The last couple of months has been amazing for driverless car junkies/nerds (myself included). There have been non-stop press releases around the innovations, government funding, and new partners. Some highlights:
- The U.S. Department of Transportation is proposing to spend $4 billion to encourage driverless cars (link)
- GM and Lyft are partnering (link) and bringing a fleet of cabs to Austin (link)
- GM is using cameras on customers’ cars to build driverless car maps (link)
- The National League of Cities published a study showing that only 6% of cities are preparing for driverless cars (link)
- 18 carmakers agreed to share safety data (link)
And the list goes on.
I don’t know about the rest of the driverless car junkies/nerds, but I’m finding that these evolving news stories are leaving me with more questions than answers. I’m constantly thinking about the following “driverless car battles”:
- Private ownership vs shared mobility?
- Ridesharing vs single-occupancy vehicles?
- Public transit vs private mobility options?
- Google vs Apple vs Tesla vs all of the automakers?
- Connected vs fully automated?
- Electric vs gasoline power?
- Mass congestion vs great mobility?
- Urban sprawl vs dense, well-planned cities?
I could go on! Anything else to add to this list?
