Perspectives
3 total works
Driverless cars are the future - just around the corner. That is what the tech giants, the auto industry and even the government want us to think. But closer inspection reveals that we are much further from that driverless utopia than we are led to believe by newspaper headlines and by press releases from firms with vested interests. Christian Wolmar argues that autonomous cars are the wrong solution to the wrong problem. Even if the many technical difficulties that stand in the way of achieving a driverless future can be surmounted, autonomous cars are not the best way to address the problems of congestion and pollution caused by our long obsession with the private car. This entertaining polemic sets out the many technical, legal and moral problems that obstruct the path to a driverless future, and debunks many of the myths around that future's purported benefits.
We all use some form of transport almost every day of our lives. It is one of the most important factors in determining the economic wellbeing of a town or city. And it is also one of the major sources of environmental damage to our planet. Yet, Britain has never had a coherent transport policy. Transport ministers are regarded as insignificant compared with their colleagues in other ministries. Successive governments have failed to get to grips with the twin challenge of getting people around cheaply and safely while safeguarding the environment. In this entertaining polemic, Christian Wolmar, a former national newspaper journalist who has written about transport for over two decades, explains why politicians have never got to grips with the issue, sets out the problems this has caused and points to a few rational solutions.
Driverless cars are the future - just around the corner. That is what the tech giants, the auto industry and even the government want us to think. But closer inspection reveals that we are much further from that driverless utopia than we are led to believe by newspaper headlines and by the hype from firms with vested interests. In a post-Covid-19 economic environment motor manufacturers now face bigger problems. Christian Wolmar argues that autonomous cars are the wrong solution to the wrong problem. Even if the many technical difficulties that stand in the way of achieving a driverless future can be surmounted, autonomous cars are not the best way to address the problems of congestion and pollution caused by our long obsession with the private car. This entertaining polemic sets out the many technical, legal and moral problems that obstruct the path to a driverless future, and debunks many of the myths around that future's purported benefits.