One of the questions I get as a planning student interested in transportation is “what do you think of self-driving cars?”
I haven’t fully thought out whether I’m for/against self-driving cars. I think any over-reliance on the automobile is problematic, and I wonder at what point we’ll reach the tipping point of adoption where we’ll see wider benefits (e.g., less storage needed for traditional cars). I also think that the proponents of self-driving cars should consider equity and who exactly will reap the touted benefits.
One concern that I do have from a pedestrian safety perspective is how would pedestrians be able to discern whether or not a car was aware of their presence?
As Adele Peters describes in this Co.Exist article, you know the dance: 1) You approach a crosswalk. 2) An oncoming car seems to slow down (“wow, might they possibly be obeying the law and letting me cross?” you wonder). 3) Then the driver gives a wave or head nod and you know that it’s okay to walk in front of them and they’ve seen you. 4) The car comes to a full stop and you safely enter and exit the crosswalk. You might even give them a friendly wave in return (“thanks for not running me over, neighbor!”).
But with a self-driving car…how will this work? In a brilliant answer to this problem, Semcon, a Swedish engineering firm, has developed a “smiling car” concept to communicate with pedestrians. Watch below:
Isn’t that cool?
Semcon notes that at this point, it’s just a concept. There need to be international standards for how self-driving cars communicate with their surroundings.
Car Free in Carrboro 
September 27, 2016 at 9:41 am
get bullish on automated vehicles 🙂 http://theoatmeal.com/blog/google_self_driving_car
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September 27, 2016 at 12:44 pm
Great article! I like the admonishment at the end to focus on the big picture. Thanks for sharing.
The inevitable backlash against a self-driving car crash makes me cringe – it reminds me of the backlash against the Metro that’s happened over the last few years even though it’s so many times safer than driving, *and* misses the big picture that public transit is good for us in so many ways that driving is not.
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September 27, 2016 at 4:13 pm
Yup, their rarity makes them more “spectacular” for lack of a better term, while tens of thousands die in privately owned vehicles or are killed by them while walking/cycling. A very similar dynamic to how we react to “regular” deaths by gun violence vice terrorism. I can imagine municipalities being able to lease or own automated buses that will over time greatly reduce the cost per hour to operate helping defray potential equity issues and delivering serious mobility gains for the disabled.
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September 28, 2016 at 10:45 am
In addition, there are several other people concerns here:
– automated buses, like most automation, lose more jobs (which to me is not inherently a bad thing, just means that we as a society are making that decision and that ideally we would restructure income, national benefits, and jobs so that everyone can live)
– who is at fault in accidents? how does insurance work? etc.
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