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Comment by m0nty | Hacker News Reader

> Actually there are several other "facts" that author states that I disagree with

Well, you could perhaps do as the article does, and state what your arguments are, and put some facts and figures to them. In particular, if you're going to use scare quotes on a word like "facts", you really need to say why those "facts" are, in your opinion, false. So far, you've told us you disagree but not made any effort to say why.

Peter Newman's bio is here: https://theconversation.com/profiles/peter-newman-1858

I'm not trying to make an argument from authority, but that looks to me like someone who knows his subject and probably isn't in the habit of shaking a "magic 8-ball". You've just made a series of assertions with nothing to back them up.

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Unfortunately this seem to have become par for the course on HN. Disagree, but don't say why so no one can counteract your arguments. Anyone who looks at self-driving cars from an engineering perspective know that there are still many challenges.

Congestion is more a factor of tolerance than technology. As demand and tolerance for long commutes go up we might actually see less efficiency. [0]

It's still hard to match the human mind, especially without significant overhead. [1]

Cars are a compromise and aren't as efficient as pods or as fast as trains. [2]

Current electric vehicle technology can only drive you for about an hour at relativly slow train speed, at which point you'll have to charge for about as long. [3]

etc.

The car really is the weakest link in the "self-driving car". Which isn't unexpected because it's engineered around the driver.

[0] http://journalistsresource.org/studies/environment/transport...

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp3ik5f3-2c

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ULTra_(rapid_transit)

[3] http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/203/modelsrange...

> Anyone who looks at self-driving cars from an engineering perspective know that there are still many challenges.

I'm not an engineer but (having started as an optimist about autonomous vehicles) I detect the whiff of vapor-ware about them. It seems everyone's saying how amazing they are (which is true if they work) but nobody has yet made them work, at least as a consumer option.

Shame more people don't quote references as you have. Makes for a more interesting conversation and gives an opportunity to modify a viewpoint or two.

And, if one looks at it from an engineering perspective, even self-driving cars don’t improve the passenger per m² per hour ratio of cars.

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