Well, here are some ways robotaxis *could* contribute to solving urban mobility:
One limiting factor of cars? Congestion. Robot cars, communicating with each other, don’t need the safe headways for slow human reaction times, and can—potentially—co-ordinate themselves around gridlock.
Trying to travel around on a bicycle? Dumb meatbag drivers may run into you; will robots be better at that? We certainly *hope* so. Same for walking. Also...
Parking space! Robotaxis don’t have to park right next to the destination—so robotaxis are at least somewhat compatible with high density development, more so than private cars
If single-occupant cars aren’t providing adequate density, there’s nothing to stop the use of adequate-sized buses—something between the size of a minibus and a transit bus—at least out of downtown to “railheads” (the “last mile” concept alluded to).
How feasible is any of this? Hard to tell, too many hypotheticals. The “radical urbanist” article is only interested in scenarios in which robotaxis are completely ineffective (don’t work, too expensive) or completely disastrous (cause ultimate gridlock, which no government is capable of doing anything about).
Well, here are some ways robotaxis *could* contribute to solving urban mobility:
One limiting factor of cars? Congestion. Robot cars, communicating with each other, don’t need the safe headways for slow human reaction times, and can—potentially—co-ordinate themselves around gridlock.
Trying to travel around on a bicycle? Dumb meatbag drivers may run into you; will robots be better at that? We certainly *hope* so. Same for walking. Also...
Parking space! Robotaxis don’t have to park right next to the destination—so robotaxis are at least somewhat compatible with high density development, more so than private cars
If single-occupant cars aren’t providing adequate density, there’s nothing to stop the use of adequate-sized buses—something between the size of a minibus and a transit bus—at least out of downtown to “railheads” (the “last mile” concept alluded to).
How feasible is any of this? Hard to tell, too many hypotheticals. The “radical urbanist” article is only interested in scenarios in which robotaxis are completely ineffective (don’t work, too expensive) or completely disastrous (cause ultimate gridlock, which no government is capable of doing anything about).