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Well, we used to have driven elevators - true they ran on tracks, but the elevator operators lobbied and harassed and warned of the doom of man......we have pus

Well, we used to have driven elevators - true they ran on tracks, but the elevator operators lobbied and harassed and warned of the doom of man......we have push button elevators. No longer is the elevator 'broken' if no driver is at work. The drivers went on to other things - we have elevators on demand. Now autonomous vehicles are somewhat similar. Driverless cars are useless, cars - as a class - spend 80-90% of their time parked. This is a massive waste of a resource. Autonomous cars, perhaps limited to well delineated paved and marked roads, can give great utility, save on time/attention. We can extend this to shared vehicles as well, if we overcome the reluctance of people to share because their trunk is full of stuff they are too lazy to deal with.

GrigoriyMikh 5y ago
> Driverless cars are useless, cars - as a class - spend 80-90% of their time parked You're talking about passenger cars? I'm agree that they're quite inefficient. But we don't need autonomous vehicles to solve that inefficiency. We already have perfect solution -- public transport.
- jcims 5y ago
  There's a tipping point in population density where current modes of public transportation are not the appropriate solution. Buses, trains, subways and even cabs barely work in most suburbs and don't work at all outside of that. Autonomous vehicles would provide a mechanism to extend the range of these services by reducing the costs of dwell time between rides and deadheading for pickups.
  - tjansen 5y ago
    Yes, but does dwell time really matter? The EOL of a car is usually determined by the number of miles driven, not how long it stands without moving. On the other hand, if the (autonomous) car is not waiting for you, it needs to drive to you, driving even more miles (and wasting your time).
    - jcims 5y ago
      For private ownership no, I'm talking about its potential use for public transportation.
  - soco 5y ago
    Uh, I live in Switzerland where buses and trains work in the entire country and in most rides - yes even country side - offer time comparable to driving by yourself. So instead of claiming something doesn't work at all, the US people could just look outside their own borders. I totally understand the political climate is very different between countries, but the technical solutions do work.
    - jcims 5y ago
      Switzerland has 8 times the GDP per square km as the US. Six times the population density and 1/90th the total road network. Switzerland has ~72,000km of roads, my local school district puts 4,500km on their bus fleet every day just picking up students. I agree that there are no laws of physics preventing it from occurring in the US.
  - GrigoriyMikh 5y ago
    > Buses, trains, subways and even cabs barely work in most suburbs and don't work at all outside of that It looks to me like mentality problem, not technology one. IMO, changing mentality of people(to refuse from excessive lifystyle/showing off) would be more beneficial for society in long term.

GrigoriyMikh 5y ago

> Driverless cars are useless, cars - as a class - spend 80-90% of their time parked You're talking about passenger cars? I'm agree that they're quite inefficient. But we don't need autonomous vehicles to solve that inefficiency. We already have perfect solution -- public transport.

jcims 5y ago
There's a tipping point in population density where current modes of public transportation are not the appropriate solution. Buses, trains, subways and even cabs barely work in most suburbs and don't work at all outside of that. Autonomous vehicles would provide a mechanism to extend the range of these services by reducing the costs of dwell time between rides and deadheading for pickups.
- tjansen 5y ago
  Yes, but does dwell time really matter? The EOL of a car is usually determined by the number of miles driven, not how long it stands without moving. On the other hand, if the (autonomous) car is not waiting for you, it needs to drive to you, driving even more miles (and wasting your time).
  - jcims 5y ago
    For private ownership no, I'm talking about its potential use for public transportation.
- soco 5y ago
  Uh, I live in Switzerland where buses and trains work in the entire country and in most rides - yes even country side - offer time comparable to driving by yourself. So instead of claiming something doesn't work at all, the US people could just look outside their own borders. I totally understand the political climate is very different between countries, but the technical solutions do work.
  - jcims 5y ago
    Switzerland has 8 times the GDP per square km as the US. Six times the population density and 1/90th the total road network. Switzerland has ~72,000km of roads, my local school district puts 4,500km on their bus fleet every day just picking up students. I agree that there are no laws of physics preventing it from occurring in the US.
- GrigoriyMikh 5y ago
  > Buses, trains, subways and even cabs barely work in most suburbs and don't work at all outside of that It looks to me like mentality problem, not technology one. IMO, changing mentality of people(to refuse from excessive lifystyle/showing off) would be more beneficial for society in long term.