I've been saying for years "self driving cars are solving the wrong problem". The problem isn't that I have to steer my car. The problem is I need a fucking car to go anywhere worth going.
this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2025
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But then this problem will be solved for those who can't afford it. This is simply not fair to those who are hardworking to earn their salary
I saw a video recently by a car enthusiast who hates the idea of self driving cars for a novel reason.
Even if self-driving cars are safer than people it won’t stop bad owners. People who drive with unsafe mechanical issues they can’t or won’t get fixed are still going to exist, and bald tires and worn brakes would eliminate any potential safety benefits of self driving.
And by further removing people from the operation of a car, you’re making them worse owners. They won’t know what a worn tie rod bushing would feel like because they never steer. Making cars into appliances just makes them less safe.
He also made a point that I agree with: If we get people who don’t want to drive off the road, the roads would be nicer for people who do want to drive.
Back when I used to agree with Mush, he said something I still agree with, "you don't want flying cars, because you don't want a poorly maintained car to fly around and lose a hubcap".
Also having worked in the industry the "if" in "Even if self-driving cars are safer than people" is carrying the weight of the sun. You might be able to get them safer than humans in a specific subset of circumstances but I would never trust one.
If they could have made anything self driving already it’d be trains, but we still don’t have fully automated trains
Yes we do. REM in Montréal, skytrain in Vancouver
I think the Sydney metro partially is too. But that is easier because it doesn't cross any roads, or have many branching connection.
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I somewhat disagree with this. If you can feel worn tires, brakes, or suspension bushings, it's easy to imagine the car feeling them and raising a service alert, and locking out if not appropriately serviced.
Vendor lock-in and enshittification, baby.
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People who drive with unsafe mechanical issues they can’t or won’t get fixed are still going to exist, and bald tires and worn brakes would eliminate any potential safety benefits of self driving.
In European nations we just inspect the shit out of every car to ensure safety. The car must be mechanically satisfactory and have adequate brakes, tyres, etc.
In the US only 19 states have mandatory periodic safety inspections
So many times watching a car crash video, someone hydroplanes through a puddle …. my first reaction is I bet they live somewhere without safety inspections and those tires are bald
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I'm hearing you want continental Europe
Or even
Wait for it
SELF DRIVING TRANSIT
Which yes is already a thing too
And much easier to implement than self driving cars
Okay
but what, hear me out now.
What if we just got a bunch of self driving cars.
and we linked them together to increase capacities.
and had them run on a dedicated path
and create special locations where these car links come and go on a regular schedule, so people can get on and off predictably?
It'll be new, neverbefore seen, and revolutionary! /s
"did the tech industry just reinvent the subway again"
somebody should do a compilation including data about:
- the costs of public transport against private cars, for the whole city
- the space consumption for parking your private cars in a city compared to the space consumption for all public transport vehicles
and make a statistics and post it here
They have (I've seen them, but don't have a link sorry) and car free or semi car free with good bike and public infrastructure is almost always cheaper and more efficient
Copenhagen pretty much has this. So easy to get around everywhere.
Self driving buses though can be very useful!
No labor cost to drive the bus means it suddenly becomes a lot cheaper to operate buses with less capacity. Meaning, more frequent buses in low density neighborhoods.
Lets go a step farther and put that bus on tracks, which will make it even easier and safer to implement self driving.
maybe we can connect multiple busses together and that way it can carry more on the same track!
Tram systems could be made that simple as adding capacity is just add another tram car to the link onto certain routes. We do also need trains but trams serve a more localized purpose, which often make up the majority of someone's trips
Hear me out:
We give them road specifically for them, make them self driving, give them lidar and whatever sensor to be safe, paint a specific coloured line on the route, direct them to only self-drive on that line so no deviation = no worry with traffic, and call them well-trained bus.
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Boring?
Yeah, public transit so common and part of day-to-day it's unremarkable and boring.
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