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Less parking, sure. But self driving cars will do nothing to reduce traffic. The problem isn't the number of cars in existence, but rather how many cars are act
by lokedhs 4y ago
Less parking, sure. But self driving cars will do nothing to reduce traffic. The problem isn't the number of cars in existence, but rather how many cars are actually driving around at any given point. This number will surely go up with self driving, or at best stay the same.
- wpietri 4y ago> But self driving cars will do nothing to reduce traffic. I think self-driving cars could (and probably will) net worsen the traffic problem, but the above is not necessarily correct. If we ever get them working properly, self-driving cars can collaborate in ways that humans can't. E.g., imagine a busy freeway. In theory, cars going similar ways could form a sort of peoloton, communicating with one another about intention and circumstance. So you could have a group of cars going from one city to another traveling at high speed very close together, saving fuel and space. But yes, generally anytime we make something easier, people do it more, so I expect any road efficiency gains to be swamped by increased demand.
- ziml77 4y agoThe problem is that every vehicle participating in that network would have to be owned and operated by a trusted entity. Otherwise it would be too easy for someone to modify the software or tamper with the hardware in ways that cause information to be misreported and cause a mess.
- HDThoreaun 4y agoAnd then the person who owns that car gets charged with murder when it crashes on the highway
- f6v 4y agoImagine every laptop, tablet, phone, watch had the same charger that was 100% compatible with all the devices. What a world would that be.
- sangnoir 4y agoI still hope self-driving will enable the original dream of "car-sharing" by enabling car pooling, coordinated by Uber / Waymo / Toyota.
- jimkleiber 4y agoDoesn't the number of cars driving around depend on density of riders? Just getting rid of the driver would make every car have one extra seat available for passengers, assuming cars maintain the same number of seats. So what I'm more curious about is if self-driving enables more options for ride sharing, just as Uber had Uber pool, at a cheaper price, perhaps it could open up more options (at different prices) between riding with 50 strangers on a bus or taking a 4-seat car by myself? Overall, I don't know if cars on road at time X will go up or down. Heck, if there aren't cars parking on the streets, then some roads in cities may even add two extra lanes for traffic, which could reduce traffic further. But as others have pointed out, ridesharing companies with drivers haven't really reduced traffic, so maybe self-driving cars won't either, however I seem to think it'll be more of a step change when cars drive themselves.
- randerson 4y agoMany people can't drive and are always passengers. But now they'll be able to travel alone. The people who would have been their drivers can go somewhere else at the same time. Unless the cars are always at capacity, it could mean more cars on the road.