Driverless Cars?  Say It Ain’t So

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn made some radical statements this week on Nissan’s beating its competitors by rolling out driverless cars for sale by 2020.

Say it ain’t so.  I’m so disappointed to see that the automotive world is even talking about heading in this direction.

There is so much wrong about the 20th Century auto paradigm, which is essentially defined as follows: Everyone of driving age aspires to own a 4000-pound piece of steel that burns gasoline, sits unused 23+ hours per day, has, on average, 0.25 passengers in the one remaining hour, costs a fortune, and clogs our freeways and parking lots.   

Please don’t tell me the new paradigm keeps virtually all this waste and insanity in place.

The only real value that driverless cars provide is not to the owner, but to the car companies, desperate to preserve the dying concept of car ownership.

Let me go on record and predict that this whole sick notion will evaporate before it becomes reality.  I base this partially on the fact that humankind is starting to wake up to the horrific effects of our addiction to oil, and recognize it for what it really is:  a primary cause of our ceaseless wars, pollution, climate change, ocean acidification, lung damage, etc.  But I base it also on the trend we see among young people to move away from car ownership; many 16-year-olds are not rushing to get their drivers licenses, and most of the rest of them are far more interested in using their smart phones to share rides and cars, or place calls to Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar.

Now that’s what I call progress.

Let me close here with a note to Mr. Ghosn:  I respect the idea that you want to beat your competition, but please try to do it in a meaningful way.  Continue to strive to build the best and most affordable EVs on Earth, and do what you can as one of the world’s most admired businessmen to help us achieve low-carbon charging solutions.   Thank you.