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The technology of autonomous vehicles (AVs) is progressing rapidly, but have we really thought through how they'll work in reality?
In its report on AVs in Australia, Austroads (the association of Australasian road transport and traffic agencies) paints both positive and negative scenarios for the future.
The positive scenario suggests that AVs could reduce car ownership and use thanks to a fleet of shared and connected AVs. These AVs would roam the city, filling in gaps in the timetables and fixed routes of a superior and cheaper public transport network.
But for this scenario to work, AVs must be shared and not privately owned, and they must complement a robust public transport system that accommodates most trips. These mechanisms are either weak or nonexistent in most Australian cities, suggesting it's unlikely the arrival of AVs will reduce our dependence on private cars.
Shared autonomous cars should be as much fun as riding in the back of a New York cab.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Thursday December 06 2018, @01:52PM (1 child)
The report seem somewhat limited, based on the abstract, since they have limited it to mainly look at the issues of infrastructure. One would think one of the main benefits would be better air quality (assuming the automated vehicles are not gas driven) and road safety, which are not infrastructure issues.
If "everyone" still needs a car and cars need to be on a road one would assume there really won't be any differences compared to now. That is unless apparently we start to ride-share, carpool or whatever. It's nice in theory and such, there are carpools here and now -- turns out they are really expensive to be a part of (think of it like time-sharing a condo, but instead it's a car -- you are just better off renting a car when needed or use public transportation). Are gas stations just going to disappear and get replaced by loading stations? No real benefits there then as far as infrastructure needs go since they are just going to change from one thing to another.
There are probably other societal issues that will have a larger impact, such as "do we all have to go to work everyday at about the same time", which is the current recipe for gridlock. Anyhow I would assume the largest benefits with autonomous (selfdriving) cars would be other factors beyond the infrastructure. Cause if everyone still has to be on the road all the time, or at about the same times then infrastructure needs probably isn't going to change all that much.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by darkfeline on Thursday December 06 2018, @10:50PM
If we assume that traffic load stays the same, but all of the drivers are now competent and don't crash, change lanes violently, tailgate, etc., that alone would yield a significant improvement.
Every week there's a wreck along my daily route, and I get tailgated constantly. I know some fellow assholes are going to chime in "You must be driving too slow". No, I don't need to do 70 MPH in a 55 MPH zone in the slowest lane, thank you very much. In fact, that causes a lot of traffic problems. If everyone went 60 instead, traffic jams would magically disappear in many cases.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qy6MrDcukk [youtube.com]
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