A driverless future still needs someone behind the wheel

摘要

At some point in the middle of the 20 century – perhaps starting slightly earlier in the US – most developed economies made arncollective decision to surrender their urban environment to the automobile. The rest of the world has not been far behind. Almostrnwithout exception, streets everywhere are dominated by cars. Even where the visual and leisure amenity of streets has not beenrncompletely lost, it has been profoundly degraded.rnAcross the world, almost without exception, priority has been given to cars. During the height of the UK road building boom,rnLondon was left permanently scarred by the Westway and elevated sections of the A4, while Glasgow was literally bisected by thernM8. Some British cities like Coventry and Birmingham, centres of the automotive industry, were almost entirely rebuilt specificallyrnto cater for and encourage car use. Every town and village has seen the quality and character of its streets utterly changed by everrngrowing amounts of traffic.