Tag Archives: engineering

Driverless Cars

Nevada has taken a big step toward allowing driverless cars; they’ve authorized their DOT to start forming rules and regulations for the use of driverless cars.

I picked this up via Ben Brooks who raises a very salient point:

No matter how advanced sometimes you just can’t beat the human eye. Because the first time a ‘driverless’ car kills a kid in an accident that a human could have avoided — well that’s the end of the dream.

A real concern that every right-thinking person should have. I think the problem is that most people view the issue of driverless cars as an either/or situation. Either we all driver our cars everywhere, or we all have driverless cars take us everywhere. I think the reality would be a hybrid.

Imagine jumping in line on an onramp, pushing a button, and allowing the car to take over as it whisks you along safely on a grade-separated right of way amidst hundreds of other cars running driverless. All these cars could have their own onboard computer that would transmit simple information to each other to promote smooth flowing, high speed, safe traffic.

Now imagine, as your car takes you to your highway exit, an alert sounds letting you know you need to take over again. Once on the slower, mixed-use boulevards shared with cyclists and pedestrians, you have to do the work. You are still responsible to keep your eye out for the kiddo chasing their ball into the street.

Many folks are pushing for elimination of cars or at least a significant reduction in cars. Many of these same folks see a future of mass-adoption of mass transit. I just don’t see that happening quite the way some imagine. I think cars will long be an important part of our transportation infrastructure. With as much money as we’ve built into that infrastructure we’d be awfully wasteful to try and abandon that or replace it. Rather we should aim for making the automobiles themselves more efficient. We should also aim for more efficient use of the existing infrastructure.

Biofuels in Aviation

Great article on biofuels being approved for use in commercial aviation.

I’ve got mixed feeling about biofuels. I like the idea of replacing fossil fuels but I think corn ethanol has tied the price of a basic food product to the volatile market of fossil fuels. Corn ethanol subsidies are, in part, to blame for the increase in prices for corn and other grains. I can see the effects of this firsthand over in the Middle East where all grains and grain-based products are imported. It’s the law of unintended consequences catching up with political decision-making.

That’s what I was happy to read this part:

Airbus and Boeing, which together manufacture about 80 percent of the world’s passenger planes, are planning to set up biofuel production chains across the world. Airbus is working on a supply hub in India where it’s talking with government and airline officials. Its aim is to form joint ventures and partnerships with growers, transporters and refiners. Boeing is negotiating with companies across the supply chain in South America. Fuel from inedible plants or waste doesn´t put price pressure on crops as can fuel from corn, sugar cane or soy.

These two private companies apparently have the foresight to avoid the food-product ethanol mistake.

In the photo caption was something that hit close to “home” for me:

Boeing is test growing halophytes, a salt-tolerant energy crop, in the United Arab Emirates as part of its renewable fuel supply development.

Another Problem

Going back to the great article in The Economist I missed the diagnosis of another problem. The transportation infrastructure in the United States is decaying. Interestingly enough, this is a problem that seems to primarly plague public transportation infrastructure. The railroads are actually in good shape; maintaining high-quality right-of-way conditions on their own dime (ignoring the fact that certain projects receive generous grants). Toll roads also seem to do a good job of managing their own maintenance and operations.

You could argue, quite rightly, that this isn’t a problem in and of itself but rather a symptom of our funding structure and thr politic winds. However, it’s also a problem worthy of its own solutions so for now we’ll add it to our list.

To recap the problems:

  1. Disparate Funding Structures
  2. True Costs are Hidden
  3. Politics Trumps Solutions
  4. Dependence on Foreign Oil
  5. Decaying Infrastructure

I promise we are going to expound on these problems in the future. In addition we are going to start tossing around solutions.

Transportation Problems

I’ve got another item to add to our running list of transportation problems that need solving…
Dependence on Foreign Oil.

This could also be considered a symptom in many ways. It is a symptom of the fact that we use fossil fuels for so much of our transportation infrastructure. But I don’t think using fossil fuels in and of itself is a problem. I believe technology will eventually wean us off fossil fuels, but in the meantime it is an excellent form of energy. However, our dependence on foreign oil subjects us to pricing swings and supply limitations. I’d like to hear other ideas on this though. Is this a problem, or merely a symptom?

Our log of problems looks like this now:

  1. Disparate Funding Structures
  2. True Costs are Hidden
  3. Politics Trumps Solutions
  4. Dependence on Foreign Oil

Problems vs. Symptoms

As an engineer, I want to fix the transportation system in the United States. Many people want to fix the US transportation system actually. However, many people mis-identify symptoms as problems.

For example, many would say that the lack of high-speed rail in the US is a problem. However, it is merely a symptom of much larger problems within the transportation system.

Here’s a list of problems in the US transportation system.

  1. Disparate Funding Structures
  2. True Costs are Hidden
  3. Politics Trumps Solutions

This will be a running list. I’ll add to it and repost as I identify additional problems. I’ll pick one of these problems from time-to-time and expound.