Imagine a world where, with the wave of a magic wand, we could make every car on the road perfectly autonomous, fully electric, and dirt-cheap to boot.
Thanks to our theoretical fairy godmother, we’ve vaulted past decades of scientific progress and bruising political battles, and immediately welcomed in the era of the magical, mysterious Wondermobile— without even needing to wait for those pesky motorists to retire their old vehicles and phase in new ones.
Every car on the road is completely perfect. It will never hit a single pedestrian, spew an ounce of carbon, put a single family into financial distress. We have solved for all of the most glaring negative externalities of automobility in one fell swoop.
But would that really be the world we want? Read more from Kea Wilson — and check out today’s other news — at the links below.
Economic populism helped vault Trump into power. Could a green version of it take that power back — and what role would transportation play?
It’s untenable, but we might miss the gas tax when it’s gone.
“The future of affordable transportation may not begin at the gas pump.”
