Hacker News Reader

Comment by netfortius | Hacker News Reader

US centric article, of course, when it comes to the scale implied ("end of" and "near"). Haven't seen any significant (intent to) move in that direction, in Europe, for example.

View on HN

I don’t see how it’s any different for EU long term, even if they haven’t caught up to the US/other markets yet. Automatic ICE vehicles are more fuel efficient, since they can have significantly more gears. And electric cars (usually) only have 1 gear, completely getting rid of the need for any gear shifting at all. The combination of electrification and the continual march to higher efficiency and more performant powertrains naturally leads to a reduction in manuals, looking 10-15 years out.

["end of" + "near"] != "long term". Long term I'd see Europeans moving away from cars, as much as possible. €4k incentive in France to get rid of your car and get electrical bikes, and a public transportation of the kind that the US can't even dream (inside cities trams and buses + high speed trains + inter-cities and inter-countries buses - all at least in Europe and neighborhood (where car could be a term of comparison)), are much more impactful than the stick shift obsolescence.

Haven't seen any significant (intent to) move in that direction, in Europe, for example.

Here in Sweden, the number of people getting automatic only drivers licenses is higher than ever and climbing fast.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com