I saw an article by BBC on autonomous taxis.
Why you have (probably) already bought your last car
I wrote on Twitter in response:
Allan 알렌 @allansplace 17 seconds ago
How about RV drivers who take their rigs camping? Driving 14 hours from Calgary to Vancouver on mountain highways, dead of winter, 3 feet of snow? How about family trips, stopping at a roadside historic information sign? Not all travel is commute. This utopia does not compute.
I pile camping crap into my car and head off into the hills. How would that work with an all-electric, self-driving car? I go off-road in my little Kia, climbing up a mud and gravel hill on a logging road for excitement. The Kia performs well. Could an autonomous electric taxi replace my car? Don’t think so. I’m accident free since 1987, driving in large cities, on long highways, through blizzard conditions, daytime and at night. Long time. Loooong time. No way in hell an autonomous car will take my license away.
Now if you’re talking about a car that can drive by itself, with the driver taking over at any point he / she wishes to, I’d be into that. Sure, why not? But, in a city the size of Lethbridge, I really can’t see how it could be useful. Downtown Seoul? Sure.
later
Just curious – Google (advocates of self-driving cars) collects a lot of data from lots of people, like our travel habits. Does it know how much travel I do that isn’t part of my daily work commute?