alt Hacker NewsFor a fraction of the cost of developing self-driving cars we could have self-driving trains/trams/subways and most likely minibuses as part of public transportation networks.
And self-driving minibuses would basically provide 95% of the benefits of self-driving buses. They could offer 24/7 frequent service with huge coverage, we already have dedicated bus lanes in many places (and we could scale dedicated bus lanes much faster than dedicated self-driving car lanes), etc.
Now, I understand that in many places (especially the US) this is infeasible because public anything = communism.
Folks in the US are happy to spend tax dollars on roads, it's just that mass transit spending is considered communism.
To be fair to the anti-train crowd, we've been led so far down this disastrous path of car-led sprawl that the hope of even building feasible buses that can reach into the byzantine suburbs is unlikely.
So, maybe our best hope is self-driving EVs? At least in our lifetimes.