To add to your list, I’d like to see low-speed autonomous neighborhood mini-buses, to provide last-mile transit connections. I feel like that’s the currently the largest barrier to broader transit use in the suburbs.

Oh how the turn tables, Henry.

I agree with your basic premise “I’d love to maintain cars in the hands of human beings, but eliminate the drudgery that sucks all the joy out of driving,” but disagree somewhat with your point 1. I would like to be able to go downtown and not worry about watching my alcohol consumption. In other words, have a nice…

50 years from now, the perfect world of autonomy would be this:

My take is that the distinction between Gurney flaps and spoilers is location dependent. On a wing? Gurney flap. On the car itself? Spoiler. Physics are the same, though.

I love this debate because of how pedantic it gets. My take is that a spoiler and a wing have the same purpose, and distinctions are pretty much specifically for this type of pedantry. With a wing, the space created under it makes it a separate sort of object for creating downforce onto the car. The spoiler does the…

That's the only way I cross shop for land whales.

Sorry, but the most annoying thing about Electric Cars is that the fanbase lies right at the intersection of Prius-smug and BMW-3-Series-ously-D-Baggy.

Yes but this is counterbalanced by the fact that you leave your house every morning with a full “tank”. 

I mean, they’re kinda the same thing in terms of effects. You can’t consider the effect of either without the flowfield set up by the rest of the car.

Hm, good question. Judging by “apparent intent”... I would probably default to calling the device a wing if there was an air gap (of any size) between the blade and the body of the car. If there was no gap, and it merely appeared to change the aerodynamic shape of the body, then I’d go with spoiler.

I do like the idea of basing our definitions on what the device actually accomplishes... but what if the “wing” is set at a completely neutral angle, creating little-to-no lift/downforce/spoilage? Some “wings” are -to be perfectly honest- just there for cosmetics...

In terms of fluid dynamics, there’s got to be a minimum gap right? Or at some point we are looking at orifice flow, which would create more drag....

Spoiler: decreases lift

Oh great. It’s the automotive equivalent of your grandma & grandpa’s appliances... and they’ve looked like this for at least 15 years.

First Gear: All Prius’s should be Primes, maybe with a bigger battery to get 50 miles or so as an EV. This would do what 90% of people need for an EV and still leave open a road trip by having the ICE engine.

1st Gear: Yeah... that ‘sales surge’ is mostly thanks to the Tesla Model 3 which is generating sales numbers that I’m sure has caused some execs at other companies to shit themselves.

4th gear: I don’t care what crap comes with my car, as long as I can delete it and put something actually useful on it. If they lock it down like cell phones and I’m stuck with some shitty programs that I won’t use then I’m going to lose my shit.

Neutral: I think your view is skewed. Here’s a snapshot of the EV scene ten years ago in 2009: