Support the Blog — Buy This Book!
For Kindle and with free ePub version. Only $9.49 Great reading.
Here is what Gary Shapiro CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said: Dvorak's writing sings with insight and clarity. Whether or not you agree with John's views, he will get you thinking and is never boring. These essays are worth the read!
Put this ad on your blog!
Syndicate
Subscribe to Main Blog feed here:
Subscribe to Comments too (below):
Junk Email Filter
Seriously speaking not just Autobhans. Rails are 19th century transportation. We can put lipstick on them but they are still BS. Countries that have had poor 19th century transportation system (China) should definitely invest in them. USA should focus on making 21st century transportation more efficient: air traffic. Investment in automated traffic control worthy 21st century able to deal with extremely dense traffic. Investment in local airports, small efficient planes and local carriers. Airports should mushroom at every 10-20 miles. Plane trips cheaper than rail tickets should start at 100mi distances. TSA should be reeducated to tub stacking in tub making factories.
All I can say is ZOOM, ZOOM
#1 planes are always cheaper. On almost every level.
Wir brauchen Flug-Autobahns! Now, that’s the future.
Where’s that video of the mercedez crashing at 100 mph into a cloud of dust and flying metal and they guy getting out of his car and walking to the grass for a nice little rest?
Airplanes are cheaper? somehow how sarcasm of that thought just doesn’t come across. Type too fast? Leave out a few ??? or CAPS to drive the thought home?
Airplanes developed at the same time as cars for the same reason: engines.
More teenage fantasy than practicality but I see “personal” transportation as the future along the lines of an exoskeleton. But in the main I thought transportation itself is 19th Century with the future belonging to holograms.
The future is so bright, I’ve gotta adjust the saturation and gray scale.
…autobahns with that car would be nice, JCD, however, that car in the video is about $100,000. Not exactly in the price range of every family in america.
I love trains and I’d like to think high speed rail would pay but what I see suggests that what is planned is the wrong solution. People can’t afford to use them nor are they convenient.
What seems a little more rational is very light rail with bus sized units that run on rail at speeds of maybe 200+ mph between cities and can reach more locations. These units could be scheduled to make shorter runs or do through traffic without having to stop every few miles.
Because the units don’t weigh as much you might be able to build a track above a track and allow two way traffic over more critical sections of the right of way.
Of course you aren’t going to be able to move much freight on this system but I’d say stick with conventional rail for freight.
One flat tire and that guy would be dead meat.
That car sounds great.
Autobahns require a heck of a lot of maintenance to support speed demons like that. Unfortunately the USA has this attitude of “build it and forget it” when it comes to highways … I’d like to see that guy drive his M6 at that speed on any stretch of the I-10 without flipping out and killing himself. If autobahns are built in this country AND properly maintained they are going to make auto transportation the most expensive mode of travel. Think of $2.95 federal gas tax per gallon — and that’s just for starters.
Oil temp should have been datalogging in that run. Aftermarket senders and gauges are needed for that almost always, because oil temp is not in the OBD2 spec. Few cars are tested by the mfr at sustained speed of 190 mph or so. Peak speed is different than sustained speed. Friction levels and airflow changes across the cooling system might be unsustainable.
Actually, there are few sections of the Autobahn left that do not have a speed limit…
#10
Roadway length in Germany: 644,480km
GDP Germany: $2.81 trillion
Roadway length in US: 6,506,204km
GDP US: $14.14 trillion
That’s a little more than 10 times the roadway in the US, with only about 6 times the GDP. The climate in the US is harsher, and the US probably uses the roads for more heavy traffic (trucks). This probably results in higher maintenance costs in the US. Total railway length in Germany is about 6.5% of total roadway length. In the US it’s about 3.5% of total roadway length. It stands to reason that in the US, more freight has to travel by road. (All figures from CIA World Factbook. GDP cited is Purchasing Power Parity, rather than official exchange rate).
Of course, this is just 5 minutes of research. But I think it’s safe to say that maintaining roads in the US to the same level as Germany would be challenging. Less road to maintain per GDP in Germany, less heavily used (fewer trucks, shorter hauls due to denser population), and less harsh climate.
This doesn’t take into account factors such as distance between population centers, do railways really help relieve freight traffic on roadways and does it affect costs, how much road is really effective for transportation (we probably shouldn’t count oiled backroads and the like, which there are probably more in the US, as it’s less densely populated), but I think the issue is complex enough it deserves a little careful consideration.
(And no, I don’t think we should necessarily start building more railways. And my 5 minute research project could be completely off base. It probably is. But as I said, a little gathering of data might help clarify the issues a bit. )
Okay, so cars get developed that can actually keep up with bullet trains etc. for long distances. Would you like to be sharing the road with a possible drunk in one of these? (or maybe just someone groping for their cell phone or whatever?).
I didn’t think so.
The only way individual transportation of this kind would work is if it were guided by some sort of slot car track, so that drivers not experienced with auto racing could just let go, sit back and watch tv or something.
And also long range braking radar, to prevent spectacular rear-enders.
(Boy, that thing blowed up RE-EAL good!!)
It might end up looking like–and costing as much as– the NYC subway system.
Too many idiots text messaging and thinking they know how to drive. It would just a wreck every mile. Way too many idiots here in the US. They can’t deal with 55 without killing each other.
You gotta love the bored tone of voice when he says:
“thats all she’s got.”
Take notice of the minivan that knows enough, and is aware of the road enough, to move out of the left lane when a car is approaching at a higher speed….something all too uncommon in the US despite drivers education.
One of my pet peeves.
Darwinism – why complain?
All aboard!
Trains good, planes bad, cars best woo woo! 🙂
#19 – I noticed that as well.
I remember watching a Modern Marvels on the History channel that discussed the Autobahn. If I recall correctly the two most expensive tickets that you can receive while on the Autobahn are:
1. Tailgating.
2. Passing on the right.
They determine your fine for tickets in Germany based on your wealth. So a poor driver only pays a fraction of what a rich driver would pay for the same offense.
Hmmm, that sounds like how we get to pay taxes, but I don’t get to drive fast 🙂
#5 Bobo —
Are you trying to argue that rail is cheaper to build from the ground up than air?
Wow, I don’t trust American drivers above 40 MPH are you completely insane?
Oh and by the way, have you been in Germany lately. The roads are packed like ours so the only time you can drive like that is in the middle of the day or Sunday morning. You can forget driving like that to get to work. That’s why they have 160mph trains and most people are on them.
The future is electrified rail, because we have no other choice.
Fuel is going to get either very expensive or very scarce in the next decade, to the point that we will no longer care about time of travel, but energy cost of travel.
Trains are about 400 times more efficient than airplanes, and even more efficient than trains are boats, but boats can’t go everywhere trains can.
Rails can be electrified, making fossil fuel free travel possible. Airplanes cannot run on electricity, not for long distances anyways.
There is however a known technology to make airplanes more fuel efficient, in fact it can double efficiency, traveling the same distance with half the fuel.
It is called “prop planes”.
#19 – when you flash your lights they have to move over. I’ve driven over 140mph in a floaty volvo on the Autobahn. 🙂
That is why Germany is fun. And October fest…!
Though not much traffic in the clip, notice the diciplined driving culture compared to the US; slower traffic stays to the right, faster to the left. In the US people are all over.
Johnny C posts prevail on the board. Per wow!©
“#1 planes are always cheaper. On almost every level” I’m with you – I wouldn’t be surprised if flying was cheapest/safest, but airline travel would be a surprise when infrastructure was factored in.
Flying is cheap. Airline flying is encumbered by slabs of pork from fees to security to any other made up tax. Hire some longhaired flying Dutchman and you’ll get in air entertainment gratis.
Nope want the rails.
Only one section to have to worry about. One driver to have to stay focused. More control on the ground and atmospheric conditions (fog, cars at 200mph can we say 20 car pile up?).
I sit back and enjoy the ride and not have to be stressed due to either idiots that drive too slow or people with road rage because their wife didn’t give them a blowjob the night before cos she had a headache and farmville was calling.
High speed rail baby, eliminate the variables by reducing the amount of humans in the cockpit.
Cursor_
THE OLD MENTALITY, was fun/cool/logical.
Those that wish to speed…LET THEM.
1 single person OUT in front, getting in a wreck, is LESS of a problem then 1 IDIOT in a pod of cars, GOING NUTS..
a few speeders OPENS up the group. LESS problems and accidents. REALLY.
WE CAN make cars designed for SLOW and FAST..the makers DONT WANT TO.
A car can be made with computer control of the engine, that would diagnose and SET the timing and Fuel/air ratio, as well as a few other things. but they dont want to ADD a DECENT transmission.
The real problem is the transmissions. China(?) made a new one, belt driven and MEGA Variable. It SHOULD/WOULD be a stick. as it would be a 5 speed with a 2-3 gear over drive on the side.
USA car makers DO NOT WANT to pay royalties..or BUY out a patent..that is the MAIN problem with MOST of the car makers. MOST everything has been DONE, but all the patents are SPREAD OUT and no one WANTS to copy anyone.
I love this country, but there’s no reason to suspect that we will ever get it right. We HAVE autobahns, and we have totally fucked them up with speed limits (even in the most open areas of the country), tolls (mostly in the NE quarter of the country), and most significantly, by not teaching our drivers to stay the hell out of the hammer lane unless they’re passing (worst case – Florida).