Self-driving cars of the future

"Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)" (6speedhaven)
05/14/2016 at 15:24 • Filed to: None

When self-driving cars of the future become commonplace, will they be sporting ICEs or electric batteries and motors? And if ICEs, how big will their engines really need to be, honestly?

Just a thought...if self-driving cars arrive with ICEs, they won’t really need large motors anymore, right? Anything more than 200hp will be entirely unnecessary too.

DISCUSSION (6)

EL_ULY > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
05/14/2016 at 15:28

everything needs 800hp V8's!!!!!!

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > EL_ULY
05/14/2016 at 15:30

Which makes me think, if self-driving cars allow us to arrive to our destinations quicker, our average speed and overall highest speed achieved toward our destinations go up. We could actually wind up needing more power to go faster if it is more efficient to do so.

facw > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
05/14/2016 at 16:04

For a purely self-driving car, it could be a new dawn for sub 100HP engines. Unless we are talking about a huge vehicle it could easily get by with that, especially since at least initially, it seems likely self-driving cars will move more cautiously than human driven ones.

Fuel is just going to depend on gas vs. battery costs. For short journeys either would be fine, and there’s not much issue with having a self-driver out of service while it recharges. For long distance, gas would still be better, though for things like trucking, you could easily just switch the trailer to another cab if the current one needs charging.

EL_ULY > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
05/14/2016 at 16:12

BINGO!!!!! Speed rules all!

mazda616 > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
05/14/2016 at 16:36

I always assumed they'd be boring little electric car blobs a la the Google car. One of the many reasons I dread their eventual widespread adoption. Of course, I live in a fairly rural area (western Kentucky), so that'll be much later than other areas.

GhostZ > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
05/14/2016 at 16:43

Self driving cars would have a lot less start and stop traffic, so fixed gear low-powered electric motors would be ideal. Electric cars are also much more likely to be able to be recharged autonomously than gasoline cars.