[tkgally]

The city where I live—Yokohama—is very different in layout and density from the U.S. cities shown in that video. My neighborhood consists of many small plots of land, each with a different owner, separated by narrow streets. Unless it all gets wiped out by a tsunami, it’s never going to be rebuilt or have its layout changed—the landowners, many of whom live on their plots of land, would not stand for it.

My house is on the side of a steep hill. If in a few years—I am now 67–I become unable to walk up that hill, the only way I will be able to go anywhere is by calling a taxi. (No one in my family here knows how to drive.) Because of demographic trends, there is a shortage of human taxi drivers now and that shortage is likely to get worse. If I do become significantly less mobile five or ten years from now, I will be able to keep living in my home only if self-driving taxis are available.

So for me, in that very likely scenario, self-driving cars would make my life better. In Japan, there are millions of people in similar situations to mine.

[ssl-3]

You raise a very valid point, and it is a point that I do not see expressed very often.

While it is "easy" (and, I think, proper) to build new areas of cities to be walkable at some point in the future, the fact remains that today cities already exist as they stand and many of them may not be very walkable.

Even in already-walkable cities, it is important to consider the fact that all of us will eventually (hopefully!) live long enough to be considered old.

Looking forward to when I myself may become old, I think I'll still like to be able to get from A to B (and back) with a minimum of fuss and at a time of my choosing.

So it is my hope that by the time I reach that point, the world will have options for me and other old people that are better than old people have today.

And that's just me, some day.

But many people are old right now. They can benefit from things like self-driving cars right now, even in walkable cities.

[k99x55]

Cars are the most age discriminatory mode of transport of all: only 18+ and not too old can use it, and most disabled cannot use it. A

Bicycles work to all ages, all abilities.

In your case an ebike, trike (etrike?) or even mobility scooter might be a much lighter, cheaper, scalable option.

Hey why not a self-driving e-scooter? Why does it have to weight 2 tons in the first place?

Bike infrastructure is not only for bicycles: its for trikes, wheelchairs, mobility scooters, ebikes.

Watch:

* Who else benefits from the Dutch cycling infrastructure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSGx3HSjKDo

* 8 to 80, people of all ages cycling in the Netherlands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swqaAIkGtpA

[keiferski]

Have you ever interacted with a person over 70 that has mobility problems? Do you really expect an 80 year old to ride a scooter up a hill in the rain/snow? Getting into the car is difficult enough.

[tim333]

Dunno - check out old guy on mobility scooter video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2028301917230649

I'm a little like that myself - not as old at 60 but have switched to an ebike to still go fast.

[keiferski]

...that's a meme post of a guy in a mask. It's not an old guy.

[tim333]

Ah so it is! Still I was looking at getting a mobility scooter for my dad, about 85 at the time, though I don't think he would have pulled wheelies.

[k99x55]

I'm not saying to ban cars, just to de-prioritize them The use case for bicycle-and-similars is way more than the use case for cars specially urban places (also outside urban places)

[bamboozled]

Or move to a flatter area ?

[wlonkly]

I know what you're getting at here and I agree with you in spirit, but:

A lot of life-alteringly physically disabled people can drive cars. For example, lower-body paraplegics and double amputees can use hand throttle and brake controls. Single leg amputees can drive with a single leg, single arm amputees can drive with a knob on the steering wheel, and so on.

And bicycles do not work to all ages in the same way that cars don't. When you can't make safe decisions in traffic a bike can't work. Heck, a tumble off a bike could be the end of mobility for an elderly person.

(I wonder how many places expect mobility scooters to be on the sidewalk vs. allowed on a bike path?)

[numpad0]

Let's give that self driving e-scooter four seats, oops that's a kei car... They weigh almost exactly one ton too, before adding four adults and a suitcase or two.

Just take see how roads in Tokyo already look like[1]. Cars are already driven like factory floor robots[2]. Actually automating those hurts nothing.

1: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=factory+agv

2: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=driving+tokyo