I’m sure I used to be good at parking a car, but the older I get, the worse I get at it. So I was rather excessively excited to see that Lexus have invented “a car that can automatically parallel park”:http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2006/09/ls_460_parking.html. The link is a few weeks old, so apologies to those who find this kind of news old hat.
{ 7 comments }
cs 10.16.06 at 6:29 pm
The first comment at the linked post was pretty funny.
The Continental Op 10.16.06 at 7:20 pm
This does seem like a promising innovation. I was bemused by the hostility in some of the comments to the Kicking Tires post. I mean, I love manual transmissions, rack & pinion steering, and the like, as much as any automotive traditionalist. But I simply would not put parallel parking in the class of “skills the demise of which is regrettable”.
bad Jim 10.17.06 at 3:05 am
Actually, I’ve found parallel parking to be getting easier as the parking spaces in my town get larger to accomodate SUV’s. There’s so much room I can actually just nose in and wiggle a bit to straighten out.
Greg 10.17.06 at 8:40 am
If the job as a philosopher in upstate New York want pay for the Lexus I believe the Toyota Prius does exactly the same thing, at least it does in some of the European versions.
I wonder if the widespread inability to parallel park among philosophers might explain all the fascination with twin earth examples.
etat 10.17.06 at 3:21 pm
Once they figure out the sonar and braking bits, the driver becomes redundant. Just set the auto-pilot, exit the car in mid-street, lock the doors, and let it park itself. then, in anotehr innovation, the driver becomes unneccesary for other functins, and fleets of empty vehicles roma the streets in lieu of paying exorbitant parking fees.
MJ Memphis 10.19.06 at 12:33 pm
“then, in anotehr innovation, the driver becomes unneccesary for other functins, and fleets of empty vehicles roma the streets in lieu of paying exorbitant parking fees.”
Personally, I’d like mine to be able to go pick up a roast beef sandwich for me every weekday around 11:30.
The comments on the Kicking Tires site are pretty funny, especially the one reminescing about cars of the 60s and then whining that “This generation is a generation of lazy, helpless big babies that are continuously searching for ways to invent an easy button… Never have I ever seen such selfishness and self-servitude in any single generation.” As if these $60K cars were being bought by 20-somethings, as opposed to- more likely- the folks from his own generation.
perianwyr 10.19.06 at 4:08 pm
The kids ain’t learning, and they’re wussy to boot! TECHNOLOGY IS MAKING US WEAK, OH NO.
If I hear that one more time, I’ll… I’ll… wish for World War Z.
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