Looking for Your Opinions as Enthusiasts.

[NYCMille]

Hey Guys -

Some of you may or may not know that over a year ago I took over as Editor-in-Chief of an automotive website called Ridelust.com with the goal of rebuilding it and taking it to the next level. It's been great, but the amount of content we pump out, along with my other duties have pulled me away from some of my favorite online activities, DC.com being one of them. It sucks, but after writing 7-12 articles per day, 7 days a week my brain tends to shut down by about 4pm. I just finished a project that I thought everyone here may take some interest in since believe it or not, it affects all of us who love our classic cars. I was recently part of a documentary series on The Future of Mobility that was produced by BMW. The goal was to bring together a group of people who have strong opinions on where they see the future of transportation going. Some of the participants include Buzz Aldrin (astronaut), Syd Mead (visual futurist) he was instrumental in designing so many machines and landscapes for TV and movies like Blade Runner, The Island and Battlestar Gallactica, Robin Chase (Co-founder of Zipcar), George Whiteside (CEO Virgin Galactic), plus a group of others, and me... Mike Musto from Queens, NY.

My job was to represent the voice of the enthusiast and let them know exactly how important our automobiles are to us and that they are SO much more then just transportation. My biggest hurdle was trying to get people to understand our cars can actually become a part of who we are, who we become and what we represent as hot-rodders. It was also to show that as enthusiasts we have nothing against the evolution of transportation and or the automobile, but what needs to be understood is why these cars are so important to us.

Anyway, I think ya'll may enjoy these, and I'm actually pretty curious as to what your opinions are after you watch the first 3 films that have already been released.

You can view all of the video's at the following address: http://www.bmwactivatethefuture.com/index.php

Cheers - Mike

[bordin34]

I just watched it, I loved all the videos.

[69bronzeT5]

Watched them all last night on my phone and left my opinion on your Facebook Like I said on there, as long as there are people like us, there will always be a future for muscle cars.

[ChgrSteve67]

Thanks for posting the link Mike.
I saw a preview a while back and forgot to go back and watch them.

Its really interesting to see the different views between the scientist, artest, dreamers and realists.

In the end its about money and jobs.

Styles will change (like the smart car) and people will always talk green like they are fighting big oil, but you are right about these green cars actually being worse for the environment because of what it takes to create and dispose of the car. Our cars will always be better for the world in the end.

We are moving into the automotive gadget era.  GPS, Internet, IPOD and tablet PCs. As more and more cars become gadget compatible the young crowd will swap cars like the do phones.

Big oil still controls the big automakers so gas isn't going anywhere, any produced alternative fuel vehicles that really work will never be truly affordable to the masses because enough cannot be massed produced to make them affordale.
In another 100 years we will be where we are today but it will just cost a lot more and cars will look a lot funnier.

To give you an idea of how we are being screwed today:
There exist a prototype car they call a skate board, its hydrogen powered.
The body is interchangeable with multiple other bodies, so you have one car and one body that is a sports car, one that's a 4 door car and one that's a truck. It get fulled up by a refrigerator size hydrogen generator that is powered by the sun and only needs a garden hose hooked up to it for a water supply. When your not driving the car you plug it into you house and use it as a power generator so you do not need to use utility power when your home consuming the most electricity.

If it ever gets mass produced it wont be in the US, Big Oil, the auto industry and state power companies will lawyer any company to death.

Its all cool stuff to think and talk about. Every year we hold off 5-7 Dollars a gallon gas makes me happy.

-Steve

[NYCMille]

"In the end its about money and jobs" - Steve, I tend to agree here. Most of the people in the videos are technology people, not car people and while I think looking forward to the future is a good thing, we still have so many things that need be addressed now. Robin Chase made a good point when she said that all the ideas mentioned still don't eliminate congestion or the fact the automobile is still 20% of our income. 

[elacruze]

Without writing a thesis, I think the future of transportation will include the newest technologies to take us back to a previous model; more public transportation, more bicycles, smart electric vehicles and personal vehicles for fun.
The rub is that far too many people hate their lives, and use a personal vehicle as a capsule to seal themselves away from their jobs, families and economics. These people will not use public transportation or bicycles and are not prone to walking. Outside the cities, distances preclude public transport and bicycle for the most part-but the focus of the films is city. I mention country because it is not noted in the films except to contrast the city; I consider this an acknowledgement that country life is either satisfactory as is, or impossible to change significantly.

[ChgrSteve67]

I predict that in the distant future personal vehicles will not be allowed inside big cities and only service vehicles and public transportation will be permitted. All personal vehicles will be parked outside the city and used for travel between cities and suburbs.  Give or take a few hundred years.

I think the reason this has not happend today is that cities big and small want all of that traffic going through the city in order to capture the additional revenue (gas, food, lodging, tourism) that comes from people passing through.

South of Sacramento CA there is a road named Grant Line Rd, people have talked about making that a freeway to connect Hwy 99 and Hwy 50 in order to bypass Sacramento for years and years. The congestion and traffic to get to 50 from 99 through Sacramento is horrible. the reason they don't do it is because of the revenue that would be lost from the people bypassing Sacramento and not driving through it.

Just like the problems created on Route 66 from installing the interstate and bypassing all of the small towns that thrived at one time.


Now if everyone had a car like this....
http://www.youtube.com/embed/8jOwrXtHGMY

[elacruze]

I predict that in the distant future personal vehicles will not be allowed inside big cities and only service vehicles and public transportation will be permitted. All personal vehicles will be parked outside the city and used for travel between cities and suburbs.  Give or take a few hundred years.

Stockholm, Sweden is that way. Very difficult to move with a personal car. Most of the roadways are public transport/utility/delivery vehicles only. Their public transport is so good, that I was there 2 weeks staying 20 miles outside the city and never missed having a car-but on Saturday night, there was a parade of American Musclecars! Away from the city center was some nice cruising area, with public parks etc. nearby to watch from.

[NYCMille]

I was at a conference with GM this afternoon. Most people agreed that eventually cars will be banned from cities completely and replaced by a small electric vehicles on a grid-type system. The technology is actually getting there, but the problem is that the infrastructure that is needed is not. Just think of bureaucracy that you'd have to go through to get something like this accomplished. If you've ever dealt with any form of state or local government then you know exactly what I'm talking about - it'll be a flippin' nightmare.

[ChgrSteve67]

just got to pay off the right people and make it politically popular.

I was watching the news last night and they were talking about smart intersections with red light cameras.  The intersection detects when someone is aproaching and is going to run the red light. The intersection takes thier picture but does not turn the lights for cross traffic green until the red light runner has finished crossing the intersection. The town they are going to pilot this in is outraged that they are being treated differently and they feel the new technology is a safety risk.

My town has wireless access points on the street lights of every intersection around town but can't get the signal lights to talk to each other in order to cordinate them so you can drive accross town without stopping at a red light.
Why you may ask......  It would affect the revenue they get from the red light runners.

-Steve

[WHITE AND RED 69]

I liked the films and some of the ideas but it seems that these people are expecting too much from cars. The way they talked about what cars should be is just ridiculous. I get that these people are all looking for progression in the way we live our lives but I cant even get any of my electronics to last a few years without something going wrong and these people want the same technology driving them to work so they can multitask? The part in the 3rd film where they suggest that you could pull up somewhere and get out of your car and it will drive off and park itself is just crap. What happens when the sensors fail and your car crashes into everything? Are you going to be held liable or is the software? Im not at all against the whole green movement and technology, its just why take the interaction and the fun out of driving? But I guess not everyone has a car that gives them the enjoyment that our cars give us.

All in all though I did enjoy the films. Glad they had a view from someone with a real car, without Mike and the Daytona defending the enjoyment of cars I dont think I would have liked it as much. Great Job Mike.  

[bull]

I watched 2 1/2 videos and my immediate conclusion was that I need to get the $#@& out of the city asap. Those people aren't going to rest until they've micromanaged humanity to the point of us becoming androids. I see it everyday here in Portland. There's an ongoing and concerted effort to force people into mass transit and out of their cars. They spend millions here on light rail projects that people don't want. Time and again the citizens in the Portland Metro area have voted no on these light rail projects but they keep forcing it down our throats.

Anyway, most of the people in those videos do not understand our love of cars. They tolerate them. They see them as tools. They know they won't be rid of them anytime soon but as for pure enjoyment? I didn't see that sort of thinking in anyone except Mike. Seems to me that the automobile is viewed by them the same as the bitchy mother-in-law is; you can't get rid of her so you've got to manage her and figure out a way to put up with her. Even more than that I think it bothers them that other people enjoy cars. Ultimately I think they'd like to do away with them but they're too pervasive so instead they pick away at our rights bit by bit. They call that incrementalism.

That said, the main topic of the video centers on city life and the fact that, as one of them said, 50% of us live and work in one. I can see a need to manage cities in such a way that they don't become a complete traffic cluster-**** somewhere down the road, BUT, don't legislate the entire nation's transportation system based on what 50% of the population has to deal with. If that's the direction this might go there's going to be a big fight, as there should be. It happens all the time though. State and federal legislators constantly pass laws that affect entire states and the country even though the problem they are trying to solve has little or nothing to do with what goes on outside the city limits. That sort of thing needs to stop and it needs to be prevented.

[mikesbbody]

Well said Bull, and it's the same here in New Zealand (in the Major Cities) Millions spend on public Transport Nobody wants or uses.
I live close to the Train Station but NEVER use it (I had to like 3-4 times when dropping my car off that was it) People want to
Be independant and have their own car, go where they want when they want Run errands etc. To me, my D.D car is just that
(just a car) but my Charger, is something more than "just a car"

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

FYI, Curtis....public transportation keeps us employed 

[elacruze]

The only time I lived in a major city was in Miami in the '90s. I hated to take my car anywhere. Fortunately, public transportation there is pretty good and I rode my bicycle everywhere I could anyway.
I couldn't get a parking spot, so when I had one I needed a pretty strong reason to give it up.
It took me 25-40 minutes to drive to work and home, and I could make 35-45 minutes on the bicycle.
I bought a Honda Elite 80, and cut the ride to work by 10 minutes and didn't have a parking problem.
It rains every day in Miami from about April to October-even that became a non-issue with a little planning.

Unless you carry something more than a backpack can hold, there is no reason to take a personal car to work in the city when public transport is available, save two-either pleasure, which IMO doesn't exist in a crowded commute-or isolationism as I outlined above.

I enjoyed my city time, but I'll never do it again. If I worked in the city I'd find another way to get there. I've been waiting for S.Fla to bring the commuter train one more station north to Stuart or Ft. Pierce, just so I can go to Palm Beach without having to drive downtown and park the car.
I support public transportation 100%.

I should say that I do not support replacing existing adequate public transport with more expensive and intrusive transport; the costs and economics must be carefully evaluated before making a change.
Never forget the tyranny of the majority. 50% +1 has always been the Democratic way-and we changed from a Republic to a functional if not defacto Democracy with the 17th Amendment to the constitution.

[bull]

FYI, Curtis....public transportation keeps us employed  

Yes it does, and for that I am grateful, but light rail shouldn't be shoved down the public's throat. And our resources shouldn't be lop-sided in favor of light rail. Admittedly I'm biased toward the bus side but I've seen more than one study on the topic that shows how much more effective buses are in inner cities than light rail and yet the spending gap is huge. Actually, I guess the PC word now is investment, not spending.

http://www.portlandtribune.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=119463522630488700
http://content.hks.harvard.edu/journalistsresource/pa/environment/transportation/bus-versus-rail/
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/fast-buses-vs-light-rail-you-decide/
http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/public/stories/499

[Brock Samson]

FYI, Curtis....public transportation keeps us employed 

Yes it does, and for that I am grateful, but light rail shouldn't be shoved down the public's throat. And our resources shouldn't be lop-sided in favor of light rail. Admittedly I'm biased toward the bus side but I've seen more than one study on the topic that shows how much more effective buses are in inner cities than light rail and yet the spending gap is huge. Actually, I guess the PC word now is investment, not spending.

http://www.portlandtribune.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=119463522630488700

Just to add my two cents,..
No one seems to want hi-speed rail in their backyards either...  

  again from Bull-
"I guess the PC word now is investment, not spending."

All the reading I've done on the current economic problems seems to point that "Savings" by the people that have the money is in large part responsible for much of the current downturn in the economy. The wealthy by not spending their money are "somewhat" responsible for the downturn in the market, leading to layoffs and such,.. I know that is a simplified explanation, but it seems to me strange that a few years back, "They" were warning us to save more and spend less, especially on credit,.. and now "They" seem to want us to spend again... Again simplified, there being other factors at work, like NAFTA and third world nations now competing for the worlds energy reserves. But I feel the example needs to be made using the knowledge and developments in infrastructure made over the past 50-100 years.
If a country like Kuwait or South Korea, Japan  or even Iceland could demonstrate a far more coordinated approach to transit we could follow their lead and such investment might lead us out of the "Mess".

[bull]

With the exception of Mike, I bet most of the people in those videos wouldn't have a clue how to put the new tags on their license plates or refill the washer fluid, let alone change the oil and replace a spark plug.