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I had a similar litmus test in my mind: can I start my work day on my laptop while my car drives me to work. That’s be kind of useful. Also can the car drop me

I had a similar litmus test in my mind: can I start my work day on my laptop while my car drives me to work. That’s be kind of useful. Also can the car drop me off then go park itself. That’s useful too!

tirpen 5y ago
A public bus already satisfies both those criterions.
- sofixa 5y ago
  A public subway even more so, because it can actually be self-driving.
- Dumblydorr 5y ago
  Problem with these is they move along a fixed route, especially in low density areas they're extremely slow relative to driving.
  - brailsafe 5y ago
    So make them much faster relative to driving, and de-favour low density areas more generally
    - Turing_Machine 5y ago
      A bus is never going to be as fast as driving, when it has to start and stop all the time to let people on or off. Yes, cars have to stop at traffic lights. Buses have to stop at traffic lights, and also at bus stops, while waiting for people to get on or off with their parcels, bikes, children, and what-have-you.
      - brailsafe 5y ago
        Buses and other modes of public transit can be faster than cars, but also they can be better than cars because you don't have to pay too much attention or drive or park or maintain the damn thing. If I lived in LA and there was a bus only lane on the freeway, the bus would sure as hell be the better option, as it would in many cities. The reason people don't drive for trvial things in Europe is that driving isn't the better option. Where I live, I take transit or walk almost everywhere, and it would require some exception for me to get a car again. Even on the occasion I use car sharing because I think it'll be faster, I often regret it, because it's not faster and I have to find parking or avoid crashing into people.
  - Turing_Machine 5y ago
    In high-density areas, they stop every few blocks to let people on or off.
- orangepanda 5y ago
  Cgp gray did a video on autonomous driving a while back. I'm not sure if it was intentional but the whole thing sounded sarcastic - all the problems mentioned are already solved with public transport
- quickthrower2 5y ago
  Bus doesn’t go to where I work - well not that close!
- scaryclam 5y ago
  If you happen to live near the right bus stop and have an office on the other end of it's route. For many of us it's a much shorter commute with a car, and a guaranteed seat to work from, which you don't get on a lot of commuter public transport. I live in a place where public transport is actually pretty good, and it's still a PITA to work on the way.
jacquesm 5y ago
Corollary: can I send my car to school to pick up the kids? Send a package? Go to the garage to get itself serviced? Self driving cars will lead to a lot of extra cars on the road for trips that wouldn't happen today because at least a warm body in the drivers seat is a requirement to make the trip. So the self driving car will cost countless jobs and will be a huge cause for more traffic on already quite congested roads.
- avh02 5y ago
  obviously at that point people start to question if ownership is necessary given how easily and quickly you could summon a unit out of a fleet and only pay for what you use. And thus uber for self-driving-cars was born. Longer term traffic could probably be reduced by autonomous-only roads/infrastructure that has less need for traffic lights, etc.
- zepolen 5y ago
  Unless you have two cars, that makes no sense. The car can either pick up the kids or get itself serviced. Plus it's not like those journeys won't be made even if you drove them yourself. Kids need to get picked up, cars need to get serviced. However with a self driving car it's also possible to schedule it to drive to the garage at night when the roads are not congested.

tirpen 5y ago

A public bus already satisfies both those criterions.

sofixa 5y ago
A public subway even more so, because it can actually be self-driving.
Dumblydorr 5y ago
Problem with these is they move along a fixed route, especially in low density areas they're extremely slow relative to driving.
- brailsafe 5y ago
  So make them much faster relative to driving, and de-favour low density areas more generally
  - Turing_Machine 5y ago
    A bus is never going to be as fast as driving, when it has to start and stop all the time to let people on or off. Yes, cars have to stop at traffic lights. Buses have to stop at traffic lights, and also at bus stops, while waiting for people to get on or off with their parcels, bikes, children, and what-have-you.
    - brailsafe 5y ago
      Buses and other modes of public transit can be faster than cars, but also they can be better than cars because you don't have to pay too much attention or drive or park or maintain the damn thing. If I lived in LA and there was a bus only lane on the freeway, the bus would sure as hell be the better option, as it would in many cities. The reason people don't drive for trvial things in Europe is that driving isn't the better option. Where I live, I take transit or walk almost everywhere, and it would require some exception for me to get a car again. Even on the occasion I use car sharing because I think it'll be faster, I often regret it, because it's not faster and I have to find parking or avoid crashing into people.
- Turing_Machine 5y ago
  In high-density areas, they stop every few blocks to let people on or off.
orangepanda 5y ago
Cgp gray did a video on autonomous driving a while back. I'm not sure if it was intentional but the whole thing sounded sarcastic - all the problems mentioned are already solved with public transport
quickthrower2 5y ago
Bus doesn’t go to where I work - well not that close!
scaryclam 5y ago
If you happen to live near the right bus stop and have an office on the other end of it's route. For many of us it's a much shorter commute with a car, and a guaranteed seat to work from, which you don't get on a lot of commuter public transport. I live in a place where public transport is actually pretty good, and it's still a PITA to work on the way.

jacquesm 5y ago

Corollary: can I send my car to school to pick up the kids? Send a package? Go to the garage to get itself serviced? Self driving cars will lead to a lot of extra cars on the road for trips that wouldn't happen today because at least a warm body in the drivers seat is a requirement to make the trip. So the self driving car will cost countless jobs and will be a huge cause for more traffic on already quite congested roads.

avh02 5y ago
obviously at that point people start to question if ownership is necessary given how easily and quickly you could summon a unit out of a fleet and only pay for what you use. And thus uber for self-driving-cars was born. Longer term traffic could probably be reduced by autonomous-only roads/infrastructure that has less need for traffic lights, etc.
zepolen 5y ago
Unless you have two cars, that makes no sense. The car can either pick up the kids or get itself serviced. Plus it's not like those journeys won't be made even if you drove them yourself. Kids need to get picked up, cars need to get serviced. However with a self driving car it's also possible to schedule it to drive to the garage at night when the roads are not congested.