Looking forward to autonomous driving on rails /s
Jokes asides, I feel like autonomous driving might technically be made to work by allowing it only on certified roads, with standardized conditions. At that point we might have reinvented trains.
Jokes asides, I feel like autonomous driving might technically be made to work by allowing it only on certified roads, with standardized conditions. At that point we might have reinvented trains.
- Roads are cheaper to lay and maintain than rails
- Roads are infinitely more flexible. You cannot walk, bicycle, or hold a parade on a railway track.
On the cheaper I really do not know. Is pouring asphalt cheaper than putting rails? I honestly do not know.
It also might depend on the implementation. I remember a history teacher mentioning that the uk built railwways providing time-limited exploitation licenses for private companies that built them (after x years they became public) and they built a vast network quickly . ( I found this pdf: https://www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/transpor... about the expansion, but it does not mention the licenses)
In the car case we need to also consider the "wagon", and the fuel cost is outsourced to the customers.