Conversation

After a brutal 2023, the vibes around #self-#driving #cars are improving.

#Cruise, the industry leader whose vehicle was involved in a #horrific San Francisco #crash last fall, has #rebooted under new management,

while rival #Waymo is #expanding to serve broader swaths of the Bay Area and Los Angeles
and #Tesla is promising a new #robotaxi service.

Although Americans say they remain #wary of autonomous driving,
boosters insist there is nothing to fear.
In fact, they foresee roads full of self-driving cars that are both #safer and #cleaner than the status quo,
a tantalizing prospect in a country where transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and residents are several times more likely to die in a crash than those living in other rich nations.

Enticing though they are, such arguments conceal a #logical #flaw.
As a classic 19th-century theory known as a #Jevons #paradox explains,
even if autonomous vehicles eventually work perfectly
— an enormous “if”
— they are🆘 likely to increase total #emissions and crash #deaths,
simply because ⭐️people will use them so much. 

https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/2/24232386/self-driving-car-jevons-paradox-robotaxi-waymo-cruise