Rudderless

Driverless cars will potentially reduce accidents by controlling traffic flow.

Driverless cars will reduce travel stress for many.

If the preceding two statements are true, then a future with driverless cars may seem appealing.  I would certainly like to see no accidents and relaxed travel. But I have a concern.  Driving is one of the few remaining activities in which people have to consciously coordinate with others in order to avoid harm.  This social coordination is achieved through a system of laws and rules of the road, but also through moment to moment decisions and courtesies that are impossible to legislate.  It differs from pedestrian behaviour because the stakes are so high.

Removing this activity leaves us with very few requirements to pay attention to our complex social world.  One more piece of life will become automated and our sense of connectedness to others, and our sense of responsibility to society will have suffered one more loss.

What I would like to see is a full scale green revolution in driving and transportation more generally.  Legislation and other social coordination in order to cause us to reduce the costs to future generations imposed by a degraded planet.  As a part of that I suspect that the power of cars to accelerate, and maximum speeds achievable, should all be reduced.