[tyingq]

"Imagine a world where police no longer pull you over for speeding, running red lights, or other traffic infractions"

That's an interesting point I hadn't heard before. Are there stats for what kind of revenue various little cities, counties, etc, in the US are generating with speed traps, red light cameras, and similar tactics? Those tactics obviously lose to self driving cars.

[shaki-dora]

No, it’s just the most boring conspiracy theory ever.

There are a few hamlets out west where the local sheriff and justice-of-peace got into the business of modern highway robbery, extracting fines from unsuspecting travelers. For other cities, fines aren’t nearly as significant as people love to think.

Case in point: fines make up $140 million of LA’s $9 billion budget. That’s 1.5%.

That’s not even factoring all the positive changes, financially and otherwise, cities will see from autonomy: parking can happen off-site, freeing up two lanes on a typical street for pedestrians, bikes, or public transport. Smart algorithms can make far more efficient use of existing infrastructure, reducing the need for construction and maintenance. Fewer accidents means less need for emergency response...

[tyingq]

Stats from a small town with a large highway would be more convincing.

Like..."Palmer wrote 1,080 speeding and warning tickets last month alone, according to city administrator Doug Young. The city has just 2,023 residents". (https://www.theblaze.com/news/2015/06/04/in-a-few-small-texa...)

[bittermang]

That's an interesting point I hadn't heard before.

Exactly.

Because why would they? Why would we even need speed limits, if the computer it in control and proven safe at X speed, because it has a Y reaction time vs a human's Z reaction time.

[YeGoblynQueenne]

Well, reaction time is not all you need to drive safely. You also -and in fact, first- need to be able to generate the right reactions. Otherwise, you'll just end up reacting in the wrong way very quickly. And causing accidents very quickly.

In fact, if you have an autonomous vehicle with the wrong reactions and very short reaction times, it will pose a much greater risk to agents with slower but safer reactions (like humans, or just safer auto-cars) who won't be able to get out of its way fast enough.

[planteen]

One good reason is speed limits lead to noise control.

[yur83838]

people still need to cross roads

[jhall1468]

Waymo's car stops at crosswalks when people are on waiting.

[GarrisonPrime]

Another problem, then:

If people see a vehicle has stopped for them to cross, they oftenbassume it's safe for them to cross. Unfortunately they are then less attentive to see if other lanes are following suit.

Pedestrians are constantly being hit in my "friendly" town where the culture has people stop for pedestrians even if the vehicle has right of way. But then the stopped vehicle blocks the view of another car in a neighboring lane, which keeps on coming.

[jhall1468]

Not a problem. That's not even a niche case and would be easy to train. The simple examples you're coming up with are the 99% situations that are readily trainable and have been. Literally the only thing stopping Waymo from production is the 1%... the situations that are so niche and unique that the Waymo AI hasn't seen them.

[bluntfang]

autonomous vehicles will create revenue holes and mass unemployment. It is a scary proposition for non-tech futurists.