"Future" things always have that EVE from Wall·e look to them, yet they never get released in that style.

It's nice that the set designers from the 1980s "V" miniseries can still find work.

can we have a higgs boson threadjack?

While I like the yoke in theory, a steering wheel is a wheel for a lot of long-established user-related reasons, not the least of which is the fairly major safety concern of how fast you can grab and regain meaningful control again after your hands go off it for whatever reason.

Then, my truck still has a clutch and I'm not stupid enough to fail to understand that my gas gauge isn't strictly linear, so I suppose theoretical future people may be cool with keeping their hands in exactly the same position at all times if they have computer controls by their thumbs. Actually, since that kind of presupposes a future where fast food and the corresponding cupholder-sized drinks have died out, maybe the future is looking a bit brighter.

Only if we want to drive a shiatty Mitsubishi

If that car ain't flyin', I ain't buyin'.

I just want a fully autonomous robocar.

Relatively Obscure: wattimus: can we have a higgs boson threadjack?

Do you understand the gravity of what you're asking? The consequences could be massive.

the consequences will never be the same?

Whar's the nefft tummoff imma spoduff take?

You're request was somewhat garbled. Have you finished your McRib yet?

Farking smartaff car... just ud the thumbpad keyboard here...

FAT LIKE TYPING DETECTED

Fark!

The concept of cars in ten years looks pretty much like every concept I've seen for the last twenty? kthanks4that

... Also, I want a self-navigating car with NO: steering wheel, dashboard, rear-view mirrors, forward-facing front seat, and ESPECIALLY NO ridiculously-overweight crash-resistant frame with crumple-zones (because 'accident avoidance' became the norm instead of 'accident survival).

You know, a car that could be used by the elderly the blind, the young, the drunk, or unlicensed -- because you aren't the one aiming the car anymore. You are riding in whatever form of comfort you want: quiet, temperature controlled, well-lit interior so you can read, eat, sleep, or daydream while going where you want to go.

Once you realize how much of our transportation money is going toward accidents and enforcement preventing (not very many of) those accidents, you'd see that self-navigating cars would be an incredible boon to our nation.

wattimus: can we have a higgs boson threadjack?

We already did. It wasn't as funny as next time and we all decided to just let it go.

i came here to say everything everyone has already said, back to studying for finals so i can REALLY make the cars of the future in less than 10 years!
Mad Scientists of the Future Uniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite!

I can't set my beer on that steering wheel.

In 10 years I'll be too old to care.

Many people can't plug in their HDTV's to a STB or program a remote. Why in the hell would you thing they can do this?

I hope the car of the future drives itself, because I never saw those models looking at the windshield.

Eddie Adams from Torrance:
Here's a another good example of an auto interior where information is always visible to the driver.

Yes and no. Yes it presents the information a driver needs but it means he/she has to use their peripheral vision to monitor it or in the case of someone with less than perfect sight actually take their eyes off the road for a second.

You want all of those dials to be have a repeater of some sort that is on the windscreen. A few cars are starting to come with HUD's but they're not quite ready to replace the dashboard as the main source of drive information yet.

It looks like it is made out of cheap hard nasty plastics and the seat looks miserable to sit in. Mitsubiatchy makes awful cars. They are so bad that CHRYSLER decided not to do business with them. And in World War II the drivers would deliberately crash them...
I don't doubt that people could learn to drive them but what is all that stuff FOR? Cars already have controls they don't need, this is overkill. Eighteen pushbuttons just on the wheel AND a touch screen? To do what? Adjust the delay on the turning off of the courtesy light when you get out of the car? Just silly.

It is much more likely that cars in ten years will look pretty much the same as now, except with a "google auto drive to destination" button (which would be more badass than any futuristic aesthetic design)

Eddie Adams from Torrance: Rear projection displays were used instead of LCDs because they allow for extreme curves, surrounding a driver so information is always visible to them.

Here's a another good example of an auto interior where information is always visible to the driver.

[i236.photobucket.com image 640x480]

.....and the goddamned steering wheel is round like it is supposed to be.

Good luck with that.

/not buying

Jim_Callahan: While I like the yoke in theory, a steering wheel is a wheel for a lot of long-established user-related reasons, not the least of which is the fairly major safety concern of how fast you can grab and regain meaningful control again after your hands go off it for whatever reason.

Right, exactly. I once thought that it would be neat if car controls were more like video game controls. That was before I actually drove a car. The steering mechanism should not be overly sensitive. The car is enough of a death box on wheels (new window) as it is.

I want my car of the future to look like a car of the 1930s.

And not in that crappy "retro-chic" way they've been doing lately. I mean the full monte, with chrome and fins and whitewall motherfarking tires. For great justice.

The steering wheel looks awkward. They should either make it round or go to a single joystick (assuming self driving cars will become more common by then, less input will be needed and a giant round thing in my lap unwanted).
Tactile moving buttons might be good, but the touchscreen writing pad isn't. Anything you have to look at to use is a distraction unless the car is fully automated.

/The giant LCD instrument panel is nice, and probably the only big change we'll see that soon.
/Simplifies production, allows context selected instruments, saves weight.
/What the hell ever happened to heads up displays?

If it weren't for the Jetsons, we'd already be driving cars like this.

Mugato: I don't want the 16 year old who can't navigate a Target parking lot behind the wheel of an aircraft just because it looked cool in Blade Runner.

The essential part of a flying car would be automation.
Its easier to be self navigating in the sky where there are fewer obstructions.

I think we are already headed to driverless cars anyway so it might be a moot point.

ThisNameSux: I can't set my beer on that steering wheel.

You're not thinking like a redneck. The shape of the yoke here is ideal for mounting some spare plywood between the handles, drilling a couple of cutout holes and voilá, cup holders on top of your steering wheel!

Ahem... my lawn, young man. Get off it.

Mugato: way south: The essential part of a flying car would be automation.
Its easier to be self navigating in the sky where there are fewer obstructions.

There would have to be dozens of redundant safety features as cars have a tendency to, you know, break down. So instead of cars pulling over to the shoulder you'd have hundreds of mini-9/11s every day around the world.

We already have thousands of vehicles in general aviation, piloted and maintained by humans (many of them under twenty) and this doesn't happen.
Normal aircraft are currently coming with self checks that make them email their mechanics ahead of problems. A feature to make the vehicle set itself down or refuse to fly would be nothing unusual.

I suspect if they ever field automatic driving cars, they'll have many of the same overrides. They would pull to the side for a flat tire or maybe even drive themselves to the nearest authorized mechanic when the oil is due or a part failure is noticed.

The bigger problem stopping flying cars is the fuel cost of staying airborne.

Not that there aren't ways around it.

StopLurkListen: The concept of cars in ten years looks pretty much like every concept I've seen for the last twenty? kthanks4that

... Also, I want a self-navigating car with NO: steering wheel, dashboard, rear-view mirrors, forward-facing front seat, and ESPECIALLY NO ridiculously-overweight crash-resistant frame with crumple-zones (because 'accident avoidance' became the norm instead of 'accident survival).

You know, a car that could be used by the elderly the blind, the young, the drunk, or unlicensed -- because you aren't the one aiming the car anymore. You are riding in whatever form of comfort you want: quiet, temperature controlled, well-lit interior so you can read, eat, sleep, or daydream while going where you want to go.

Once you realize how much of our transportation money is going toward accidents and enforcement preventing (not very many of) those accidents, you'd see that self-navigating cars would be an incredible boon to our nation.

The first car that looked to me, at the time, like the future:

StopLurkListen: The concept of cars in ten years looks pretty much like every concept I've seen for the last twenty? kthanks4that

... Also, I want a self-navigating car with NO: steering wheel, dashboard, rear-view mirrors, forward-facing front seat, and ESPECIALLY NO ridiculously-overweight crash-resistant frame with crumple-zones (because 'accident avoidance' became the norm instead of 'accident survival).

You know, a car that could be used by the elderly the blind, the young, the drunk, or unlicensed -- because you aren't the one aiming the car anymore. You are riding in whatever form of comfort you want: quiet, temperature controlled, well-lit interior so you can read, eat, sleep, or daydream while going where you want to go.

Once you realize how much of our transportation money is going toward accidents and enforcement preventing (not very many of) those accidents, you'd see that self-navigating cars would be an incredible boon to our nation.

Not only that 90% of roads are wasted, empty space. The economic benefits would be near the trillions over 10 years. Shipping freight on highways would be super efficient.

I'd like to the the best of both world, ala Minority Report. Back roads and state roads are drive by hand, while you queue up and drive autonomously on federal interstates. It be phased in over 30 years, starting with separate car pool like lanes for driver-less cars. After 30 years, no more hands on cars allowed on interstates, it's back roads / state routes if you want to drive yourself.

i can haz cheezburger holder?