Autonomous vehicles from "summary" of Radical Technologies by Adam Greenfield
The idea of autonomous vehicles is arguably the most visible and widely discussed among the emerging technologies that promise to transform the way we live, work, and move through the world. These vehicles have the potential to upend, in a profound and far-reaching way, the assumptions that underlie the organization of our cities and the patterns of our daily lives. If they live up to their promise, autonomous vehicles could radically reshape our built environment, freeing up vast amounts of space currently given over to the storage and movement of cars, reshaping the ways in which we conceive of and allocate our cities, and even fundamentally altering our relationships with one another and with the world around us. The vision behind autonomous vehicles is nothing less than a world in which the act of driving is rendered obsolete, and this vision is predicated upon the notion that human error and irrationality are the root causes of the vast majority of traffic accidents. If we can remove human beings from the equation, the thinking goes, we can remove these causes of accidents and build a world in which crashes are an anomaly rather than a daily occurrence. In this world, cars would be able to communicate with one another and with the infrastructure that surrounds them, making split-second decisions that would obviate the need for traffic lights, road signs, and even the road markings that currently govern our movements. The consequences of this shift would be profound, reaching into every corner of our lives and societies. Autonomous vehicles could potentially eliminate the need for car ownership altogether, as fleets of shared vehicles crisscross our cities, picking us up and dropping us off as needed. The economic implications of such a shift are staggering, as the entire automotive industry would be forced to adapt to a new reality in which the possession and operation of a private vehicle are no longer the norm. Furthermore, the environmental benefits of autonomous vehicles are significant, as the potential reduction in the number of cars on the road would translate into reduced emissions and a smaller overall carbon footprint. However, the vision of a world of autonomous vehicles is not without its challenges and potential pitfalls. Questions of liability, privacy, and security loom large, as the idea of handing over control of our movements to algorithms and sensors raises a host of ethical and legal concerns. Moreover, the transition to a world of autonomous vehicles would likely be uneven and fraught with conflict, as entrenched interests and deeply ingrained habits resist change and the inertia of the status quo exerts its powerful influence. In the end, the success or failure of
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