“A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.” – Albert Einstein

Good morning,   My focus for this week's edition is self-driving cars. It feels like ages ago that Google surprised the world after begining its self-driving car program in 2009. Now over 12 years later, why am I still driving?

Foresight Friday   Forward looking and reflective thoughts I’ve stumbled on, found interesting, or just generally think are worth taking a look at.

Economics Hinder Self-Driving Car Self-driving car technology is largely here and ready for wide use. The problems we face now is the regulatory restrictions and bad economic metrics. The following articles published in the last 72 hours all highlight challenges around self-driving vehicles but none dig into the economics that hinder their wide adoption.   The Financial Times at least identifies "the absence of a clear business model" but the problem is bigger than one business model. The auto industry lives off of selling new models every year–until that changes there will never be a new business model. No technology is ever 'perfected' so should Pennsylvania never have self-driving vehicles?   It has been 76 years since Einstein said "a new type of thinking is essential" in his warning about the dangers of the nuclear age. Today it is thinking, not technology that hinders our best achievements.   Self-driving Teslas will cause 'insane' traffic, Elon Musk says Musk: Owners will send their Teslas to work in an autonomous ride hailing service causing traffic that can be moved into underground tunnels Absolve users of legal responsibility in crashes involving driverless cars, watchdog says Users of autonomous cars should not be legally responsible for road safety, a legal watchdog in the UK has proposed. Bill to allow self-driving vehicles to test without emergency driver moves to full Pennsylvania Senate Opposition: "There is never a reason to have vehicles on the street without an emergency driver before technology is perfected." The true flaw of driverless cars isn’t the tech Robotaxis risk becoming a gimmick… they’ll cost the same as an Uber, arrive no faster and decline to speed up when you’re in a rush

I look forward to exploring the future of self-driving vehicles and mobility in general in this futures space.   What do you think of self-driving vehicles?

Gratefully,   Vinny Tafuro   Visionary. Economist. Hacker. "I see distant horizons clearly and work meticulously towards them." Institute for Economic Evolution, Founder 813.240.0739

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