The perils of driverless cars

No, driverless cars won't solve traffic problems. They could, in fact, make them worse as this elegant video explains(10 minutes..the last minute is an ad). The real solution is to intensify cities so that much more is within walking distance and we do without much of the highway and parking lots that now dominate our landscapes.

But the politicians are, in the main, not listening because they want to be elected short term. Long-term, counter-intuitive solutions rarely figure.

So instead we are seeing big investment into driverless cars that will, like wider roads only be a short term relief. If you are skeptical that such a tech will actually happen, here is a list of 48 major corporations who are betting it will.

With share vehicles, here is what they are promising  

 

Okay, if you have got that, how close are we to getting actual driverless vehicles roaming the streets? The bad publicity from two driveless car deaths earlier this year have slowed the rush but didn't stop it.

One of the pioneers, WayMo, has the rubber hitting the road 
Originally a Google "moonshot" project, the company has been working way longer than anyone else on the solution.
Now it is being very tentative and low-profile with an employee "monitoring" from the driver's seat each of the the test cabs in Phoenix, Arizona.
The price set by Waymo is just as tentative, being about the same as competing share services Uber and Lyft, driven by real people.
On the upside, if the acceptance hurdle is cleared and the cars do lose their "monitors", Waymo says the price of rides will drop dramatically.

Here is a nice video summary by the Verge that gives you a look at the cabs in action.

Nice, but just remember, if you choose to travel this way motion sickness doesn't magically disappear. if you decide to read, watch a movie or sit backwards to face others while talking in the vehicle expect nausea just like in a normal car.