Good (Score: 2, Interesting) by fishybell@pipedot.org on 2015-05-21 07:42 (#9EWJ) There are too many cars polluting the skies and requiring vast quantities of landscape to be paved for roads and parking. Also of note, driverless cars won't just impact US automakers, they will impact all automakers. There will likely be a short lived (in the 10ish year time span) boost in sales as everyone gets theirs, then people will just relax and enjoy. As an avid driver, I'm only worried (and even then, just slightly) that driverful cars will at some point be banned.As a side note, I expect driverless cars to last longer than driverful cars due to the cars always driving smoothly and the potential for the car to drive itself to the mechanic for maintenance. Re: Good (Score: 1) by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-05-22 05:13 (#9H1J) There are too many cars polluting the skies and requiring vast quantities of landscape to be paved for roads and parking.It's likely pollution will increase. Automation will make it cheaper and easier for vehicles to drive MORE miles. Who needs trains when you can stick a mattress in your car, tell it to drive across the country, and just wake-up in a new city? Mass-transit will have an even harder time competing. The switch to EVs and hybrids could help with pollution (and road noise), but that's really independent of the introduction of self-driving cars.It could mean we get away with fewer parking-spaces, but will probably require even MORE roads. Automated cars should more efficiently utilize existing roads, but when miles driven climbs substantially, you'll still hit capacity limits.
Re: Good (Score: 1) by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-05-22 05:13 (#9H1J) There are too many cars polluting the skies and requiring vast quantities of landscape to be paved for roads and parking.It's likely pollution will increase. Automation will make it cheaper and easier for vehicles to drive MORE miles. Who needs trains when you can stick a mattress in your car, tell it to drive across the country, and just wake-up in a new city? Mass-transit will have an even harder time competing. The switch to EVs and hybrids could help with pollution (and road noise), but that's really independent of the introduction of self-driving cars.It could mean we get away with fewer parking-spaces, but will probably require even MORE roads. Automated cars should more efficiently utilize existing roads, but when miles driven climbs substantially, you'll still hit capacity limits.