One thought of Uber's is get rid of drivers and you can rent peoples cars when they aren't using them. You buy an autodrive car and when you don't need it, rent it to Uber who takes care of organizing the whole operation with your car coming back when you need it. That's the idea there. In a theory world it sounds very effective and the green people love that idea. Their next plan is to make them all electric cars because in their minds that's the greenest tech. Again in theory if your power comes from green sources this all makes great sense. If this actually happens you would have far less auto's on the road there fore less infrastructure which is even greener.
I have talked to people who really think this is going to happen over the next 10 years for sure and it's going to save the planet.
First I don't think the planet needs saving. It will be here long after us.
If your power comes from coal you won't change anything.
The batteries are very dirty to make and have a limited life after which they become a environmental hazard. No they can't be recycled, look it up.
No ones power grid could handle charging up a huge fleet of EV's.
Last but not least auto-driving isn't any where near ready to go.
All problems with solutons right around the corner, we put man on the Moon we can do this. The thing is no one said how to get a man to the Moon they just said do it. No one gave NASA specs on their fuel to be used etc. etc.
1. The planet will be here after our generation. It's going to be here for at least the next few. But each generation will have a worse and worse experience and total land shrinks due to rising sea levels, more extreme weather due to increasing global climate, and more pollution wrecking lungs and lives. The best thing anyone can do is to begin improvements that they won't ever see the fruits of.
2. That's why alternative energy is so critical. Coal is slowly becoming less and less important to the world in terms of energy production, solar prices are plummetting, nuclear is becoming safer and cleaner than coal, wind is becoming more efficient, geothermal is getting cheaper, and I wouldn't be surprised if we dropped coal in the US within a century. Also, even with coal production of energy, power plants run at the most efficient point of generation with extra hardware to minimize ecological impact. Cars constantly are accelerating/decelerating, which is incredibly innefficient for chemical fuels.
3. Most batteries used in cars today are some form of Lithium, which isn't particularly rare or impactful when removed from an ecosystem. The lithium core is paired with a copper portion to actually have it store energy. Over time, the copper portion effectively becomes 'clogged' reducing the total energy it can store per charge. These batteries can be then replaced and recycled by simply stripping out the copper, melting that down for other uses, and throwing some more copper on there. It's much cleaner than many people think, and it's only improving.
4. Power grids have consistently been increasing to match modern demand. Think back to the first few scenes of CoP, where a whole block was blown with a few appliances running. Nowadays there's more power being drawn from single homes than what used to be drawn from small towns. And if people draw more power, more money goes to the grid, more money for improving infrastructure. It's cyclical.
5. Yes. It's not ready yet. If there was only self-driving cars on the road it'd be ready. But human drivers like myself are falliable and make mistakes - computers are learning to deal with us. I'd say within a decade it'd be to a point where you won't be surprised to see cars without a steering wheel. It's advancing at an astonishing pace. My mom's car from 4 years ago can keep pace with cars ahead of it, read road signs, keep in the lane and more. My dad's car he bought this year can do all that, do lane changes, automatic parking, and stuff I can't even imagine. And this is just Volvo.
There's so much wonderful technology not only on the Horizon, but here today. Ignoring advancements and current problems can lead to a future world full of even more problems than we have been left with by previous generations. There's a great big beautiful tomorrow, but only if we follow that tomorrow with mind and heart. Then it'll be there for you and me.
