I know that the geography of North America and the timing of industrialization basically made this a pipe dream…
Yet, trying to create near-peer artificial human driving intelligence—just so cities can continue to be designed around horseless carriages, minivans, and truck nuts—well, that may not have been the best solution to the problem.
Ideally, autonomous driving would be for “the edge” of a transportation network. Like a house on a dirt road, or a camping site, or the home of a misguided friend who moved to south Gilbert, AZ ;)
You shouldn’t need to be watching for basketballs and red lights on interstate highways. Everyone is going the same direction for long distances between transfers. Cars are often individualism, which I’m certainly not against.
The arrogance of “driving driverless should be easy” probably comes from a lot of people seeing driving as a part of their basic humanity. The car is nearly a cyborg extension of their mobility and physical power.
Me? I just wanna get to the concert. Take the humans out of the equation where it makes sense. I’d rather go with light rail; not my friend who offered to drive, then road rages over a merge, then follows some minivan psychopathically for a few minutes (true stories).
We shot ourselves in the foot because mass transportation in America has failed to impress us as much as a Jaguar XK or Jeep KJ, or whatever your Soul Car is.