Wonder what the next ten years will bring us with vehicles?

Thanks for the reply Greg, ….just so disappointed you couldn't come up with something better than that,


Cheers Axle.

What do you mean axle ?

Pretty simple really. Multi million dollar companies building what the market wants.

I’m a bit confused what you are asking.

Toyota, Mazda, Ford. Whoever you want to name have some pretty clever marketing and research guys employed. And I m guessing a whole lot smarter than you and me

Ok so I’m not really into iPhones, What number are we up to now ?? 6 , 7 ? No idea. But just try and imagine what iPhone 20 will be like. Cars will be the same.

Just have to ask our grandkids I guess

Cheers Greg

True Michael,...I always thought they might come up with a large 4wd to compete with Toyo & Mits.


Cheers.

Even the Chinese and Indians have 4x4 utes in the market. Do the Koreans know something everyone else doesn't?
Word is the Defender replacement from Land Rover will have a decent number of electric options. Diesel is on the outer in Europe because of the air quality.

Yeah!, The Deefer replacement will either raise eyebrows or lower them.lol


Hanging on to my old 130 for a while see what happens.

Lol Mate!......I thought Toyo had all that covered!


Cheers Axle.

Ron, this should cheer you up.

[vimeo]Happy travels[/vimeo]

well if the video didn't cheer Ron up it sure did me ,loved it.

Axle won't have a dog accessory with the vehicle, Axle will have been injected with a microchip implant and his every thought processed, therefore the vehicle will be though destination controlled.
Dogs, they can pee on electronics and so are banned, unless it is a peeless dog breed.

In the Jetsons, the cars didn't have wheels so roads and tracks were irrelevant. We need Spacely Sprockets and Cogswell Cogs.....there's a business opportunity.

Many a true word is spoken in jest. Not only will we be passengers in driverless cars but in all probability we won't own them. The only reason we own cars today is the convenience factor. They spend a lot of time sitting idle. When we need a car we will call it up and it will deliver us to our destination much as we call a cab or Uber or whatever today. This sharing economy is happening now in the inner city parts I understand. The cost of using such a facility will be a lot less than owning a car (or 2) as we do today. Driverless cars won't have the bingles we have today so traffic will flow much better too. The future of escapes to the wide blue yonder in 4wd vehicles is something I scratch my head about and really can't see a long term future for it. Current generations should treasure it I think.

Kenell - Absolutely spot on. Ownership of vehicles will be seen as an archaic idea in the future.

In fact, I would suggest there will be a sharp division between the design of "city vehicles", and "rural or outback vehicles", and you will need to order the correct vehicle for your projected use.

I forgot to mention every panel on the mechanical sections on your future SUV/4WD will have a decal on it, stating "no user serviceable parts inside".

When your new-generation vehicle ceases to move, it will be towed to a recyclers yard, and you will be given a replacement vehicle.
There won't be anything such as vehicle repairers in our brave new world, they will no longer exist.

I'll even go so far as to say the "upcoming industries" of the future are vehicle recyclers, and their success will be dependent on the uses they can find for the recycled constituents of the vehicles.

Cheers, Ron.

Well, Kenell & Ron, you blokes must have seen/heard the same report on future vehicle operations & ownership, that I did, a few weeks ago. Don't recall all of it, as by that time I'll be more concerned with failing eyesight, memory loss & perhaps even incontinence, but do recall much of what you've both hinted at, as well as a few other predictions.

Apparently, these Millenials won't possess a driver's license, or own a car, but will call up one of Kenell's hire vehicles. Also, as mentioned, traffic flow will be faster, & less time consuming. And other points I don't recall............

Trucks will all be autonomous, though this may only apply to capital cities and the larger provincial cities. Not sure how this "autonomous bloke" would handle a Brisbane or Adelaide to Darwin trip, pulling 3 tautliners, and said Unit has multiple flats, blow-outs or even a bearing failure? Methinks there will have to be some human involvement, or even a robot, to do the dirty work.

Interesting times ahead, Axle!

Bob

Anyone who thinks these future vehicles will not break down or have accidents is kidding themselves. Nothing Man (or Woman :) ) has invented up to this point in time has been able to avoid these problems.

Interesting to see who bears responsibility when a "driverless" vehicle has an accident (they most certainly will).

Even more interesting is the ethical/moral dilemma of how a decision is made when a "driverless" vehicle is put in a situation of preserving the safety of it's occupants as against the safety of pedestrians or occupants of other conveyances. Does it become a numbers game e.g. single occupant vehicle versus multi-occupant vehicle ?

As for "driverless" cargo vehicles, are we all assigned a nominal $ value as against the cargo carried. If the cargo value outweighs the $ value of a bus full of 'mere humans' does the cargo vehicle prevail and wipes out the bus?

I think the legal profession are licking their lips in anticipation.


Regards

" Nothing Man (or Woman :) ) has invented up to this point in time has been able to avoid these problems."

Obviously you haven't me the guy I was talking to in Hyden the other day...

...His GQ never broke down, never had a problem - I left feeling it was that good he never had it serviced either.

Cheers

Anthony

HKB - It will take a vast sum to install the necessary infrastructure to provide hydrogen fuel - even if current servos are turned over to hydrogen.

Hydrogen is too costly to produce and it still needs to be transported - which is a major, major cost.

Electricity can be generated anywhere as soon as there's some rays available from the sun. That gives electricity a major advantage in the future motive power stakes.

Once lighter and more efficient batteries and electric motors are designed (and they're not far away), electric power will surge to the front of the motive power race (pun intended).

Cheers, Ron.

Yep, hydrogen will be one of the fuels powering vehicles. Nikola have already built 14 stations with 16 to follow shortly. By 2028 they will have 800 refuelling stations for their trucks.

The hydrogen is also cheaper than diesel and there is far less maintenance on the trucks.

Nikola hydrogen power

Bob Dylan was onto it.

Hydrogen cheaper than diesel?

Yes, I can see the corporate leaders allowing that to happen - the day that pigs fly.

Cheers, Ron.

Ron,
Anheuser-Busch's have already ordered 800 trucks from Nikola, but then again what would they no about economics.

Just sayin

9900Eagle - I note that Anheuser-Busch have placed an order for "UP TO" 800 Nikola trucks.
That "UP TO", indicates to me, that only a portion of the order will be taken out initially, and the remaining numbers will be dependent on the vehicles meeting performance and cost criteria.

Note also, that Anheuser-Busch are not actually BUYING the Nikola trucks - Nikola are keeping ownership of the trucks, and leasing them to Anheuser-Busch at a rate of 90c a mile.

Nikola are pushing the hydrogen fuel cell development by installing the hydrogen-fuelling infrastructure across the U.S.
It will be interesting to see how they manage the horrendous cost of that infrastructure expenditure.

Meantimes, Daimler, Volvo, Thor and others, are proceeding at speed with electric trucks. Thor's E-axle is a leap forward in integrated electric design - and Thor was formed by truck fleet operators interested in making significant strides in electric truck development.

AxleTech and Thor to develop heavy duty electric powertrain

Interestingly Japan has decided to head towards hydrogen fuel power - but they have also run into hydrogen-fuelling infrastructure problems - despite the Japanese Govt promoting and assisting in the infrastructure extension.

Japan is betting on hydrogen fuelling

What is aiding hydrogen development at present is the limited range of electric motive power. Hydrogen offers a range equalling fossil fuel engines, with low emissions.
However - hydrogen may falter if a battery breakthrough is made, producing lighter batteries, that are more powerful and which recharge faster.

It's going to be an interesting period, the next 10 years, and I don't see a clear motive-power winner at this point - but that could change overnight with a technology breakthrough.

With the number of researchers and universities working on battery range and efficiency improvements, as well as the number of people working on electric motor design improvements, I reckon my money is on electric power ending up becoming the leader in motive power, with perhaps hydrogen fuelling being a "fill-in" technology until battery range equals fossil fuel engines, and rapid recharging is a reality.

For the latter two areas, supercapacitors could well be the devices that aid in electric motive power becoming a winner.

Cheers, Ron.

.
Ron,

......."hydrogen may falter if a battery breakthrough is made".

"Ay, and there's the rub." LOL

Maaaaate!! After reading this lot the mind boggles!,lot of good imagination out there but in saying that a lot of truth as well I think.



Cheers Axle

Maaaaate, I don't mind your post all. I came from 4 stick backhoes with foot pedals and the same with cranes. I graduated from gate gearboxes, 2 speed and 3 speed joey boxes, quad boxes, 2 speed diffs and every combination of roadranger boxes, plus ZF and Volvo boxes. No power steering, vacuum brakes, no a/c and an engine beside you that could turn you into a beetroot with it's ability to turn the cab into an inferno. Rag tyres/ split rims glad they are gone forever.

Even though I have slowed down in my life, I now regularly step into one of those horrible modern trucks that will never cut the mustard and all I have do with the manual 18 speed box is pull a lever. I love it and don't miss the old stuff one little bit.

Bring on the future

9900Eagle - You had the luxury of vacuum brakes! You were spoilt!!

Good God, my old WW2-surplus, low-loader, never had any working brakes, in all the time I owned it!!
Luckily I never had to contend with much traffic, and all the wheatbelt areas I worked were largely flat land! - and traffic police were virtually non-existent!

Got to admit that the new stuff makes for comfortable driving - but at the cost of infuriating technical glitches - and an increased amount of electrical fires!

One worries about the younger generation though, when you see signs at auctions warning all employees, that a number of vehicles for sale have manual transmissions - and only those with special training, are allowed to move them!

Went to pick up an irrigation pipe trailer (that I won at auction) from a country Shire Depot recently - and a young nerdy bloke from the office took me to the Depot, to oversee its removal.

One of the Shire employees had parked a 5 tonne Hino tipper in the way, and I said to him - "you'll have to move that truck, so I can get the trailer out" (the trailer was 11M long).

He replied, "I'm sorry, I can't operate anything like that. If you can, you can move it. But you'll have to put it back, afterwards".

After a quick look-around, I found the master battery switch on the disabled Hino, and hopped in and moved it, and got the trailer out - then backed it back in position for the young bloke, so he wouldn't get into trouble! LOL

Cheers, Ron.

They will be a hit because it will give people more time to spend with their head down on their phone which is a fact not a prediction.