Posted on 02/02/2019 7:31:40 PM PST by SeekAndFind
"SOON", really? You actually negate your thesis with "...there would be a huge need for vehicle fleets which could be summoned...". City geography would preclude such large fleets of self-driving buses/transit vehicles into the suburbs. Don't know where you live, but it would be impossible when dealing with the different time frames of individuals needing door-to-door pick up and delivery home after work. Yes, Uber/Lyft already do that. What about simple errands and trips for groceries and shopping and doctor visits, etc.?
What about emergencies? Would you count on self-driving ambulances or a gigantor fleet service when counting the minutes of survival.
Individuals will need individual transportation until a Star Trek transporter is invented, which is beyond physics. I think you've watched the movie Minority Report too often.
They need to design an electric Silverado.
With a compact multi fuel auxiliary powerplant for remote area charging and cold weather heating.
Many big rigs already have a similar unit, runs forever on a smsll amount of diesel, or natural gas.
I see a new Michael Moore “documentary”....”Mary & Me”.
And in related news, GM will be investing to built a starship like the Enterprise so the GM board can be beamed up on a moments notice. They understand that their new starship will be flying in the tail of a comet.
There's a girl at the helm of what once was, could be again, but noooooo .... iconic American corporation.
re: “Why is she even in a job?”
We both know it isn’t her fault, it’s the *boobs* on the board who appointed her ...
I wouldn’t blame the first-year recalls on her; they were the fruit of decisions made years before, unless those decisions were made in parts of the organization she headed.
The worst social engineering impacting the auto industry is that young people often can’t afford cars with today’s wages. We’ve become an economy where they lease them (which has its advantages, but full insurance coverage for life isn’t one of them), or they “ride-share” (Uber, Lyft, etc.). They can’t afford them, so they basically take taxis forever - and those “taxis” are driven by people who can’t afford them without “sharing” them.
Boy, it sure is a good thing Obama shoveled tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer money at Government Motors huh? Otherwise, “thousands of jobs would have been lost” (they’d have declared chapter 11 bankruptcy and gotten out from under their ruinous UAW contracts).
Whereas now after the bailout they’re...ummmm.......
Politics and business are interchangeable so that statement is ridiculous. We need a tariff.
In all fairness to Barra, much of that mess was from before she took took over. The recalls especially occurred with vehicles before she took over, so she had to testify about problems that were created on her predecessor’s watch.
You are mostly talking about the ‘exceptions’.
There is a reason that the automakers are looking to create their own ‘car-sharing’ services. That includes GM and Ford and the other biggies.
City driving is especially the type of service that will be replaced sooner than long-distance driving. When people start realizing that now owning gives them huge savings, while serving their needs completely or almost completely, then, it’s bye-bye to ownership. Fact is that most vehicles sit in garages or in driveways around 80-90% of the time. Why pay for something ‘rarely’ used. Most people use their vehicles to get to work and back and to go shopping and back, or to visit family and friends or to go to leisure activities or to go to doctor and back. IOW, activities that can be easily replaced by services that can be at any location you desire within a few minutes. A fleet of vehicles which is ALWAYS on the road and waiting to be summoned, could easily replace any vehicle.
Emergency services might be the exceptions, but then, they too would be automated vehicles with trained emergency personnel being freed up to take care of those in need, which means that, even there, there would be a savings in the number of people needed, which means even more lost jobs.
Uber and Lyft would, themselves, be casualties of the self-driven vehicle future, since, the automakers would be the ones doing the fleet services that would be summoned instantly. No need to sell to Uber or Lyft or any other ride-sharing service.
For servicing city-dwellers, most if not all vehicles would become electric, meaning that the green-energy fanatics would largely be getting their way, while also putting many of their supporters out of work. Like I said, nothing is without consequences. Be careful what you wish for.
As angry as i am about the bond holders getting screwed, I'm willing to consider GM again, but only to support President Trump's economy, and only if I can't get a suitable domestic built alternative to what I'm looking for from another brand.
That is a profound rationalization admitting you are not buying a car but a car company
Yes. And?
Wrong move - going electric - at the wrong time.
In five years with another economic recession look for another GM near bankruptcy. All because political correctness is now running the GM board.
They have said they want to sell all electric vehicles at some point. Electric cars have less parts, so they will have less suppliers to deal with. The same applies to warranty repairs in theory. How fast they can implement this depends on overall cost of the car, time of quick charging, and battery performance in harsh environments. They might be content with just selling EV's and let other companies sell ICE cars.
Where do you see that? I’m not buying a car company. I’m buying to support my country and it’s workers.
Are you considering a Mercedes or a Honda or a Toyota or a Volkswagen or a Nissan or perhaps a Hyundai?
As for the others, if they build what I want and build it here, then maybe. My first choice would be an American company (whatever that means any more) but some of those others are high on my list.
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