on a very  regular basis.  

Three:  In this industry the spectrum is too large  for Google——what? you ask? too large for Google?  Well right now  it is… There is the engineering aspect of the vehicles, the variety of brands becoming involved, the computer software aspects, the sensors, the safety advocates on both sides of the  hurry up and slow  down sides, and then there is  the legal stuff… I mean we have  national traffic regulations, state laws on licensing and testing, idiosyncratic insurance laws in every state, and legislative processes that rival the variety of craft beers you can  purchase at a good liquor outlet.  

So…if not Google where do we get educated….. well it appears the  emerging PAVE campaign Partners  for Autonomous  VehicleEducation might be a good source.  Several states  are or already have issued  the “state of autonomous vehicles” reports much like Michigan’s  that is probably on the verge of obsolete by  now.   In the end you are going to have to work to stay educated or focus on a small slice of this for a while.  However, if you ask people fair questions about the things they are doing they will usually  give  you a fair answer.  So dig in…. but  not just with your Google shovel..

There is a world of cool things happening in this news space…. go out and enjoy the  exploration!

An excellent summary

 For those people who are generally interested in assistive technology for people with disabilities but aren’t familiar with the progress in automatic or a Tonna mess or self driving vehicles this is an excellent summary to look at this is a better summary than Google gives you in their daily updates more tomorrow on Google alerts and what you can know and what you might not know by reading them  sRxaMD

DMWQQ

 Again the next few blog post will be dedicated to primary education about the status of the future of this mode of transportation


 Hope you had a marvelous Monday and are going to have a terrific Tuesday more soon

Just a Saturday sing-along

 OK this is on the lighter side of things but this is a video that I made five or six years ago and it really highlights what happens when we don’t have enough affordable accessible transportation or transportation routes just listen and enjoy it possible if not catch the next blog in the series have a great day

Step one get educated

GET EDUCATED, GET CONNECTED, GET INVOLVED OR GET NOWHERE—

So I’m standing on a corner (no not in Winslow Arizona)…and I hear or barely hear  the sound of what for the world seems like  maybe  a #shark vacuum maybe loud remote control  4x4 toy …well it was neither.  It was  of course an electric  car and as it approached I  knew that’s t I wouldn’t be keeping my  carpet clean with it—however, I also knew two other things.  

One— as a pedestrian I had better pay more attention to this “new” sort of road noise and/or 

Two—These much quieter modes of transportation may  need to actually emit  some signal to the public (including those  who don’t see  so well and/or  have earbuds in.  So that’s where my story began…. what  would happen if we had more of these electric cars  on the road?  Then I  started hearing about  “self-driving”  cars?  Well, if I can talking my phone and  have it playHey Jude” just by asking then  I could see a car that could drive itself.  I also  thought  immediately about  how much independence it could bring to  folks  who have bodies that  are functionally diverse and therefore  traditional car travel is not an option…. well 

that is when I really started doing some serious  reading and thinking about  the #internet of things specifically  transportation and  to date….there are two  or three sources of information I  go to.  

First  of course  there is Google Alerts and you can choose what you might want Google to alert you about in an email.  So I have that set up.  Then I looked to  the podcast arena because a lot of people are listening to these (ironically while in their cars).  

Third, I  started  hearing dribbles about  some diversified group of engineers,   policy-makers,  safety experts, and the like  building this  coalition dedicated not to market  the AV or to try to stunt its development, but to get the facts into the hands  of folks who could then enter into the discussion armed with the most  dangerous  weapon today—the facts.  

I 

These folks  are known as  thePartnership for Autonomous  Vehicle  Education —PAVE and  you can check  out their growing set of resources at 

http://www.pavecampaign..org  Yes they are on twitter too.  

By the way according to this group 80 percent of all people with disabilities  or the elderly  indicate  transportation issues are  a major  barrier to participation in  the world of  work or  in the area of social participation.

These  folks were featured on  a recent episode of the “autonocast” (this blog will review some podcasts in an upcoming  entry).

So….this blog is  getting a bit long for me to write… and so it must  seem like the”Grapes of Wrath”  tfor the reader about now.  

What I started  out to say is  all of this AI, and AV,  and self-driving, or smart machine talk is not only science—it is a personal issue for most of us.  There are places to get educated  (including  this blog).  There are  people to get connected  with all over the blogosphere, youtube, andpodcast carnival… so connect with some of these folks and learn.  The more  you learn the more  you will realize  that there are important decisions being made right now  and  many decisions left to chelp

ome.  You can have  a say in this future…or you can sit back and let  other people  make  choices about trivial things like the cars you will get to ride in, the roads  you will be traveling, the safety of “new players on-drivers” out in public and ultimately  who will pick up the transitional costs of all this.  

For  today I just want  you to remember it’s personal… Pave  will serve as a valuable resource, and you can use Google too.

Google is what  the next issue of this blog will talk about….I have heard some feedback  from  some of you and  please keep sending it my way…

More… probably about Monday …unless  between now and then I decide to  have a little Wackiness Weekend” version  of this blog in which case  look for a short  blog with a music video  tomorrow.

Peace and Joy  to  you all.  

and I will I am 

Creating a traffic jam

CREATING A  TRAFFIC JAM?

First.. and always I want to share a note of  gratitude  to all  who either read or read and responded  to the initial post yesterday.  It provides evidence that we are a very passionate group of individuals when it comes to  our cars, our spaces, and the ways  in which we  want the future to look (even if some of us want it to look like our past).   Anyway the point is 

THANK  YOU.



I wanted to follow up yesterday  with a  quick  real world yet very philosophical  question and  some answers.  Will you  get my opinion  in the pages of this blog?  Yes!  Why?  Well  that's simple  enough.. I'm writing it and I have opinions.  Will I do my best to present  many sides of each topic?  Of course, because it is  complex and will I set this up as a debate between two sides of most ideas..... no chance... we already  have a globe where  we are constantly  being pulled to 'choose  one  or the other side of something... Solutions  are the goal here not victories.

Okay.. well here we go.


My temptation was to start with an  entry  that told of all the great things  that an autonomous  vehicle future might  bring about and then I read  several articles yesterday about  "traffic jam" concerns.  People are beginning  to wonder what these  driverless vehicles are going to do all day once they drop off  the passenger at work?  Some folks  predict congested cities... (see the link)




https://thehustle.co/self-driving-cars-traffic-waymo-autonomous-vehicles/



Others  day  no worries... after they deliver three or four people to their jobs they can go deliver  pizzas or flowers.... or  make a visit to a charging station where they  get more juice and  cleaned p in a location outside the downtown  metro area.

Well that is a space and policy question  that people  are going to have to start working on.  Lower  me just introduce the idea that  "multi-owner
 cars  or subscription  plans  might dictate  some of this.  

ALSO THE FACT IS THAT EVERY CAR TODAY SPENDS  95%  YES  95% OF ITS LIFETIME PARKED.


Think  about  that a minute... When you  add up the  cost of  the car,  the cost of the insurance, them you use to store it like  a two car  garage and then add in the price of parking... maybe  you feel okay because  parking a car is sometimes cheaper than driving it... but  95%...Wow...when it could be taking a veteran to the vet's hospital, or  two blind  students to college, or your sister to the doctor...but no it's sitting  in a parking spot that you drove  three times around the block to find?  

Okay theres some food for thought  for today and  here's some more....

What  other  traffic jams  are we going  to talk about  in the future of this  blog?  We  are going to talk about  how some of these systems have trouble seeing  the road in fog or snow and we are going to talk about  how these vehicles  tell the difference between  a plastic bag blowing across the street and a  person using a wheelchair?  We are going to look at these questions and hopefully  learn a lot about the traffic jam that really  exists which is the gap between what we  know  and what we fear--what  risks we are willing to take and who gets to decide on the acceptable  level of  risk.  We are going to talk about how society (all its members) can  participate in  this discussion and  we are starting today.. because  those  questions are the real traffic jams  in this  matter not a few  four wheeled  machines.  


Anyway... more to come....