Self driving is another tech boondoogle to consolidate control and profits. There is 1) a large environmental cost to support the energy required to run the data centers that support "self driving" and 2) the cost of the always "needing to be upgraded" physical and technology systems. This removes local concern and control out of the communities served into the abyss of "absentee ownership" and 3) there are humans who can and have done these jobs very well. I agree, make the vehicles operate with clean energy, but leave the driving to a human in the car!!
The thing is, an increasing pile of data (notably from major insurer Swiss Re) clearly shows that Waymo self-driving cars are considerably safer than human drivers at scale. And automotive deaths are one of the biggest killers of healthy people in developed countries. Also, the IEA estimates that data centers will drive just 3% of electricity demand growth worldwide to 2030, with self-driving cars being just a tiny fraction of that. Really quite a lot of lives could be saved, at relatively low energy cost, by self-driving car adoption. Based on this, although there's obviously lots of potential for more specific improvements or damage based on the details of implementation, I personally find it ethically untenable to oppose self-driving cars in general.
We NEED to support this clean transportation!!
EV's. Yes!
Self driving. NO!
Self driving is another tech boondoogle to consolidate control and profits. There is 1) a large environmental cost to support the energy required to run the data centers that support "self driving" and 2) the cost of the always "needing to be upgraded" physical and technology systems. This removes local concern and control out of the communities served into the abyss of "absentee ownership" and 3) there are humans who can and have done these jobs very well. I agree, make the vehicles operate with clean energy, but leave the driving to a human in the car!!
I appreciate the work you do and would not suggest outsourcing it to AI. I appreciate this who drive for a living and would not outsource their jobs.
I also don’t think there is enough data about self driving vehicles to definitively state they will be safer or better.
Anyway. I do appreciate your work. We don’t have to agree on everything. ✌🏼
The thing is, an increasing pile of data (notably from major insurer Swiss Re) clearly shows that Waymo self-driving cars are considerably safer than human drivers at scale. And automotive deaths are one of the biggest killers of healthy people in developed countries. Also, the IEA estimates that data centers will drive just 3% of electricity demand growth worldwide to 2030, with self-driving cars being just a tiny fraction of that. Really quite a lot of lives could be saved, at relatively low energy cost, by self-driving car adoption. Based on this, although there's obviously lots of potential for more specific improvements or damage based on the details of implementation, I personally find it ethically untenable to oppose self-driving cars in general.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradtempleton/2024/12/19/waymo--swissre-show-impressive-new-safety-data/
https://waymo.com/blog/2024/12/new-swiss-re-study-waymo
Will these self drivibg EVs be safer than trains? Probably!