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> while providing a safer means of transport Cars are safer than they've ever been; looking at some statistics, we have halved the fatality rates since 1980. S

by dvt 3y ago

> while providing a safer means of transport Cars are safer than they've ever been; looking at some statistics, we have halved the fatality rates since 1980. So I'm not exactly sure claiming "it's safer" is really much of a selling point. GP is correct that the money has never really made sense, other than in the context of logistics (automating semi trucks maybe?). Given that even the safest of transport modes (say, the metro in London or Paris) still needs to have a conductor (for potential emergencies), it's hard to see the fully driverless dream ever materializing.

david-gpu 3y ago
> Cars are safer than they've ever been Not if you are outside the car. Pedestrian and cyclist fatalities have increased steadily in the US over the past ten years [0] due to ever increasing car sizes and speeds [1]. [0] https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/fatal/trends.html https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/fatal/trends.html [1] https://www.cdc.gov/transportationsafety/pedestrian_safety/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/transportationsafety/pedestrian_safety/i...
Tiktaalik 3y ago
Safer for whom? Pedestrian fatality rates have exploded upward in recent years in the united states, at the highest rates in 41 years. up 77% since 2010. Cars are inherently unsafe but we refuse to disengage from this failed model despite the solutions (ie. public transit) being right there for decades and decades. Self driving public transport in contrast is a solved problem. Vancouver's driverless Skytrain has been serving customers since the early 1980s (as you say, requiring a driver only in the rare exception of some emergency or technical malfunction).
Symbiote 3y ago
Autonomous metro trains in some cities don't have a conductor. Copenhagen's metro doesn't, for example. London's system is particularly old and deep, and lacks space for emergency walkways.

by dvt 3y ago

david-gpu 3y ago

> Cars are safer than they've ever been Not if you are outside the car. Pedestrian and cyclist fatalities have increased steadily in the US over the past ten years [0] due to ever increasing car sizes and speeds [1]. [0] https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/fatal/trends.html https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/fatal/trends.html [1] https://www.cdc.gov/transportationsafety/pedestrian_safety/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/transportationsafety/pedestrian_safety/i...

Tiktaalik 3y ago

Safer for whom? Pedestrian fatality rates have exploded upward in recent years in the united states, at the highest rates in 41 years. up 77% since 2010. Cars are inherently unsafe but we refuse to disengage from this failed model despite the solutions (ie. public transit) being right there for decades and decades. Self driving public transport in contrast is a solved problem. Vancouver's driverless Skytrain has been serving customers since the early 1980s (as you say, requiring a driver only in the rare exception of some emergency or technical malfunction).

Symbiote 3y ago

Autonomous metro trains in some cities don't have a conductor. Copenhagen's metro doesn't, for example. London's system is particularly old and deep, and lacks space for emergency walkways.