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sesvsesv

5 karma · joined December 10, 2024

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sesvsesv··on Self driving 1993 Volvo with open pilot
It's normal cars regulated as tractors, because at some point it was considered useful to use cars as tractors. But as you can now convert them electronically, they are used at scale for convenience. So it like driving behind a tractor, but there are many tractors going back and forth to school, the supermarket and friends in rush hour and on weekend. All day, every day. And the drivers are very overrepresented in not behaving well on the road.

Here are some examples.

https://youtu.be/EprqvxTF5vI?t=92

https://youtu.be/RfhIPGVDQ2Q?t=461

https://youtu.be/wTkM5Cknobc?t=509

sesvsesv··on Self driving 1993 Volvo with open pilot
Disregarding just being teenagers (using their phones, doing burnouts), not having a proper driver's license (usually a 20+ lesson affair in Sweden) and driving old cars without safety systems; driving at less than half the speed of regular traffic in a smaller city or a more rural area means a lot of dangerous overtaking as the standard road is one lane in each direction (especially where the terrain doesn't allow for much more) and these cars are not allowed on highways. Since you are allowed to choose high school in Sweden, some choose one further away and driving. Making such roads congested.
sesvsesv··on Self driving 1993 Volvo with open pilot
As I understand it some of the cars are newer cars electrically modified (usually the previous family car, often a station wagon). Those are mostly wasteful by driving at slow speed with only two seats and no storage (which are also rules to be able to convert them). These can be converted back to a normal car when the driver turns 18 and gets a proper driver's license. But it is also possible to disable the electronic limits. Other cars are pemanantly converted much older cars and sold as such. These are the ones that are also bad cars without the regulation affecting a normal car.

Edit: Someone infamously converted and registered a heavy truck this way. Legal to drive as a 15-year-old with a moped license.

https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/eddie-15-har-en-lastbil-som...

sesvsesv··on Self driving 1993 Volvo with open pilot
Car regulation is relevant to the topic, and so is car regulation of modified cars in Sweden which they are planning to drive through and a statement was made on. I have thought about this. It is something that is discussed a lot in Sweden. But not available outside it as those discussions are in Swedish, and also not held by everyone.

I'm interested in quality of life because I spend a lot of time working, organizing thing and doing projects. This is also on topic. But as such I don't have that much time. Or at least not enough to end up getting stuck here instead of doing something more important. I've found that the best to manage that is not to hold a regular account. My first account is however many years older than yours.

Sometimes I do have some time or find the motivation to post, because sharing information about something you know about to others who might not know about it but have thought about something I haven't is something that is harder to do anywhere else than on the Internet. In this case how the freedom to tinker with a car can affect the long time viability of creating bigger things.

Unfortunately your comment doesn't seems out of place. It's very much part of why I'm not around a lot. It simply isn't worth posting anything when I have something better to do. (Which isn't really now since I'm on a train to Stockholm with little else to do considering the holidays).

sesvsesv··on Self driving 1993 Volvo with open pilot
You are correct that it probably won't be allowed. But your assumption that Sweden is restrictive isn't. I see that you live in Stockholm, so maybe you already know this, or you haven't spent much time outside the city in recent years. Almost every medium and small city in Sweden now features 16 to 17-year-olds driving old cars electronically or mechanically converted to only run at 30 kph (~20mph) without requiring a proper driver's license, adequate noise reduction, exhaust system and until recently not even winter tires or seatbelt. Making roads slow and dangerous, and the local environment much worse for everyone else.

Now I don't expect this to be well-received because of "cool hack" but it is truly a major issue. Other issues like the high housing costs, bad healthcare, lacking infrastructure, mediocre education and a short-sighted population are all hard to solve. But this issue is clearly a priority. Swedish voters and politicians are prioritizing this over providing a good quality of life at a decent cost to enable education, research and knowledge based businesses.

The result as a whole is that almost anyone who can is moving from these cities to bigger cities that don't have these problems, but are also so expensive that engaging in activates with high growth potential isn't viable. With grassroot hacking, small- and medium-sized business and major growth startup ending up being a fraction of what they have been and even more so should have been now.