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The impetus will be wartime, just as the impetus for the interstate highway system and most of the railway system was wartime. In peacetime, self-driving cars
by nostrademons 7y ago
The impetus will be wartime, just as the impetus for the interstate highway system and most of the railway system was wartime.
In peacetime, self-driving cars are a nice-to-have that can save many billions of driver hours and a few traffic fatalities. In wartime, they're literally a matter of life or death. The side that can handle all of their logistics without exposing their precious humans to enemy fire has a huge advantage over the one whose supply lanes can get picked off one by one.
- RayVR 7y agoThis argument is tough to swallow. The real push to build interstate highways was in early 1950s and began in earnest in 1956. National defense was only one piece of the justification for the project.
- nostrademons 7y agoThe origins of the interstate highway system in defense is well-documented in the historical record, and the title of the bill authorizing it was the "National Interstate and Defense Highways Act": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aid_Highway_Act_of_1956 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aid_Highway_Act_of_195... There were of course other civilian concerns as well, but Eisenhower's arguments at the time of the plan primarily cited the importance of Germany's autobahn system during WW2 as a justification.
- blub 7y agoDropping bombs on smart highways seems much easier than hitting a moving vehicle.
- nostrademons 7y agoRelatively futile, though, when a self-driving cement mixer comes along, patches the crater, and restores any guidechips needed for other vehicles to navigate.
- mrmonkeyman 7y agoYou've read too much scifi.
- Thorrez 7y agoIf a road is too dangerous for humans to drive on due to enemy fire, I would expect the conditions of the road to be much worse than American roads today.