Post by Steven Dale
Here we go, folks . . .
A variety of media outlets are reporting that Google’s self-driving cars have been approved for use in the state of Nevada. This is the first-ever license issued under new state-specific legislation permitting the testing of autonomous automobiles. Under the legislation, all vehicles will be required to have at least two passengers inside the vehicles at a time.
In case people think this is just some isolated, Google-centric, pie-in-the-sky fantasy it’s worth noting that major manufacturers like BMW and Audi are pursuing similar products and General Motors has gone on record as predicting such a market shift by as early as the year 2020.
Regular readers of The Gondola Project know that we:
- are pretty positive on the merits of the technology;
- once conceptually outlined a scenario by which the vehicles may be deployed throughout the developed world and;
- laid out ten strong reasons why the technology has the very real potential to destroy and/or radically alter the public transportation industry.
Does this mean Public Transit should start shopping around for a tombstone and casket? Not at all.
But it does mean Public Transit should start monitoring its cholesterol and getting to the gym a few times a week. You bet.
This fight is going to come sooner than expected and the Public Transit industry is completely ill-prepared for it. Public Transit advocates will point to developed transit cities like New York, Toronto and a revitalized Los Angeles as evidence to the contrary, but Google and the auto manufacturers would never be so stupid as to fight the battle in those cities.
Instead they’ll choose to fight the battle in largish American urban regions with high populations, extensive road infrastructure and little in the way of formalized public transit.
Places like Tampa Bay, San Diego and . . . Las Vegas, for example.
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Want more? Purchase Cable Car Confidential: The Essential Guide to Cable Cars, Urban Gondolas & Cable Propelled Transit and start learning about the world's fastest growing transportation technologies.
