How Driverless Cars Could Reshape Cities

[jking0821]

Article from NY Times about the future of driverless cars

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/disruptions-how-driverless-cars-could-reshape-cities/

A lot of things i didn't really consider about these things being the norm

Cliffs:
1. Never looking for parking spots...car drops you off and drives away itself to find one or is arranged with other auto-cars like shopping carts

2. No parking spots could mean streets could be narrower because there would be no need for parking spaces on the streets which would increase the room in cities for everything really

3. Some city planners expect that the cost of homes will fall as more space will become available in cities.

4. No more street lights if the cars are intelligent and can sense each other

5. I could sleep in my driverless car, or have an exercise bike in the back of the car to work out on the way to work,” he said. “My time spent in my car will essentially be very different.”

things i thought of that weren't in the article
Car insurance changes...will you need it at all?
No more DUIs? how mad will cops be and will they let that fly


Feel free to add anything else you think may change.....i really wish this was happening right now sounds awesome

 

[L7oser]

The reason I don't see this being the norm ANYTIME soon is because of the amount of money states make of off traffic fines.

 

[ninjahood]

Definitely not in my lifetime....

 

[curbsideprophet]

Wouldn't realistically ever become a norm....too much potential for disaster.

I mean just think about the decade or so of planning/turnover/implementation/culture change/

Seemingly all infastructure would have to somehow be adjusted just so that we can be lazier in our cars.....

1. Faulty sensor on highway - dead

2. 1 AutoCar vs. 1 regular car w/ bad driver - dead

3. Teresa doesn't have a drivers license? Oh well, turn on car and hide in backseat till we get to the mall - triffling

4. Cars one day realize they don't have to take this **** - dead 

 

[nazdrowie]

im all for driverless cars if they create safer highway conditions, but city planning/urban development focusing more on cars is hustling backwards. they have been developing cities around cars for the last 50-60 years and its created a lot of problems.

taking away street lights would make it harder for pedestrians who choose not to use cars or cant afford this type of technology and while making housing cheaper sounds great, if everything is spread out, it only creates sprawl.

 

[heliumclinton]

No thanks

 

[Gex the Damaja]

No more street lights? Street lights aren't just for cars.

 

[finnns2003]

Very unrealistic for present day, but I can see this in the future. For one, MOST humans are pathetically bad drivers. Too many deaths because of auto accidents per year. We need solutions. I am tired of the "I might miss this exit, let me dart 4 lanes over last minute!" accidents.

Problem is what if someone hacks the system and destroys everyone? Hell no.

 

[fraij da 5 11]

No more street lights? Street lights aren't just for cars.

If they're trying to innovate a driverless car system I'm sure they're smart enough to account for pedestrians walking as well.  You'd probably just have walk signals as we do now without the traffic lights hanging.

 

[airthompson]

That would cut into too much profit

- Auto industry
- car mechanics/repair industry
- City citations
- Real estate
etc.

Very interesting read, but also very unlikely.

 

[al audi]

Pass.

 

[fraij da 5 11]

That would cut into too much profit

- Auto industry
- car mechanics/repair industry
- City citations
- Real estate
etc.

Very interesting read, but also very unlikely.

Wouldn't auto industries still have to make cars?

Wouldn't Mechanics still have to fix cars?

 

[picasso swerve]

There would be no need for da hemi.

Pass.

 

[jking0821]

I would love for this to be the future as well but there are A LOT of hurdles obviously. But the sheer inefficiency of traffic needs to be mitigated some how. It's one of those things that i feel like in 100 years they will look back on and be like wow people were dumb they really just sat their in their cars for hours?!?! "That is crazy".

Whether its automated cars driving you where you need to go or flying cars to get into air space. This hopefully will be handled within the next 100 years.

 

[thadoctadvocate]

nah b this is dumb. would never sign up for it. what if the government takes control of your car and takes you to jail.

plus this means no more high speed pursuits which are very fun to watch

 

[elcatfisho]

A driverless bus system would benefit from this invention. Making public transportation more accessible to people in their suburban neighborhoods would reduce the number of cars needed to travel to work, gym, or marketplaces. There should be no reason why both me and my neighbors can't take the same trip together to pick up groceries. Driving two cars to the same spot is ridiculous but I don't think people want to give up their driving freedom that soon. I'm not sure how the bus system works in most cities, but this would practically allow people to travel 24/7 without the need for a bus driver.

However, urban planning really needs to be revamped first, which is why the government should be spending more on infrastructure. But we're not really doing anything new except adding more lanes to highways and repaving roads.

edit: I do like the idea of a "food drone" that transports your groceries to your location. lots of potential for that sort of system.

 

[jehul]

That would cut into too much profit

- Auto industry
- car mechanics/repair industry
- City citations
- Real estate
etc.

Very interesting read, but also very unlikely.

Why? It's not like these cars would fix themselves? If anything I could see their profits increasing (car's computer tied to authorities, won't drive unless all maintenance is up-to-date; all violations logged and payments automatically billed to driver,etc etc).


With all that said Insurance industry will NOT stand for this. No one would need to buy policies. They are probably acquiring hackers to write malicious code to propagate "worst-case scenarios" show what could happen "if we let computers take over the driving process and there are glitches"

 

[cruzzz]

I hate the idea of someone being able to hack my car and shut it down so I'm good.

 

[bip roberts]

Definitely not in my lifetime....

Homie, you are younger than me. I know you ain't planning to die anytime soon.

This will absolutely happen in our lifetimes - much sooner than most think.

Wouldn't realistically ever become a norm....too much potential for disaster.

I mean just think about the decade or so of planning/turnover/implementation/culture change/
Seemingly all infastructure would have to somehow be adjusted just so that we can be lazier in our cars.....

1. Faulty sensor on highway - dead
2. 1 AutoCar vs. 1 regular car w/ bad driver - dead
3. Teresa doesn't have a drivers license? Oh well, turn on car and hide in backseat till we get to the mall - triffling
4. Cars one day realize they don't have to take this **** - dead 

Air travel has been revolutionized by automated flying and its safety has improved many times over. We are terrible drivers - driving a car is among one of the least safe things human do, and that is almost exclusively because of human error. BTW, people drive without licenses today anyway, so what's the difference?

I hate the idea of someone being able to hack my car and shut it down so I'm good.

Cars already run on computers, bruh.

Also, I'm not even sure the concept of "my car" will even exist. If the car is automated, why does anybody really need to own one? You just belong to a car club of sorts with different levels of access (different types of cars, how far in advance you have to request one, etc. are all price tiered) and you get all the benefits of car ownership without the hassle (this is a major benefit for people who live in cities - I live in NYC and it can literally take me 45 minutes to find a parking space sometimes.)

 

[moderndarwin]

This is definitely one of those things that some future generation will look back at and wonder how life must of been. Which technology will succeed is really the big question.

Most of these technologies would work, but as a country and a government I think it is damn tough to implement it. I feel like a country like South Korea (where I live right now) would be a more likely place to try something like this. First, the country is super young so everything is pretty technology advanced. There already is a 10/10 public transportation system, and the people would be more receptive to this sort of technology. Additionally, there are very few real car lovers out here...you almost never see some sort of old school car on the road. The recycling, energy consumption, etc people are more responsible with. I really could see Seoul being a city where something like this eventually happens.

It will fail though. They still use internet explorer for everything here. I can't even order Dominos on Chrome. Lol.

I'm all for it though. Have you guys seen the documentary about pod cars? Those are awesome as well (basically the same as this).

 

[omgitswes]

I'd like to see high speed tube travel before this. The fact that you could live on the opposite side of the country and still commute to work is insane.

 

[frshstunna]

While it would be more convenient, ill pass...i like to have control of the car

 

[crcballer55]

I see this becoming normal within the next 20 years. Think about it. Just 10 years ago, we had a mindset of actually owning our music. Now, most of us don't care how big our music collection is because we have services like Pandora, Rdio, & Spotify where we have an unlimited supply of music at our disposal at any time. I see the same being true for cars in our lifetime as well. We buy a car that needs to serve multiple purposes and is often too big for our day-to-day needs, yet not small enough to conserve space when we need it. What is something like Uber met autonomous vehicles where you didn't need a garage to store your one or two cars. You can simply order up the car of your choice when you need it that best suits your needs for that moment and it'll be at your home to pick you up within 15 minutes and you can do whatever you want while you drive to your destination.

With texting and distracted driving becoming major issues, I think this will start becoming more mainstream earlier than we think. Think about it, most of the traffic accidents are caused from distracted driving or bad driving habits and most traffic jams are caused from stop and go driving from people trying to get to their destination faster. If the car can know the traffic conditions ahead and react accordingly, we will all spend less time in traffic and maybe help environmental conditions too.

 

[leannsupreme]

Do not want.

Driving is one of my favorite things to do.

 

[wr]

Wouldn't auto industries still have to make cars?
Wouldn't Mechanics still have to fix cars?

repairing these vehicles is moving towards less of being a mechanic, more of being a computer and electronics technician.