Imagine a world in which nobody owns a personal vehicle, but your smartphone can summon one to your current location in 30 seconds.
This isn't an AI problem, but rather an infrastructer one. Once the AI is solved, this will be true almost immediately. Lyft has self-driving cars on the streets today. Uber is developing its own too.
That vehicle travels at 150 mph without your supervision,
Also not really an AI issue but an infrastructure (and physics) problem. There are limits to right-of-way systems, esp. as long as ANY humans still use roadways (old-school drivers, bikes, pedestrians), not to mention animals, and limits to traction force of tires on pavement.
There's also a huge efficiency drop after about 50-60mph which is due to aerodynamic realities. Design could help mitagate that (teardrop shaped cars), but AI can't.
and can deliver you to exactly where you need to go, not to a parking lot.
again, lyft / uber model already covers that
Oh, and it generates no carbon pollution, is totally silent,
technology, but not AI
comes to your door pre airconditioned or heated and configured to your preferences for movies or music or workspace,
I give it one year
and it can be a convertible or a moving truck depending on what you need today
:) like inspector gadgets car!
, and oh yes it's free to use.
part economic, part social - a study done in SF found that the local bus and light rail system (muni) was spending more on plainclothes transit police, repair and maintenance of cash and ticket machines, paper passes, and other costs of collecting and enforcing tolls than they were bringing in in fares. In other words, they would actually save money by making it free.
They never made it free though. Because !!!!!!! socialism!!!!!!!!
Imagine a world without parking lots and roads taking up 85% of the surface area of every downtown district. There are no more traffic lights, because those are archaic devices designed to let clumsy and slow humans negotiate intersections and computers can instead negotiate intersections at full speed while communicating with each other at the speed of light.
To me this is one of the most exciting parts, and I hope it happens in my lifetime, though I doubt it (because there will still be people with old fashioned cars for a long time), and it might not ever happen (how do bicycles navigate intersections? Or does literally every crosswalk in the nation get replaced with an overpass?
There are no more traffic jams or rush hours.
There would be dramatically less, and they wouldn't be as bad, but there are theoretical limits to how many cars can fit in one space at one time regardless of spacing and efficiency. In some places that limit is far past. We would have to also change the 9-5 standard work hours to be spread out evenly through the day (and maybe night) and also limit density of housing in urban areas and increase density of jobs in suburban areas.
Imagine a world in which every item is delivered to your door. Groceries, furniture, the daily mail, everything you buy from places like amazon. You don't ever need to go to the store again, unless you want to, because it's literally cheaper and faster to have everything delivered
Already mostly true! Even with delivery person salaries in the mix.
Though who knows if drones, or even 3D printing, will mature fast enough that robot cars never get those jobs?
Urban sprawl stops as less land is devoted to vehicles. Maintenance and mechanical issues are automatically diagnosed and repaired. There is no more road rage. Air quality improves. Drunk driving is non existent.
All you need is functional AI cars to become the standard, and it happens immideatly.
Innocent bystanders never die in a high speed police chase.
Even if human drivers are banned on public roads, hobbyists and racers would still own and maintain driveable cars, just like people still operate ham radio in the days of pocket computers. Occasionally a criminal would use one (because of course if they are in a networked car not only are they tracked every second, but police could remotely shut the car down and probably lock the doors and windows too). In order to catch / stop them, either special police "chase" AI would have to break some rules, or specially trained humans would take over.
Houses are redesigned with useful space or storage, instead of 3 car garages.
are there people who don't use the majority of garage space as storage!?
No one is exposed to gasoline fumes and nobody dumps motor oil down storm drains.
If a viable alternative energy source can be found, it could run cars driven by humans or AI. Gasoline can power cars run by humans or AI. Two separate issues.
The world is a better place with AI-controlled cars.
Agreed
Having them learn to drive is just the first baby step in that process.
Just defending AlanStache here - the only idea here which would require further refinement than simply learning to drive, avoiding accidents, and maximizing fuel mileage and travel time, is this: "There are no more traffic lights, because those are archaic devices designed to let clumsy and slow humans negotiate intersections and computers can instead negotiate intersections at full speed while communicating with each other at the speed of light."
but the transition to 100% driverless cars won't be a software issue, and once that transition has been made this is a fairly easy software problem to solve. I'm willing to bet we could do it in simulation form today. The actual driving is the most more technical challenge