Posts by Jim Daniels

100% driverless Wonka-wagon toy cars? Oh Google, you're having a laugh

Re: Put it on the Autobahn, then

While I agree with most of this, bicycle helmets have been required over here for decades and it's not a big deal, same with seatbelts in cars. IMO it'd be idiotic to ride a bicycle without a helmet, I've personally known two people who ended up with serious brain injuries by doing so and I myself have been in a bike accident where the helmet saved me from cracking my head on the pavement.

Re: Drivel

Hundreds of thousands of them. The car I most frequently drive is 26 years old and has a basic cruise control. You can still buy brand new cars with a similar system. The only guy I know with one of those auto adjusting cruise controls drives a fancy new luxury SUV.

Re: Drivel

Nope, they're not. I remember being surprised when I visited the UK to learn that all semi trucks (lorries) had speed limiters. Having lived my whole life in the USA I'd never heard of such a thing. It's not uncommon to see them going 70-80 mph on flat ground in some areas if they can get away with it.

Having also driven on both sides of the pond I can say that aside from the bizarrely disorienting experience of driving on the opposite side of the street as I'd done all my life, it's really quite similar. Go a bit South to Los Angeles and aside from driving on the right, you could just about be in London. The locals seem to think that the accelerator pedal is an on/off switch and indicators are optional.