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The M-1 Rail Is Fine, But What About Driverless Cars?

April 26, 2013, 3:20 PM by  Doron Levin


Driverless cars are this week's cover story by The Economist magazine.
[Illustration by Jon Berkeley]

The 3.3-mile railroad between midtown and downtown Detroit, backed by Quicken owner Dan Gilbert, finally has won the necessary approvals and financing

Is light-rail actually a good idea? The best idea?

Sure, Detroit needs cool projects. It also needs better transportation infrastructure. But if the money is available, why not take a leap into the future that explores and demonstrates a cutting edge transportation technology – like the driverless car?

This isn’t one of those columns that is only meant to be thought provoking.  As wacky as driverless technology may sound, rest assured it’s quickly entering the realm of the real and practical.  Google has operated a driverless car safely over half a million miles on California roads and highways to prove its possible.  Very smart people at General Motors, Volkswagen and Toyota say a car that needs little or no driver input will be possible within a decade.

Think of driverless as the ultimate solution for the dangers of texting and other distractions while driving.  In fact, 90 percent or more of the traffic accidents that kill 1.2 million people globally each year are traceable to human error.

Automakers are delivering driverless tech in stages, such as Traffic Jam Assist that's coming in the next Audi A8. Yet, most drivers still have the misguided notion that the can navigate the roads better than artificial intelligence. What’s needed to help people understand the benefits is a real-world course such as might be tried at a World’s Fair, one that lets ordinary folks try the concept, something no city has had the guts to propose.

If Gilbert and his merry band were to propose a demonstration project, automakers almost certainly would jump on the offer. The industry understands that acceptance by the public, governments and insurers are needed before driverless cars  can reach large scale.

I’ve experienced the technology and traveled in driverless cars at research and test tracks, as well as in controlled venues, such as hotel parking lots.  Trust me: it works, it’s coming.  People will wonder why they ever thought driving was such a treat.

As for Gilbert’s M1 rail line, it would emulate, more or less, what young people already have in New York, Washington, Chicago, Portland and other U.S. cities:  An easy means of urban travel without worrying about the hassles of parking, tickets, traffic.

In a different way, driverless technology may solve those hassles. A vehicle that doesn’t need a driver can park itself remotely, travel to another location, run errands.

I can appreciate without reservation why Gilbert and Quicken have pushed so hard for a rail line. They want to create amenities for the workers and urban pioneers who are repopulating the city.

Still, rail works best as mass transit, where a critical mass of people need transportation  from one place to another.  M1 is too short to move people to and from the suburbs – and probably will remain short for a long time.

If, on the other hand, several auto manufacturers (led by GM, of course) were invited to put driverless cars on a closed loop along Woodward Avenue a couple of days a week, anyone who wanted could try them, perhaps for a small fee collected by credit card.  Tourists and academics would fly to Detroit from around the world just to see an automotive model for the future, made possible by digital technology.

Such a project would be poetic, marking a return to the birthplace of automotive mass manufacturing, the Detroit of Henry Ford, the Dodge brothers and Alfred Sloan.

Follow Doron on Twitter @DoronPLevin.



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