A better solution is right in front of us.
Editor’s note: This article is from “Future Car Daily” (WeChat public ID: auto-time), author: compile future car group.
Editor’s note: Everyone is optimistic about the future promised by unmanned vehicles: smoother traffic, fewer accidents and a greener environment. However, the development of unmanned vehicle technology is frustrating: the cost is high, the breakthrough encounters bottlenecks, and the L5 level is nowhere in sight. On the Medium, Allison Gauss proposed another solution that would solve the same problem and be more realistic, more comprehensive, and more comprehensive: to develop the public transport system. The original title is: Self-Driving Cars Won’t Save Us
When you see Musk’s LiDAR, the most powerful laser scanning technology that autopilot cars rely on, it’s easy to think of what Trump has said.
The CEO of Tesla said in an investor event in April: “Anyone who relies on LiDAR is destined to fail. This is certain. Expensive sensors are not necessary. It’s like having a lot of fees. The appendix of money… you will understand.”
LiDAR is an acronym for light detection and ranging, a beam sensor that combines a camera and radar to help autonomous vehicles “see” the surroundings and avoid collisions. Almost all of Tesla’s competitors believe that LiDAR is a necessary pillar of unmanned driving. However, Musk claimed that the development of cameras with artificial intelligence would make LIDAR unnecessary. As Verge’s Andrew J. Hawkins pointed out in this spring’s event, Musk has a long history of spamming the technology. He believes that this technology is “squatting.” But usually, the most practical solution is that – a bit boring.
The driverless car has been the pinnacle of technical ambition for decades. However, even if it is possible, flooding the road with an unmanned vehicle will not solve our most urgent traffic problems. Safer, greener drones can reduce traffic congestion, and the dream of making a nap is still:A dream. For transportation, the best solution is still to prioritize accessibility and efficiency, rather than personalized luxury.
Autopilot technology continues to receive billions of dollars in grants and free publicity for the simple reason: because the idea is cool. Still, even the most fashionable CEOs and investors know that to sell products, they need more than just a social cache.
Supporters of driverless technology say that in theory, cars use sensors and algorithms to eliminate most of the human error that causes collisions. Vehicles will communicate with each other and with traffic patterns to select fewer routes that can lead to congestion. Reducing traffic should reduce driving time and emissions. And letting algorithms (rather than clumsy humans) control acceleration and braking can also reduce fuel consumption.
But the problem is that even the owners of the high-profile Tesla can’t loosen their feet. The most maddening thing is that we may have to have a lot of years with a completely self-driving car.
Muske recently made a very bold statement, claiming that Tesla will have 1 million “5th-level” cars on the road by the end of 2020 – the so-called L5-class cars mean that they are not needed under any circumstances. A fully automated vehicle that anyone intervenes. This kind of prediction will almost certainly prove to be incorrect.
The mathematician Hannah Fry in the book “Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms” believes that Tesla’s autonomous driving ability is closer to 2 in 2018. level. She writes: “This ability is now like a good cruise control. It will turn and brake at high speed, but the driver must wake up and watch around and be ready to get involved.” It’s like a driver’s coaching. Teacher – Children behind the wheel may make a 360-degree turn when they are wandering around the street. When they panic, you’d better get ready to take over.
Some experts question whether automatic driving is possible. As Hawkins explained, most people in this industry are working to improve their ability to be one level lower than autonomous driving. One day we may see cars that don’t require us to intervene, but at certain times and in specific situations, these cars may be restricted to certain neighborhoods. But for most people, even the best autonomous driving technology available today is out of reach.
The most maddening thing is that we may have to have a lot of years with a completely self-driving car.
The cheapest Tesla is Model 3, which says the price after “potential savings” is $29,360. In fact, the cost is much higher than this. The “potential savings” include the tax credit for electric vehicles and the estimated savings on gasoline. But TThe current benchmark price listed on the esla website is $39,900. Jeff Perez of the Motor1 website digs up for more pricing details, and he finds that other additions, from shipping to car color and “automatic driving ability”, cost thousands of dollars.
High prices make the future of unmanned driving even more difficult to achieve. But the good news is that we can reduce traffic users, emissions and car accidents in another way. You can even read a book or brush Instagram during this process.
By expanding the public transportation, we can achieve what the driverless car is supposed to do in a more scalable and convenient way.
We can allow commuters to use a safer form of transportation that they have, to allow a large number of people to leave the road with only one vehicle, rather than to manufacture vehicles that are more efficient, have less traffic and emit less.
Researcher Todd Litman found that the risk of death on commuter rail, subway and bus was significantly lower than driving. Another study by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Lund University also pointed out that life without a car is the most effective action that one can take to mitigate the effects of climate change (except for young children).
If this is the case, why are there no more US cities investing and expanding public transportation?
First of all, the public transport system needs to make major changes to marketing. The impression left by public transport is that it is poorly maintained, inefficient, and in some places, it is considered to be something used by the lower economic class. This comparison may not be accurate enough, but for many people, the bus and the cool new Tesla are just two opposites. Some people complain that construction and implementation are costly, mainly because the United States has failed to produce affordable subways and high-speed trains.
By expanding the public transportation, we can achieve what the driverless car is supposed to do in a more scalable and convenient way.
We don’t have to be like this. As Alon Levy wrote in CityLab, like the success stories in Europe, subway light rails that reduce traffic congestion, fatalities and carbon emissions can be built in an affordable way. The first thing American cities need is to prioritize public transportation.
Automatically driving a car is only a piecemeal solution to traffic problems. If we really want to reduce accidental deaths, traffic congestion and harmful emissions, expanding public transport is a broader and more comprehensive solution.
Someone will be willing to pay for the latest technology that Musk and its competitors come up with, but most of us will be better if we are willing to vote for a ubiquitous public transport system. If the train is cool enough, MuskYou can even launch a train into space. Who knows?
Translator: boxi.