Autonomous cars are not the solution.
This is the most convoluted, expensive, and inefficient way to solve traffic problems. Adding more cars to the roads is what contributes to traffic in the first place, and all these promises of efficiency gains from automation haven't been proven with any of the prototypes so far.
Stop building cars! The only way to make more efficient transit is to reduce the number of variables, and Google is basically saying roads are too unpredictable to for autonomous cars. This is a problem that many countries have addressed by investing in TRAINS, which aren't as susceptible to weather.
Come on, people. The United States highway system was originally built to aid the defense of military bases in the event of an invasion, because Eisenhower was a paranoid mess after WWII. It took until 2001 for the next major attack on U.S. soil, and in that case the traffic jams in downtown NYC only exacerbated the situation.
There is no defensible excuse for failing to expand railways in the United States. And seeing Google asking for government assistance to help roll out the cars is just rubbing salt in the wound.
Fucking stupid.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
