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Maybe the wide swaths of US country side are different, but for the (Western) European countries we need less cars and not more. I love cars and driving but th

Maybe the wide swaths of US country side are different, but for the (Western) European countries we need less cars and not more. I love cars and driving but the mobility today is a smelly nightmare. 55 million Germans have insufficient public transport available [1] - they are dependent on cars. 64 million Germans live in cities. So even in cities, public transport is bad for quite a few million people. It's often not profitable to provide these services in certain areas, sparking discussions about privatization of public transport. At the same time, roads and infrastructure are increasingly incapable of supporting all the individual cars. Congestion, traffic jams and just overall shitty "UX" hamper people's lives and by extension the economy. The denser the area, the more true this becomes. Munich and Berlin both have major issues with their public transport. Munich grew really fast in the last 20 years and it's system is measurably worse than Vienna, for example. I use car sharing a lot but it is only useful to an extent and doesn't seem to have the promised effect of reducing cars on the road (or rather standing around parking 95% of the time). [1] https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/deutschland/innenpolitik/id_91039862/55-millionen-deutsche-mit-schlechtem-oepnv-wie-gut-sind-sie-angebunden-.html https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/deutschland/innenpolitik... (Disclaimer: this study was done by a mobility startup BUT I honestly believe it to be accurate from experience)

reaperducer 5y ago
Maybe the wide swaths of US country side are different, but for the (Western) European countries we need less cars and not more. In theory, self-driving cars will mean fewer cars, not more. Instead of owning your own car, you just summon one from a pool to take you where you need to go. When you get there, it becomes available for someone else to summon. It's like Uber, but without any people. That's the one vision of self-driving cars that I like.
- azinman2 5y ago
  Uber and Lyft have been known to add more cars to SF than before. Public transit fits many more people per vehicle than a car does.
  - dwaite 5y ago
    > Uber and Lyft have been known to add more cars to SF than before The emergence of a faster, more convenient and in many cases cleaner alternative to BART/Caltrain created demand. To top it all off, the cost was comparable in many cases for a while. In the past, one of my 32 minute Uber rides was a > 2.5 hour trip on mass transit around the Bay Area on the weekend. I'm all for supporting mass transit, but that is a fool's bet.
- Zababa 5y ago
  That sounds like a worse version of public transportation.
  - mulmen 5y ago
    Why can’t it supplement public transport? I have to walk 15 minutes to take a 20 minute bus to a transit station. I could drive there in 10 minutes. Self-driving cars seem ideal for last mile transit.
    - Zababa 5y ago
      That's a fair point, though usually the usefulness of cars and public transportation are inversely correlated. Starting with a good foundation for public transportation would reduce a lot the need for cars for commuting in the city.
      - mulmen 5y ago
        That’s because you need to park personal cars. Car share solves that problem by keeping the cars on the road. Last mile is always a challenge for public transit because the economies of scale don’t kick in at the necessary scale. Self-driving car share is basically like having hundreds of four-person bus routes. Except they run on-demand.
        Zababa 5y ago
        That's something I didn't think about, thanks.

reaperducer 5y ago

Maybe the wide swaths of US country side are different, but for the (Western) European countries we need less cars and not more. In theory, self-driving cars will mean fewer cars, not more. Instead of owning your own car, you just summon one from a pool to take you where you need to go. When you get there, it becomes available for someone else to summon. It's like Uber, but without any people. That's the one vision of self-driving cars that I like.

azinman2 5y ago
Uber and Lyft have been known to add more cars to SF than before. Public transit fits many more people per vehicle than a car does.
- dwaite 5y ago
  > Uber and Lyft have been known to add more cars to SF than before The emergence of a faster, more convenient and in many cases cleaner alternative to BART/Caltrain created demand. To top it all off, the cost was comparable in many cases for a while. In the past, one of my 32 minute Uber rides was a > 2.5 hour trip on mass transit around the Bay Area on the weekend. I'm all for supporting mass transit, but that is a fool's bet.
Zababa 5y ago
That sounds like a worse version of public transportation.
- mulmen 5y ago
  Why can’t it supplement public transport? I have to walk 15 minutes to take a 20 minute bus to a transit station. I could drive there in 10 minutes. Self-driving cars seem ideal for last mile transit.
  - Zababa 5y ago
    That's a fair point, though usually the usefulness of cars and public transportation are inversely correlated. Starting with a good foundation for public transportation would reduce a lot the need for cars for commuting in the city.
    - mulmen 5y ago
      That’s because you need to park personal cars. Car share solves that problem by keeping the cars on the road. Last mile is always a challenge for public transit because the economies of scale don’t kick in at the necessary scale. Self-driving car share is basically like having hundreds of four-person bus routes. Except they run on-demand.
      - Zababa 5y ago
        That's something I didn't think about, thanks.