French company Cixi is developing a vehicle that combines pedals, electric power, and an enclosed body

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[–] 99 points 1 year ago (27 children)

Seems like a potentially interesting commuter vehicle...

When it finally hits the road, ownership won’t be an option either, as the Vigoz will only be offered on subscription

...never mind.

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  • [–] 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (23 children)

    "You will own nothing and be thankful for it"

    E: still to will

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (22 children)

    In all honesty, once self driving cars are an actual thing, individual car ownership won't really need to be a thing anymore. Which is great for the environment.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (15 children)

    Why is self driving a prerequisite? "Car as a service" is something that already exists. It failed because it needed reserved parking spots (you couldn't just park wherever) and availability was spotty (because of the reserved parking spots).

    I'm all in for something like this, but only as a supplement for a strong mass public transportation.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago (14 children)

    Because the cars wouldn't have to necessarily park in between rides. You would just request a car and the nearest available one would come pick you up.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (13 children)

    So.... The worse of private cars+ the worse of taxis+"AI"?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (12 children)

    How is it the worst of any of that? And I'm not sure why you're assuming AI would be involved.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    And I'm not sure why you're assuming AI would be involved.

    The self-driving part?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (5 children)

    AI isn't required for that. A Roomba isn't using AI to do it's thing.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    A Roomba doesn't weigh 2 tons and isn't traveling at 100kph and actively threatening the lives of nearby people.

    A moving vehicle is a safety hazard to everything around it first and foremost, and the driving system must be able to account for that. Figuring out how to get from point A to point B comes after, and is very simple by comparison.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    But none of that necessitates the use of AI.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    No, you're right of course - it necessitates a human driver. True awareness and decision making are not possible with our current level of technology.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    There's a reason why I originally said, "when self driving cars are actually a thing." I know that our current level of technology is insufficient, but the technology we have now is not too far away.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (4 children)

    So the car drives itself with... Real Intelligence? Or just heuristic rules? Maybe a driver in Cambodia remote driving?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    You wouldn't need AI, or at least generative AI, to manage everything. Cars would have onboard sensors and computers to handle the driving part locally, and routes and such could be coordinated from a centralized system.

    At most you might want to use some machine learning to improve efficiency, but that's not the "AI" that people mean today.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    At most you might want to use some machine learning to improve efficiency

    Yeah no, efficiency and planning map routes aren't the hard parts of self-driving. The hard parts come from dealing with all of the unpredictable situations that happen on the road - flat tire on a busy highway, deer in the headlights, power steering failure while crossing a major intersection, aggressive drivers, poor visibility due to weather conditions, a child running into the road... you can't pre-program for situations like these because they're contextual, dependent on local conditions in that exact moment. All of the choices that might be made are different depending on whether there is another car in the lane next to you, or in front of or behind you, or oncoming, or if it's a bus or a dump truck or a motorcycle or a bicycle, or a ditch or a forest or the edge of a cliff, or if there's rain or fog or ice or smoke or debris or burning gasoline on the road... and the choice needs to be made right now, in less than a second, or you run over a 4 year old.

    The real world is far too complex for a fixed set of predetermined rules to handle.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    So like trains but more expensive and without the walk to the station

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  • [–] 45 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    My my, that first paragraph reads like marketing material straight from Cixi.

    The last lines take the cake though. It's not a purchasable good, it's a subscription service.

    Leasing a tricycle, what a time to be alive.

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  • [–] [S] 25 points 1 year ago (9 children)

    A 75 mph trike sounds... questionable,

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    I can't wait to see their 100 mph unicycle .. coming soon no doubt.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Once I was passed by a motorbike while on the highway, it must have been around 100 mph while I was at about 60 ... and on top of that, they were doing a "wheelie", meaning that motorbike was basically turned into a unicycle !
    Yes, people are crazy like that.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)
  • [–] 23 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Bikes are reasonable because they weight next to nothing. This is insane. No reasonable person asked for this. This is tech-bro nonsense.

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  • [–] 20 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago

    Pay Monthly, Not Own

    Unfortunately, the Vigoz is not yet available for purchase. Cixi still has to build a working prototype with a production-ready design before manufacturing begins in France. When it finally hits the road, ownership won’t be an option either, as the Vigoz will only be offered on subscription, with prices set once production costs are confirmed.

    Confirmed - fuck this business and everything about it.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago* (4 children)

    Pedaling an EV would do almost nothing, right? You'd be contributing 100W to a motor that uses 10,000W. An hour of pedaling would produce 100Wh. That's a tiny amount, like a decent sized power bank. The article says the onboard battery is 22,000Wh.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    22kwh battery for 160km range

    This seems extremely low for even an EV car at under 8km/kwh. Ebikes can often do 100km/kwh at 32kmh speed. Aptera design can do 16km/kwh with double the battery (and weight of battery). Citroen Ami would be a heavier vehicle, cheaper for being much simpler, and gets 14km/kwh with 1/4 of the battery (but 45kmh top speed). Very surprising their range is that low, and no way it should be.

    Covered bikes add a lot of weight and expense, as does tilting. Covered bikes increase drag as well, and reduce range. Most designs will rattle if not "over weighted". Still a roof would allow better weather resistance to outdoor parking. Could hold solar

    I still like a pedal system for both speed control and maintaining low speed power contributions with exercise. 70lbs and 30kmh is a limit to where useful contribution can be made, and a winner in this category is going to be something much lighter meant for bike speeds instead of car/motorcycle speeds.

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  • [–] 30 points 1 year ago

    Capable of 120 km/h, that looks like a Darwin Awards preselection tool, rather than a means of transport.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago

    Offered on subscription

    Fuck yourself with a bayonet

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago
    [–] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Now what happens when a 2025 truck hits it.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    You'd be surprised at how strong small frames like that can be.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago*

    I know a well designed cage would potentially stay intact (smart cars are a good example), but there is no room to dampen the forces applied to the human inside. Even if you can manage to preserve the vehicle frame integrity, the human inside can get pulped. I don't know if it's better or worse than a motorcycle in terms of safety during a wreck, but it's a consideration that would need to be taken if these were to be highway legal.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    75 mph in a thin can doesn't seem safe.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    That's a suicide booth ... on wheels.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    The audience? 5 people

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