Technology

I hate cars as much as the next rational man. But I'm ironically really into the self driving car hype.

I think of transport like a pyramid.

Walking is at the top followed by micro mobility and cycling. Then at the bottom is trains, with metros/ trams above and buses above that.

The issue comes from two things. The last mile problem. You need to get to the railway station and sometimes it's too far for a walk or a bike, or you need a bike at both ends. The "obvious" solution to that is to drive to the station. But then it just becomes easier to drive the whole way (especially if you need transport at the next station).

So people start driving and then there is less demand for public transport and more cars mean less people want to cycle.

I think self driving cars will be game changing. They solve the last mile problem which means metro and railway usage could very easily increase. Much, much higher usage of ride hailing means more people in each vehicles (might even replace buses with mini buses), those vehicles don't need to park in say a cycle lane or even downtown. This frees up land and opportunity for more walking and cycling. Also people will be more comfortable cycling closer to a self driving car.

I really hope this causes a cultural shift and that shift is well utilised. But it could do absolutely nothing if those car brains foam at the mouth and complain about a new cycle path and bike storage no matter the positives.

If the tech bros really wants self driving transportation we can give them that:

Self driving subway, goes 75km/h in the city center, fully electric, convenient, consistent, safe.

Dear god, imagine... Billions spent on public transportation, and pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. Can you imagine? Just.. imagine. I'm in awe

Trains are way easier to make self driving too, we've had autonomous trains since the 60s.

I didn't really get this either.

I did think the final paragraph was notable, a "zeitgeist of our times" if you will:

The absurdity of the situation prompted tech author and journalist James Vincent to write on X, "current tech trends are resistant to satire precisely because they satirize themselves. a car park of empty cars, honking at one another, nudging back and forth to drop off nobody, is a perfect image of tech serving its own prerogatives rather than humanity’s."

Re: security: I imagine many women being more comfortable getting a waymo than an Uber/Taxi. It's anecdotal and from a different country, but most of my female family/friends have had an uncomfortable interaction in a taxi, like unrequested sexual advances or things like that.

Security, they're covered in cameras, the footage from which can presumably be obtained by law enforcement.

Tranquility, they're presumably electric, so quieter?

My coworker feels more comfortable cycling around the Waymo’s than human drivers.

As in, they are already more considerate than humans.

Sounds like dogs barking at/with each other in the night back when I was growing up. You'd hear the occasional how-how-hoooooww from one of them, and others would join in. Wolf'ish in some ways. The city I grew up in was much less crowded back then.

Now: I guess self driving cars fill in the void left by dogs not barking at each other anymore.

🐺

🚗

Plotting to take down Lightning McQueen

http://www.skynet.net/

First rule of honk club: don’t talk about honk club

Reminds me of a family cat I used to have who we'd catch hanging out with other street cats on our fence at night. They all used to sit in a line, it was like a scene from an animated movie.

maybe the honking is actually morse code

Maybe they are unionizing.

"Honk If You're Horny"

Kelly Claxon, the singer? Definitely a very irritating sound!

They're probably now programmed to honk if another car is in the way after some of their cars had to wait behind some driver way too long and customers were complaining. So now these cars are in the parking lot and slowly maneuvering to find a spot or to move to the exit, all at the same time because somebody has set up a schedule for the car to start at 4am and copied it to all vehicles. So at 4 am, they all want to go at the same time and block each other. Because now they are programmed to honk if they are blocked, they start honking at each other and you get what's in the article and video.

source: just seen too many unintended consequences of software engineering decisions

Eh, depends upon the neighborhood. If I heard people honking endlessly from my condo I'd be going out the door looking for the person that needed a foot up their ass.

Not all city streets are very busy. There is some level of always noise (I got planes and helicopters and sirens to mention a few) but it's not cars aggressively honking at each other 24/7...nobody can sleep through that.