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Comment by rrhyne | Hacker News Reader

IMO, making it easier to drive will increase the number of people who commute. There isn’t enough space to add extra lanes to facilitate the increase in traffic these vehicles will cause. I think we should be working on other transportation problems.

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Agree 100%. Making driving easier and more convenient isn’t going to solve our transit problems, it’s going to make them worse. Just look at what is happening with ridesharing services - people choosing them over public transit because they make it a little easier to get from point A to point B. The same thing will happen with autonomous vehicles. I agree that there are benefits for the last mile of the suburbs and countryside, but not in areas that could be better served by mass transit and an ounce or two of tolerating the inconvenience.

Some people will claim that the fact that autonomous vehicles can drive closely to one another will reduce congestion. Yeah, if they are the only cars on the road. I don’t see a future anytime soon in which 100% of our population (or even 80%) will be so enamored with autonomous vehicles that they’ll be wanting or willing to give up driving and car ownership.

This isn't really true. For example, I'm going to see a show in SF and taking the Caltrain only because I can Lyft the remaining distance to the venue. Otherwise I would be driving the whole way.

That's probably what was meant by "last mile":

>"...I agree that there are benefits for the last mile of the >suburbs and countryside, ..."

A good solution would be great public transportation and ride sharing working together. It doesn't have to be black or white.

I don't agree. Self-driving cars can solve the "last-mile" problem and I am convinced that they are actually the most important tool for building the 21. century public-transportation.

At least in Europe, public transportation is usually pretty good already and there is a lot of capacity left unused because while trains are going relatively deep into the suburbs and countryside, they only serve those living next to it. Self-driving cars could unlock this potential.

Edit: If you look at for example Munich, I don't think self-driving cars will be a challenge to the public transportation inside the city. But they can help getting completely rid of your own car (or alleviate the desire to buy one).

Cheaper, more efficient and better "last mile" solutions: Bicycle share in protected bike lanes, a pleasant walk.

Generally yes, but you still need a solution for the cases not covered by those, like my 84-year-old neighbor who has kidney dialysis twice a week, and who can't really walk more than a few meters anymore.

The trick is to cover every case but nudge people to take the less demanding option if they can. Easier said than done, though.

I like this point. My concern is people using autonomous vehicles to commute.

At the same time, self driving cars could use the roads more efficiently (once they make up most traffic).

I think you're generally right though. I know if I had a self driving car, I'd move further out of the city. If it adds to my commute time, I won't care if I can do other things while I commute (work, read, write, sleep, etc...).

At the same time, self driving cars could use the roads more efficiently (once they make up most traffic).

That last step is quite a doozy though.

They could do it sooner with dedicated lanes that run faster / more efficient, just like HOV lanes today.

self driving and electrification will explode the number of vehicles on roads but with proper management the increase in mobility would be good for society and especially those who cannot drive or reach other forms of transportation.

I do question the idea of trying to use autonomous cars in cities first when limited access roads are a far better choice for early uses of the technology. Giving new purpose to HOV and Express lanes would be far simpler to develop for and easier for governments to accommodate. The idea of entering an limited access road or any road with a protected lane and being able to let the car do the driving has many advantages to both road use and over all trip times plus the previously mentioned ease of implementation

and I suspect that fully autonomous electric cars might just orbit the city if parking/charging spaces are not avaible.

When I worked for an Arab Company in London one of the messenger "boys" jobs was to when a traffic warden was spotted to drive the senior directors cars (seriously stepped on mercs and bmw's with the after market armour packages ) around the block few times and park it back outside the office :-)

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