> "But Musk told reporters that Boring officials have abandoned the concept of the skate, saying it was “far more complex” than his new plan: guide wheels that can be attached to the front tires of autonomous, electric cars, steadying the vehicles as they move forward through tunnels."
So basically this only works with Tesla vehicles at the moment. I'm wondering how that's going to expand in the future--if at all.
Do they have a standard which other vehicle manufacturers are expected to include in their car designs to be compatible with these tunnels?
This is making me question the viability of it, because without buy-in from manufacturers, it seems seriously unlikely that any government is going to approve a sprawling Tesla Guide Wheel Tunnel™ network.
What if we use special cars only for the tunnel with some kind of ride sharing system? and then we put the cars on rails? This keeps them on track and also the rolling friction is much lower.
Also, we could continuously charge the battery of the car if we have some kind of wire going alongside the tunnel and a slip contact.
Actually we could make the cars much bigger as well, so they can hold more people.
If you can figure out how to let people transport their vehicles through your tunnel without your car having to make scheduled stops, or follow a single path then you've got a business.
> Musk played a simulation showing the wheels folding neatly underneath the car’s undercarriage when not in use. Adding them during assembly or after-market would cost $200 to $300, he said, and would not interfere with the vehicle’s normal operation.
I can see some interesting failure modes where the wheels fold up in normal driving. Yeh I know its not supposed to happen but one Uk maker had steering wheels that could come off whilst driving - this was used in my mech eng course as a cautionary example.
Huh, TIL Tesla Autopilot only works at speeds below 50 mph. I thought it was mainly for highway driving, but highways are more like 60-100 mph. I assumed it worked at highway speeds. What gives?
It works at highway speeds (though the max you can set it to is 90mph). I think if you're going faster than 90 it may hold that speed, but it won't accelerate above 90 on its own.
My mistake, I had to search for the max Autosteer speed and Google gave me an old article. Seems they have been upgrading steadily from 45 mph in January 2017 to (currently) 90 mph?
But then my original question remains: why do they need guide wheels for this, when they can do 90 mph without them on normal roads?
Point of interest, look into "road-rail vehicles", which have been around for quite a long time. Railways are far from completely standardized yet we have solutions for driving conventional vehicles on rails.
Also automated guideway transits (aka peoplemovers) which is what this essentially is. So much better than rail in terms of practicality / cost / compatibility with existing road network.
Doesn't the removal of the skate also put the vehicle's speed back in the hands of the driver? So now one slow guy will slow down everyone in that tunnel?
Also, the skate was supposed to provide the automation. How does <random EV> autonomously navigate the tunnel network?
So basically this only works with Tesla vehicles at the moment. I'm wondering how that's going to expand in the future--if at all.
Do they have a standard which other vehicle manufacturers are expected to include in their car designs to be compatible with these tunnels?
This is making me question the viability of it, because without buy-in from manufacturers, it seems seriously unlikely that any government is going to approve a sprawling Tesla Guide Wheel Tunnel™ network.