Comment by 0x457
18 days ago
Yes, let's stop all progress and roll-back all automation to keep hypothetical angry people with guns happy.
18 days ago
Yes, let's stop all progress and roll-back all automation to keep hypothetical angry people with guns happy.
Seems like a good description on current events.
Autonomous private cars is not the technological progress you think it is. We’ve had autonomous trains for decades, and while it provides us with a more efficient and cost effective public transit system, it didn’t open the doors for the next revolutionary technology.
Self driving cars is a dead end technology, that will introduce a whole host of new problems which are already solved with public transit, better urban planning, etc.
> We’ve had autonomous trains for decades
Trains need tracks, cars - already have the infrastructure to drive on.
> Self driving cars is a dead end technology, that will introduce a whole host of new problems which are already solved with public transit, better urban planning, etc.
Self driving cars will literally become a part of public transit
> Self driving cars will literally become a part of public transit
I’ve been hearing people say that for almost 15 years now. I believe it when I see it.
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I live in LA and ride Waymo, subway and trains often (decided not buy a car after u-haul rear-ended me on a red light...).
There is no way metro and trains will be a solid way of transportation in LA for at least a few more decades, even if people of Bel-Air stop fighting trains that go deep under Bel-Air and people of valley stop being unreasonable. Even if next president, rollbacks contingency requirement changes that trump did. Even America remember how to build large infrastructure projects.
It will never be the ideal "you're always at most 20-30 minutes of walking away from the station" density here in LA.
> Autonomous private cars is not the technological progress you think it is. We’ve had autonomous trains for decades, and while it provides us with a more efficient and cost effective public transit system, it didn’t open the doors for the next revolutionary technology.
There is a huge difference between going on rails and going on public roads. There are plenty of "dead end technologies" that we use to this day.
> There are plenty of "dead end technologies" that we use to this day.
Good point. However that does not apply to self driving cars because the problem it is trying to fix is a lot more complex then how to heat your microwave burrito more quickly. Self driving cars shares many of the same problems with human driven cars, including traffic congestion. If we see a mass employment of self driving cars in our cities, these problems will still remain, and the only thing this technology has solved is the need for commuters to pay attention 100% of the way. While nice, that is not revolutionary.
I think you are underselling your city here. LA has an excellent bus system which can be improved further still. LA also has the potential of installing a world class bicycle infrastructure, and me personally I am fairly optimistic that sometime in the near future, your city will put my city of Seattle to shame with your bike network.
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Unfortunately, many of our urban areas have already been planned (for better or worse) for cars and not the density that makes public transit viable. Autonomous cars will solve a host of problems for the old, young, mobility limited, and just about everyone else.
It will prove disruptive to the driving industry, but I think we’ve been through worse disruptions and fared the better for it.
> Self driving cars is a dead end technology
I would be happy to bet on some strict definition of your claim.
Nope. Humans are statistically fallible and their attention is too valuable to be obliged to a mundane task like executing navigation commands. Redesigning and rebuilding city transportation infrastructure isn't happening, look around. Also personal agency limits public transportation as a solution.
> Redesigning and rebuilding city transportation infrastructure isn't happening, look around.
The US already did it once (just in the wrong direction) by redesigning all cities to be unfriendly to humans and only navigable by cars. It should be technically possible to revert that mistake.
Unlike autonomous driving, public transit is a proven solution employed in thousands of cities around the world, on various scales, economies, etc.
> Redesigning and rebuilding city transportation infrastructure isn't happening, look around.
We have been redesigning and rebuilding city transportation infrastructure since we had cities. Where I live (Seattle) they are opening a new light rail bridge crossing just next month (first rail over a floting bridge; which is technologically very interesting), and two new rail lines are being planned. In the 1960s the Bay area completely revolutionized their transit sytem when they opened BART.
I think you are simply wrong here.
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