Self Driving Cars - A Technology For a Problem That Will Cease To Exist.

There has been a lot of hype about self driving cars. So much hype that it makes one notice... what are they pushing for? Because they are flat out ignoring technological advances that are much more important. Be leery of this push.

Self Driving Cars, to many, appear to be a god-send.
These people wish they were here right now, so that they could sleep, eat, apply make-up, browse the internet... on their boring and often stressful way to work. And, if things remained as they are, these AIs on wheels would be just the solution.

But, things are not remaining as they are.

The entire infrastructure of suburbia has been built around the automobile.
The parking lots, the large roads, the buildings set way back from the road.
Huge buildings, far apart. Malls. Strip malls. Fast food restaurants.
All built the way they are because of the automobile.

What if i told you that the automobile's days are numbered?

The paradigm of a self-driving car exists based on a few underlying reasons

• People must commute to work
• People live all spread out, but not too spread out, in suburbs.
• There are maintained roads everywhere.

But all of these reasons are changing.

• Factory automation is removing jobs.
• Working from home is removing commutes.
• Roads are not being maintained.
• The price of oil is making commuting more and more expensive.
• Cars, which used to be liberating / freeing, are now confining / detrimental.
• People are moving out of the (life sucking) suburbs.

So, the reasons for which the self-driving car is being built around are crumbling. And by my estimation, the self-driving car will get to the point of acceptance, just as the road infrastructure crumbles and no one commutes to work anymore.

The iron-triangle. car-job-house.

You have to have a house to live in.
You have to have a job to afford the house.
You have to have a car to get to the job.

If you lose any one of these three, if you fall below the stall-speed, your entire life crashes.

More and more people are noticing this. And reshaping their lives where they can walk to work/stores. Or they downsize their homes so they can pay them off completely, thus reducing the amount of income they need. Or they are going completely off the grid.

Downtown areas of stores with housing above them is making a come back. Walk or bike everywhere is in the design.

Rural farms are making a come back as people find they can work from anywhere, so why not be somewhere where they can have a garden and live as cheaply as possible?

The entire structure that created suburbs is going away. And thus, it is only a matter of time before the urban blight is abandoned. And with that, the need for self driving cars collapses too.

All images in this post are my own original creations.