SootySport Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 I don't know what John is expecting with auto technology, the speed limit is fixed at 70mph so we can't go any faster and the average human can only react at far slower speeds than a microchip. Reliability can be improved though, I'm sure fault free cars could be built but what we do when us geezers are fed up TV, gardening and washing up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff oakley Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 I also think one of the things that has held some advancements back is the reliance on oil. If you believe half the tales technology to create highly fuel efficient cars has been bought up to keep oil producing countries rich. It is only now that following two wars to help democracy!!!! that we have the states now wanting fuel efficient cars and to end the reliance on oil from despot countries. The Arab countries can see what is happening and have started to build alternative incomes becoming tourist destinations. Watch them develop new technologies, perhaps in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Pete Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 I am always amazed that the internal combustion engine was invented over 100 years ago and apart from.tinkering around the edge hasnt really changed or been replaced with alternative technology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SootySport Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 I am always amazed that the internal combustion engine was invented over 100 years ago and apart from.tinkering around the edge hasnt really changed or been replaced with alternative technology. It has changed Pete, we now have electric and Hydrogen powered cars. I think the reluctance to change, is the consumers fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyonspride Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 The petroleum corporations do a good job of making sure we keep using the combustion engine. It's got to be 15+ years since I heard about the technology of making batteries using the non-radioactive isotopes from nuclear waste, one battery that could power a car for longer than it's service life or a small battery that could power something like a watch for over 80 years. I remember it, but pretty much all trace of this has been removed from...... everywhere basically. If it ever came up again, the media would run stories weeks in advance about Chernobyl and Fukushima, the TV channels would play Bond movies (and such) where the villain is trying to kill us all with nuclear bombs. Innovation has many enemies (not just the big corporations), as an engineer constantly being suppressed by those above and around me, whereby anything above mediocre performance is likely to be seen as a threat by ones peers, I know exactly how it is, i've got 20 years experience and the battle scars to prove it. The technology that REALLY makes a difference, it often has the biggest fight on its hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Pete Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 It has changed Pete, we now have electric and Hydrogen powered cars. I think the reluctance to change, is the consumers fault. But they are a tiny minority, IC still rules....at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAFKARM Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 The petroleum corporations do a good job of making sure we keep using the combustion engine. Amen and long may it continue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SootySport Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 I can remember in the late 60's the experts said we would run out of oil based fuels by the 1990's, Glad they got it wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John K Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 I don't know what John is expecting with auto technology, the speed limit is fixed at 70mph so we can't go any faster and the average human can only react at far slower speeds than a microchip. Reliability can be improved though, I'm sure fault free cars could be built but what we do when us geezers are fed up TV, gardening and washing up? I'm finding it hard to express what is bugging me and it might be just my view, but Pete seems to express the same feeling. We are just tinkering at the edges and yes hybrid or hydrogen is coming but they all happened in the last five minutes. I think the BMW I8 is what I am expecting, but by some accounts economy ain't great. But at least it looks next gen. A PC still uses silicon chips in the same way a car still runs with IC but the power of the laptop in my bag goes way beyond an old IBM PS80 from the 90's. When I look at a new Audi or BMW they have not opened up the same gap from a Sierra of the 90's. Yes they are better, but not as much better than a PC is. And yes all the Windows crashing jokes are good, but anybody who worked with PC's in the 80's will acknowledge they are way, way better now. I'm sort of feeling 'cars' should be silent, run on CO2, kick oxygen out the exhaust, do 1000 miles between fill ups and be totally autonomous when we want them to be. A Smart phone is sort of all that, except for utterly rancid battery life LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John K Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 I can remember in the late 60's the experts said we would run out of oil based fuels by the 1990's, Glad they got it wrong. 30 years ago my brother (who also works in O&G) told me and my Dad petrol would hit £5 a gallon in the 2000's Oh how we laughed at him... I still need to apologise to him..! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welly Jen Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Most technologies go through an S shaped curve. Initial slow progress, then very rapid advancement, then slower progress as they hit various limit. After that there are incremental improvements, but not the huge changes seen before. I think you are trying to compare a technology that is in the middle of the rapid advancement phase, semiconductors, with one that is in the top of the S incremental improvement phase. Compare a London to Brighton run car from 1900 with a car from the 1970's. The 70's can go maybe five times faster, can travel thousands of miles without breaking down, compared with tens. A reasonably well off person could buy one, compared with only the super rich in 1900. In the last 40 years they have got more fuel efficient by perhaps a factor of two and the cost has come down by a factor of two or so. Reliability and service life by two or three times. Nothing like the change in the last 40 years compared with the first 70. Similar thing for aeroplanes. 1904 they are made of wood and string and can go a few hundred yards. Sixty years latter jet passenger planes do 500mph across oceans. Fifty years after that they still do 500mph and look similar, but are several times cheaper to buy and run, so almost anyone can afford to fly. Jen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.