A little while ago the press was full of a study which stated that humans would grow longer thumbs in 5,000 years time because of texting.
Let us take a step back away from that incredibly vertical study and think for a second.
Why do we text with out thumbs? How fast is technology moving? Is it more or less likely that we will use voice commands for everything within 50 years?
Voice technology may be maturing at a rapid rate, but cranial implant research is in its infancy. However even in infancy, cranial implants are beginning to make real strides.
In short, the scientist that made the "evolution" prediction of the our thumbs growing in 5,000 years ignored almost every single other datum point around the study.
OK long preamble over.
Now let us apply the logic to Autonomous vehicles. The stated premise was that autonomous vehicles would be hard to use. OK so who uses Uber? I took an Uber, recently, where the driver was both deaf and dumb. My Uber notification warned me that it might be difficult to communicate with the driver because he had severe communication difficulties. In fact Technology assured that the driver knew where I was going from and where I was going to before I ever stepped into the vehicle.
I thought that was a wonderful way to give a job to someone who could never have dreamed of being a cab driver any other way.
So, assuming our Autonomous cab is not the best communicator in the world, let's apply the same technology.
I want to do a journey, I'm alone, I don't have luggage. I pull out my NotUber app and request my autonomous vehicle to take me from A-B. The app assesses the journey, the size of vehicle I will need, the amount of power it will need, the power state of the available vehicles close to me and then allocates an autonomous vehicle.
My Cab turns up, it is exactly the size I need, it homes in on my phone and pulls to the kerb but won't open until my phone asks it to open. No lost cab's there. My Autonomous cab then takes me from my pick up point to my destination with the minimum fuss and hassle.
This morning I took a flight from Stansted airport. The flight was at 07:50 and I needed to be there around 1.5 hours before. Had I needed to take public transport, I would have had to get up at 01:30, take three night busses to Liverpool street station and stand for 20 minutes in the rain at one of the stops, get on a 45 minute train journey which only starts running from Liverpool street station around 04:30. The night busses run every 30 minutes so the requirement to be extremely early is strong. Once at Stansted I would then have to hang around for a few hours waiting for my flight.
Instead I walked to my car and left at 04:00, drove for 55 minutes to the parking and then took a 10 minute bus ride to the airport. I arrived before the three busses and train would have got me there. I bought a lounge pass and relaxed until my flight.
Had I been able to take an autonomous vehicle, I would have left even later, been dropped right at the terminal building and not had to pay parking for the weekend.
Public transport, as we see it today, is a reflection of the technology and capabilities of the 19th century, upgraded with early 20th century technology. In the 21st century our technology and choices are different. Insisting that we all continue to use 19th and 20th century technology in the 21st century just switches people off. They have their place but they are not compatible with 21st century life in a very large swathe of the population.
Thus the person sending the message is ignored, derided or called a liar. Hardly the message we want to send for the resolution of climate change.
There is a "scientist" who, in all seriousness, predicted that if everyone drove at 30mph, all the time, everyone would get to their destination faster.
It is 400 miles from London to Edinburgh. Apparently nobody has the need to do that journey.
Go figure!
