About five years ago, I predicted the driverless car would arrive. Although progress has been in spurts and stops, my son Lawrence, home for Thanksgiving, announced that he had taken his first driverless car ride.
“It was a bit spooky,” he told me, but he soon got used to it. The Waymo car was clearly identifiable and pulled up beside him on the street. You could hear the click when the doors unlocked. He got in and when the door shut, the car proceeded, avoiding the interstate and going a bit under the speed limit.
Waymo has now come to Austin, where Lawrence resides, expanding from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix. Early next year, it will come to Atlanta.
Waymo now has about 20 percent of the ride app market share in San Francisco and it is booming, going from 12,000 rides in August of 2023 to 312,000 rides in August of 2024. This is a monumental change.
Turns out, everybody is a bit nervous the first ride, but after that, people actually prefer the privacy of a driverless car. No need to chit chat with a stranger or sit there in awkward silence. Personally, I enjoy talking to Uber drivers. I try to learn a little something from each one.
Lawrence has a friend in Austin who will only use Waymo. She had a creepy experience with an Uber driver and feels safer in a driverless car.
Not surprisingly, Waymo driverless cars are safer than human drivers. with 84 percent fewer airbag deployments. Most of the 200 Waymo accidents have been minor fender benders.
Now that the genie is out of the bottle, watch driverless cars explode, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence.
This could cause big positive changes for urban living, vastly reducing one downside of big cities —parking.
Currently, everybody has their own car, which is only driven a tiny fraction of the day. In the meantime, it sits idly parked, which takes up an immense amount of space.
With driverless cars, you only use the car when you need it. Instead of parking, the car moves on to the next customer. If you have ten people sharing one car instead of ten people having to park their own car, you free up an enormous amount of street space.
Lanes reserved for parking can be turned into bike and scooter lanes. Parking garages can be turned into living spaces. Driverless cars will eventually be cheaper because there’s no labor cost. As more driverless cars are produced, the cost will plummet.
Eventually it will be cheaper, safer and more convenient to pay an annual Waymo fee than to buy, park, insure and drive your own car.
The whole AI (artificial intelligence) boom is scary and exciting. We now know how to teach computers to teach themselves. This is fundamentally different from traditional programming, which requires giving a computer step-by-step instructions.
AI is starting to have a big effect in the news business. For one thing, AI programs scrape my news websites and use all our content to train their Large Language Models (LLM) — which are a key component to AI.
No AI company has ever asked me permission to use my content. They just take it, including the entire 100-year archives of all my community weeklies throughout the state. This is theft.
Not surprisingly, there are quite a few lawsuits in the works. News content producers are saying “no more.” If you use our content, you must pay royalties. Perhaps this will lead to a news business model that can support local news.
I have been playing around with ChatGPT, having fun asking it to write a rap song from the perspective of a middle aged family man with bills to pay. The results, provided within seconds, are hilarious.
I recently noticed the street markings in Jackson are horrible. Like so many things in Jackson, there is no maintenance. Driving along Ridgewood Road or around Fondren at night is like driving in an unmarked parking lot. None of the street markings are visible. Very dangerous.
So just for fun, I asked ChatGPT to write a 400 word editorial in the style of Mississippi publisher Wyatt Emmerich criticizing the city of Jackson for failing to maintain its street markings. Within seconds, it produced the following:
Editorial: The Neglect of Street Markings in Jackson is a Safety Hazard
The city of Jackson faces a glaring issue that affects safety, efficiency, and civic pride: the woeful neglect of its street markings. As drivers navigate Jackson's crumbling infrastructure, the absence of clear lane lines, crosswalks, and traffic demarcations creates an environment ripe for accidents, confusion, and frustration.
Street markings are not just cosmetic; they are essential for public safety. Clear lane divisions prevent collisions, while visible crosswalks protect pedestrians and promote walkability. Without them, drivers are left guessing where their vehicles should be positioned, especially at night or during inclement weather. This lack of clarity increases the risk of accidents, endangering residents and visitors alike.
The city's failure to address this issue reflects a broader pattern of infrastructure neglect. While funding constraints are often cited, this explanation rings hollow when the stakes involve lives and public confidence. Cities with similar budgetary challenges have managed to prioritize basic traffic safety measures. Why can't Jackson?
Moreover, the lack of upkeep signals a troubling disregard for the quality of life in Jackson. Poorly maintained streets erode residents' trust in local governance and deter potential investment in the city. Businesses and families seeking relocation weigh such visible signs of neglect heavily when choosing where to settle.
Fixing this problem requires immediate action. The city must allocate resources to repaint street markings and establish a regular maintenance schedule to prevent further deterioration. Funding might come from reallocating budgets, pursuing state or federal grants, or partnering with private organizations willing to invest in community safety.
Jackson’s leaders must realize that failing infrastructure sends the wrong message about the city's priorities. Addressing the street markings issue is not just a matter of aesthetics; it’s a moral and practical obligation to ensure the safety and well-being of everyone who calls Jackson home.
So there you have it. I’m being obsoleted by a machine, although I had to write thousands of columns to have my writing style mimicked by AI. Ginny swears I write better. I’m not so sure.
So should I use AI? Is that ethical? What does this mean for creativity? Are our minds going to turn to mush.?
These are big questions with no easy answers.
