Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Taxi licenses are crazy expensive (Score 1) 334

So you think criminals should be able to drive people around? Sorry many don't agree.

It doesn't matter what they agree with, I know two women who have been raped by licensed taxi drivers, taxi licenses don't prevent crime, stop repeating that idiocy.

Most taxi inspections are based on months between inspections. It is very easy to see a sticker and ensure that the taxi has been properly inspected. It is very difficult to do that based on mileage.

No, no it isn't. Put a date and a number of miles on the sticker.

Professional licenses have a higher standard than standard licenses. They also require the training to do a proper daily pre-trip inspection.

The amazingly shitty experiences I've had in amazingly shitty taxis disagree

Comment Re:If you can't keep your eyes on the ROAD (Score 1) 195

I rely on my night vision to spot animals and people at the side of the road. It doesn't matter how good my headlights are (as long as they are legal), they will not help me do that.

Of course they will. Headlights are meant to spread light to the sides. Any decent ones will do that. Even the Hella H4 sealed beam replacements have lenses that do that. Just make sure you get the right ones for which side you drive on...

Comment Re:Obvious (Score 1) 195

I live in the middle of nowhere so I can get away with it to some extent but I still am much more attentive and even tend to change my driving position before doing so.

that's why these cars have three or four seating positions, right? One for me, one more for me, and if there's any left then maybe I'll let someone else have one... but I'm going to also need a backup of my primary settings in case someone craps on them

Comment Re:So don't put warnings on the windshield. (Score 1) 195

Even the multi-function displays in the middle of the instrument panels on *all* cars made in the last three or four years is too much.

The MFD in the middle of my 1997 Audi A8 (from which all other MFDs today are descended, it seems... esp. in VAG-land) is no more distracting than the MFD which was in the middle of my 1980 280ZX, but it's actually useful because it does more than just show me system status during the POST. It then provides the trip computer. If I had infotainment then it would show me tracks. If I used FM it would show me radio stations. But since I don't do either it only shows me driving-related information; MPG and the like.

I only find the center MFD design to be stupid for sports cars. The tacho belongs there, damn it! But they could still have a MFD off to the side opposite the speedo.

Comment Re:It's immature... (Score 1) 195

I hate dial meters. I wish they'd die a horrible, gruesome death.

That's because you're not a driver. You're a passenger behind the wheel. If you were a driver, you'd like dials. Maybe not so much for the speedo; you don't need to see how fast you're going faster than you can read a number. But in a driver's car, the front-and-center-mounted tachometer needle is absolutely critical. You can't function without it.

With that said, I like the idea of self-driving cars, and of being able to be a passenger myself. But as long as I'm driving, I like to really drive. Also, note that I have literally never owned a vehicle with a center-mounted tach. I did get a gauge cluster with that for my 240SX, but I never got the cabling to install it and then I sold the car. Still have the cluster, want to use it with my PC for racing sims. Sooner or later I'll figure out how to drive it, I have too many projects already. I've ticked off some minor ones recently, though, so there's hope.

The color bar tachs take up too much space. If you make them big enough to have any resolution worth mentioning, they are massive. That is stupid. One good-sized dial tach and a medium-sized digital speed off to the left of it is my ideal layout, obviously with oil pressure, water temperature, and a real live voltage gauge next to it, plus boost when applicable. That tells me everything I need to know, and right now.

A Nintendo-style controller would suit me fine.

No, no it would not. Nintendo games don't model the road. If you tried it, you would be very sad very quickly.

Comment Re:If you can't keep your eyes on the ROAD (Score 1) 195

There is debate with chemical fact?

Facts are useless if you don't comprehend their relevance. While you drive down the road, it's normal for your night vision to be impaired anyway due to reflections, oncoming traffic, stationary light sources...

That is not up for debate; it is simple and pure chemistry.

The world is neither simple nor pure. If you wanted simplicity and purity, you should have become a theoretical mathematician. Applied arts feature complexities.

Comment Re:The problem... (Score 1) 195

In the UK, you can be fined huge amounts of money for a small excess of speed, so speed is important.

I like HUD, but I think that GPS-enabled cruise control (with camera backup) is the best way to handle avoiding excessive speed with technology. The hardware for that is in most cars now.

The question is, is it better than people at spotting small children running out from behind stationary buses?

That actually seems like a pretty easy thing for a computer to handle detecting, so the answer is probably yes. A lot of cars will now not only detect that but actually brake for you.

Slashdot Top Deals

Work without a vision is slavery, Vision without work is a pipe dream, But vision with work is the hope of the world.

Working...