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This is a bad idea for Apple. We don't need electric or self-driving cars. We need cities designed for walking and biking. Our society is choked with multi-lane
by mperham 6y ago
This is a bad idea for Apple. We don't need electric or self-driving cars. We need cities designed for walking and biking. Our society is choked with multi-lane roads and giant parking lots everywhere, making all other transportation options infeasible.
We will not solve the climate crisis if everyone is carried around in a 4000 lb steel cage.
- uncledave 6y agoThis on so many levels. Electric cars are literally an extension or life lease for our existing poorly structured society and behaviour; an excuse to carry on as before. We need to change how we operate as a species. Edit: and there’s the symptom. People don’t want their cheese being moved.
- mperham 6y agoCapitalism can only give us better products. It can't solve societal issues requiring political leadership to step up. That said, in a perfect world Apple would build commuter and cargo e-bikes and heavily lobby for federal transportation policy changes which make it easier to claw back roadway for safe, protected bike/ped use.
- baybal2 6y agoBTW, Apple once did a study into some Segway-like vehicle
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- dbcurtis 6y agoI think self-driving taxis need to be in a separate category. No need to park them in the city core, but they provide the range and comfort people seek.
- hocuspocus 6y agoThe self-driving taxi fleets of tomorrow are just today's Uber without the exploitation of gig workers. As many cities have observed, cheap on-demand rides are not an improvement on traffic congestion, quite the opposite.
- dodobirdlord 6y agoWhile there may not be a reduction in traffic, there’s a massive improvement in quality of life.
- enos_feedler 6y agoUber without the exploitation of gig workers is an absolute dream. In what sense is the word "just" justifiable?
- hocuspocus 6y agoIf you live in a city, more cars isn't a dream, sorry.
- kofejnik 6y agoyeah, let's put everyone out of work
- kofejnik 6y ago> without the exploitation of gig workers. I'm pretty sure that the people who decry 'exploitation' will be condemning robotic taxis for putting cabbies out of work altogether Also, the whole notion of 'exploitation' is, frankly, ridiculous
- rlt 6y agoIt’s pretty bizarre to (in the same sentence) imply Uber is “exploiting” gig workers, and also self-driving taxis eliminating that “exploitation” is a good thing for them.
- vlozko 6y agoThey’re two barely related problems that require different solutions. Better-designed cities doesn’t do anything for the millions of Americans living out in the burbs. And Apple isn’t empowered to make changes to cities; that’s up to governments to do and who are most likely strapped for funds to do any sort of major infrastructure investment.
- nabla9 6y ago> for the millions of Americans living out in the burbs They live in burbs because American cities are so badly designed.
- xibalba 6y agoThis viewpoint is puzzling to me. It starts from the assumption that all people want to live in highly dense central areas. This is clearly and completely untrue. Most people who live in the suburbs because they want to live in single family homes in low density areas.
- cblconfederate 6y agoamerican cities are obviously built for cars and assume people commute to work. compare this with old cities e.g. in europe. It seems there will be major shifts in the way people work , and thus live, and thus cities will probably change
- nabla9 6y agoYou must choose one or another. Either you build city where 1) it's nice to live in the central area and people commute outwards with trains and subways. It's very hard to commute in and out of the city with your own car. 2) you can build a s easy to drive and out city centre but nobody likes to live there. Big highways and parking split the city and increase distances too much. The US has mostly #2 but there are some #1 cities too.
- rlt 6y agoOr maybe some people don’t like being packed into cities like sardines, and America has plenty of land?
- epistasis 6y agoUnfortunately solving that problem is muuuuucccchhh more difficult. It's decided at the local level where homeowners are locked into huge investments that are dependent on car infrastructure. And in cities, even supposedly "left" movements have very little appetite for this sort of switch from private infrastructure to public transit infrastructure, at least here in California. I am skeptical of anybody engineering full level 65 self driving cars within the foreseeable future, but I think it's more likely than the necessary change you lay out. (I would consider it a huge success beyond all imagination if we had city planning changed to allow even 50% of our households to live a car-free life)
- amelius 6y agoYes, and also because in the future people will not own cars. Whenever you need a car, you just order one and within minutes a self-driving car will be in front of your door. Not owning a car also means people will not really want "premium" brand (or perhaps only on special occasions).
- xnx 6y agoAutonomous vehicles would be a tremendous blessing to make cities more livable and human centered. Autonomous vehicles are: Safer - always obey speed limits, traffic laws, yield to pedestrians, are always cautious and have super-human reflexes Quieter - electric, never rev their engines, or peel-out Cleaner - electric, operate at efficient speeds Take up less space - never need to park, can "convoy" within inches of another vehicle
- hocuspocus 6y agoSee Jevons paradox. More car traffic is not something that the average city resident wishes for.
- xnx 6y agoI live in a pretty large city Chicago and I'm not concerned about additional traffic from autonomous vehicles (though I don't count myself as average either). Widespread usage of autonomous vehicles will have so many large and wide-ranging effects, that it will not simply be "more traffic in cities". Another possibility is a large portion of city dwellers will get weekend homes hours away since driving that distance will be trivial when you can watch Netflix or play videos games on the way. Tourism may also increase as people from smaller towns will come into the city for nightlife since their cars can drive them home drunk. Even with twice the cars on the road trips may be much faster without cars blocking traffic by making late turns on red. Electric cars are interesting, but super-human autonomous drivers will be revolutionary.
- cblconfederate 6y agoThey should instead focus on making incredible remote work tools. That will reduce emissions more than any electric car