The speaker idea is fine, but it should never be enforced. If people want silence in their car (to listen to the radio, hold a conversation, or just not be irritated by a constant whining/growling drone sound), then that option should be available.

Thanks but no thanks. The one chance we have to remove noise pollution from our roads, and then we have threats it'll come back. The *invisible* damage to all our minds caused by noise pollution in busy towns and streets is worth FAR more in cost than the cost of a few accidents and even lives. People will adapt - they will learn to look where they're going instead of just blindly texting and paying no attention to the road.

Also remember that with towns much quieter (due to no ICE noises), we can hear tire noise a LOT more easily. Rather than making quiet vehicles louder, it's much better we make loud vehicles quieter.

Looking behind us and to the sides also takes our vision off the road ahead. The sooner they get rid of all three mirrors and replace them with a single monitor, the better.

I sympathize with your post as I detest maintenance and the people who benefit from a car which disintegrates over time.
Only one company has publicly stated how interested they are in making sure that cars last a LOT longer. The company is Tesla. EVs naturally have far less maintenance that normal cars, but Elon Musk has publicly stated he never intends to make money off servicing.

Actually it would be great to replace the rear mirror, and both side mirrors in one fell swoop. It would probably cover the blind spots, prevent neck sprains, keep your eyes and mind focused on the traffic ahead, make the car more aerodynamic, and give you a bigger more comfortable view. All of that is making you safer, comfortable, along with making the car more efficient. Even Tesla are campaigning to get rid of the side mirrors.

I'd rather have less to check thanks. Doesn't the rear monitor cover the back AND sides?

Couldn't he have raised the suspension and got some more appropriate tyres?

SOG aka - shades of grey. The risk is a continuum, not a binary state.

How about the third option - a downloadable MOV file?

How about if they only signal at a ratio of 1 (signal) to 1000 (no signal), with a pseudo-random millisecond offset to prevent overlapping. After a couple of seconds, the probability that all products won't have been found becomes very small indeed.

Don't worry - I would think future machines will put the current ones to shame.

Couldn't the tags be 'send only' (rather than send and receive). After all, if the products all have different IDs (even for multiple purchases of the same product), then we just tell the master receiver not to allow any duplications.

I was thinking where a cheap tiny compact tag on each product could signal to a master receiver. If such a transaction takes a millisecond, then all shopping could be accounted for in under a second.

Perhaps upper class restaurants in the far future will be the exception. But honestly, I can't think of many other jobs that require people to be working like that. 99% of stuff that we're doing today can be automated.

Start with a low but sure guaranteed minimum weekly income, even if it's just $20 (on top of any income you normally get), and increase gradually as more and more stuff is automated. It's the perfect solution to a growing problem.