3 ms·

My ride in San Francisco's driverless car was flawless. But I'm not sold

3 points by gnicholas 4y ago

gnicholas 4y ago
The author asks "who needs driverless cars?" when we've got uber/lyft. She talks about the jobs that will be lost, but she doesn't seem to consider the flip side, which is that costs for driverless cars may ultimately be lower. That would make transportation less expensive, and more affordable for more people. Seems like an odd oversight.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  Transportation becoming less expensive -> more transportation. The solution is not self driving cars, uber or lyft, but working, affordable and fast public transportation.
  - gnicholas 4y ago
    Affordable like the high-speed rail project promised to CA voters over a decade ago? > When voters green-lit the project in 2008, they were promised a two-hour and 40-minute ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco, with connections to Sacramento and San Diego at a cost of $45 billion. Since then the estimated price tag has more than doubled to $113 billion, and that’s for a pared-down version that does not include the Sacramento and San Diego stops. from https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/06/30/california-budget-ends-high-speed-rail-standoff-sends-billions-to-other-projects/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/06/30/california-budget-end...
    - jacquesm 4y ago
      The inability to do large infrastructure projects has been noted many times, in a way we have regressed considerably from the mid 1800's to today in that respect. But that doesn't mean that the solutions proposed aren't valid, just that too many parties are running inference to succeed (Elon Musk one of them, by the way).
      - gnicholas 4y ago
        Elon is opposed to public transit? I assumed that his Boring Company would stand to benefit greatly from underground rail.
        jacquesm 4y ago
        > https://twitter.com/humantransit/status/941386665519595521 https://twitter.com/humantransit/status/941386665519595521 The only thing the Boring Company has done is distract cities from going forward with the deployment of various forms of public transport. And then they didn't deliver... Elon doesn't want you to use public transport, he wants you to commute in a Tesla.
- superchroma 4y ago
  Nobody seems to want to think about what happens when we automate all these shitty jobs. There is still no appetite for UBI particularly in the USA.
  - gnicholas 4y ago
    People are happy to think about it! The author mentioned this point in the article. What she overlooked was the improved affordability that would result. Do HNers shed tears for the typists of decades past, whose jobs were automated away by computers? There is a constant march toward automation, without which most HNers would not have their current careers.

3 points by gnicholas 4y ago

The author asks "who needs driverless cars?" when we've got uber/lyft. She talks about the jobs that will be lost, but she doesn't seem to consider the flip side, which is that costs for driverless cars may ultimately be lower. That would make transportation less expensive, and more affordable for more people. Seems like an odd oversight.

jacquesm 4y ago
Transportation becoming less expensive -> more transportation. The solution is not self driving cars, uber or lyft, but working, affordable and fast public transportation.
- gnicholas 4y ago
  Affordable like the high-speed rail project promised to CA voters over a decade ago? > When voters green-lit the project in 2008, they were promised a two-hour and 40-minute ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco, with connections to Sacramento and San Diego at a cost of $45 billion. Since then the estimated price tag has more than doubled to $113 billion, and that’s for a pared-down version that does not include the Sacramento and San Diego stops. from https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/06/30/california-budget-ends-high-speed-rail-standoff-sends-billions-to-other-projects/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/06/30/california-budget-end...
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    The inability to do large infrastructure projects has been noted many times, in a way we have regressed considerably from the mid 1800's to today in that respect. But that doesn't mean that the solutions proposed aren't valid, just that too many parties are running inference to succeed (Elon Musk one of them, by the way).
    - gnicholas 4y ago
      Elon is opposed to public transit? I assumed that his Boring Company would stand to benefit greatly from underground rail.
      - jacquesm 4y ago
        > https://twitter.com/humantransit/status/941386665519595521 https://twitter.com/humantransit/status/941386665519595521 The only thing the Boring Company has done is distract cities from going forward with the deployment of various forms of public transport. And then they didn't deliver... Elon doesn't want you to use public transport, he wants you to commute in a Tesla.
superchroma 4y ago
Nobody seems to want to think about what happens when we automate all these shitty jobs. There is still no appetite for UBI particularly in the USA.
- gnicholas 4y ago
  People are happy to think about it! The author mentioned this point in the article. What she overlooked was the improved affordability that would result. Do HNers shed tears for the typists of decades past, whose jobs were automated away by computers? There is a constant march toward automation, without which most HNers would not have their current careers.