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The point of the article is that the per-mile cost of cars is actually much higher than you think if you include the externalities. Autonomous cars that work a

• maerF0x0 3y ago
  Depending on how you do the accounting, some folks feel the cost of a _user mile_ is much higher in public transit, largely because of low utilization. Perennially people say it will get better as more use it, but It's a hard chicken/egg issue to only do the highest demand routes, but folks wont use it unless they can get their _entire_ needs covered.
  • eli 3y ago
    I'm not sure about that, but even if true: public transit can scale up to support a whole city using current technology. Driving can't.
    • maerF0x0 3y ago
      I suppose the current technology bit does restrict things massively. But I will say that there are a ton of options to optimized the current single occupant vehicle model. Self Driving can do a lot of things that increase the efficiency of roadways. Eg: If everyone's vehicle went to a fixed 10mph idle speed as soon as the light turned green we'd get far more vehicles through a light rather than cascading 1-2 second reaction times to the next vehicle's brake lights (and much more if the person is on their phone, which is increasingly common) . Eg2: Self driving cars could drive much closer to eachother, and actually pre-communicate intent to brake giving the effect of negative reaction time. (relative to humans)