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Apart from the slow death from lung damage and despair.

Maybe it’s just here and the rest of the UK isn’t affected. Driving standards are so low as to be nonexistent.

I regularly drive up from around Newry and the drop in driving standard once you reach Belfast (pretty much pinpointed to the M1 slip-road by Makro/Blacks Rd.) is ridiculous. Another hotspot of people driving 40mph on the motorway.

all driving is bad

self-driving electric cars will reduce the cost circulating a fleet of taxis around cities way down. it's going to be a disaster for congestion imo.

That very much depends on what we thing of as a taxi. Right now, they're all the same size - enough for 6 people and some luggage.

Most people are one / maybe two trying to get to a meeting or back home from a night out.

Truly autonomous vehicles could be any size / shape and the majority could be much smaller pods which would reduce congestion and would also be easier to store (park) when not called. Algorithms to reduce the number needed based on demand should also help.

Also, I would imagine a large portion of congestion in large cities is user errors - not moving off quickly from lights, accordion effect of braking in traffic, morons stopping in the wrong place, illegal u-turns etc etc etc. Remove the human element and that all goes away.

This is all best case scenario but removing humans from the mix almost always makes things better.

I know and it just grinds my gears. That anti corruption bill is supposed to sort the ultra lax companies house registration which makes it super easy to commit fraud.

Ultimately they just need to set up some easy 5 minute hate stuff like "woke" "laziness" "those people near you that aren't poor and own a house even though they have to scrape by" "benefit frauds near you!" and voila, votes.

But it seems people cannot imagine billions and billions (fair)... but it's easy to look down on a group of people so...it is strangely easy enough to get away with.

He seems very Confident

That bit of road is lethal for people doing 40 in the middle lane and me in the tiny shitty car being unable to go around cos of big motor cars doing 85 on the outside lane...

You've really drunk the kool-aid, haven't you?

Autonomous vehicles will be a disaster for cities, and city authorities should prioritise active travel and public transport primarily, as these are by far the most efficient ways to move people around.

He was confident before his TV interview and look where that's got him.

His arrogance will be his undoing fortunately.

Sorry my response didn't include my entire transport policy manifesto.

Of course reducing the number of people using vehicles in cities is the top priority but anyone who thinks that either active travel or public transport will entirely replace travel by personal or hired private transport is nuts. Especially in old cities like London with irregular infrastructure.

Surely you can see that removing the human element from inner city personal transport is a positive?

Maybe it can all be wonderfully integrated, with people jumping in a hire robot for the first 5 miles and switching to a hire bike for the last 2, no longer clinging to the need to own a 4x4 when they can't drive it into town anymore and park it on the pavement. 2 free robot mile credits for every mile cycled.

Just banning on street parking and moving robo-taxis to warehouses outside of city centres would make a monumental difference to most cities.

Bad driving here is at an epidemic stage. I drive 16 miles to work and I almost always have someone trying to write me off on every journey. It is getting so bad that I’m very seriously considering purchasing a camera for the car. My ten journeys per week could keep the police very busy!

Remove the human element and that all goes away.

The trouble is that human element includes cyclists and pedestrians. We'll probably see another push for jaywalking laws at some point and cyclists having to use cycle lanes, wear sensors or some other stupid thing.

Surely you can see that removing the human element from inner city personal transport is a positive?

As a pedestrian and cyclist, no, I absolutely don't.

To be clear, I meant vehicular transport - car, taxi, bus

You would rather have humans operating those?

I would, yes. I don't see L5 automation anytime in the next ten years and I'm unconvinced it would ever work in a complex environment like a European city. I'd rather humans operated vehicles and that the laws of the road were applied consistently, i.e. if you speed, you're fined.

also limit the use of (non-essential) vehicles in city centres (or enact measures which discourage their use)

Yeah, in order for autonomous vehicles to work, further restrictions on pedestrians movements will have to be imposed. Otherwise people will just figure out that in order to cross the street they just need to step into the road and traffic will come to a halt (having being programmed to drive at appropriate speed and to stop for peds).
The vehicular companies will lobby officials to make it mandatory to only cross and controlled points.

Yeh I think the sensors on pedestrians and cyclists is being lobbied for but who knows what happens when some yoof on a escooter or kid on bike without a sensor gets hit, guess they just get blamed for being non-compliant

speed does not kill

I understand what you’re saying but don’t really get it when people try and stress this point…

How often do people drive at a speed that is appropriate considering possible hazards and their surroundings?

At what point does driving too fast become bad driving?

Seeing as you won’t eradicate bad driving shouldnt you scrub and monitor peoples speeds? In built up areas at least where you are sharing the space with other modes.

Technology really cannot cope with all the ways people make mistakes / are actively trying to get themselves killed.

Driving styles vary wildly by area / country as well. Belfast city centre? Suicidal pedestrians. The M2? People flying over 4 lanes not looking. Sydenham bypass/w
Westlink? Shite road design on slip roads and people cutting corners.

You'd need some ultra super model ...or get rid of all human drivers so everyone sticks to agreed rules. But then so owns all that? Not the government...

Otherwise people will just figure out that in order to cross the street they just need to step into the road and traffic will come to a halt

Idk. That's what generally happens now in cities and people don't do it all the time.