According to Kelly Blue Book, if you live in a major metropolitan area, your morning commute is getting worse. A study showed drivers in big cities spent an extra 1.5 minutes for every six miles commuted in 2022. Commutes in New York increased more than any other city in the United States. Unfortunately, the rise of self-driving cars could exacerbate the issue worldwide.
Studies show self-driving cars could make traffic jams worse.
Firstly, fully-autonomous vehicles, which don’t require human intervention, are rare on the roads throughout the United States for now. In early 2023 Mercedez Benz revealed its first level-3 automated car gained approval in Nevada.
And California recently approved self-driving taxis on the streets of San Francisco during low-traffic hours. Cruise, an autonomous taxi company owned by General Motors, got the green light to altogether remove drivers from the equation. However, they cannot operate in poor weather like heavy rain or fog.
Unfortunately, the implementation of self-driving cars has already had an impact on traffic in San Francisco. According to NBC News, Cruise taxis and Google’s self-driving fleet, Waymo, are already wreaking havoc on Bay Area roads. The San Francisco Chronicle reported over 90 incidents on the city’s streets caused by autonomous vehicles.
They’ve also caused issues and delays for first responders on their way to emergencies. And officials in Oakland aren’t sold on the viability of driverless taxis. “Many of the claimed benefits of (autonomous vehicles) have not been demonstrated,” said Oakland transportation department director Ryan Russo. “And some claims have little or no foundation.”
MIT Technology Review said self-driving vehicles could worsen urban traffic jams significantly. A World Economic Forum and Boston Consulting Group study showed that self-driving cars could increase congestion in downtown Boston. New autonomous cars could decrease traffic by 12% in the suburbs but could cause a spike in urban areas.
Uber partnered with Waymo to bring a driverless ridesharing fleet to the streets of Pheonix, Arizona.
According to TechCrunch, Uber users in Pheonix, Arizona, will soon be able to ride in a Waymo taxi. Unfortunately, the combination of self-driving cars and ridesharing services could make traffic much worse. A study by MIT and the University of Singapore determined that ridesharing services already make traffic jams worse and longer. They also directly caused a drop in public transit use.
And research by the University of Adelaide in 2019 determined that self-driving cars in ridesharing services could worsen matters. Riders’ unwillingness to share their vehicle and the negative sentiment toward autonomous cars could exacerbate traffic for decades. “As riders switch to autonomous vehicles, there will be an adverse impact on public transport,” reads the study. “With most commuters not interested in ride-sharing, this could increase peak period vehicle flows.”
Though the researchers added that, eventually, commuters would benefit from the addition of autonomous ridesharing vehicles. However, it could be as much as thirty years before that transition occurs.
Technology historian Peter Norton says more regulations on automotive tech are crucial to cutting down on traffic. He said we shouldn’t let car companies “also be the people who tell us what our so-called solutions are.” He added, “Tech companies and automakers should not be confused with policymakers.”
