Chuck Darwin<p>After a brutal 2023, the vibes around <a href="https://c.im/tags/self" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>self</span></a>-<a href="https://c.im/tags/driving" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>driving</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/cars" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>cars</span></a> are improving. </p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/Cruise" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Cruise</span></a>, the industry leader whose vehicle was involved in a <a href="https://c.im/tags/horrific" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>horrific</span></a> San Francisco <a href="https://c.im/tags/crash" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>crash</span></a> last fall, has <a href="https://c.im/tags/rebooted" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>rebooted</span></a> under new management, </p><p>while rival <a href="https://c.im/tags/Waymo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Waymo</span></a> is <a href="https://c.im/tags/expanding" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>expanding</span></a> to serve broader swaths of the Bay Area and Los Angeles<br> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/Tesla" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Tesla</span></a> is promising a new <a href="https://c.im/tags/robotaxi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>robotaxi</span></a> service.</p><p>Although Americans say they remain <a href="https://c.im/tags/wary" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>wary</span></a> of autonomous driving, <br>boosters insist there is nothing to fear. <br>In fact, they foresee roads full of self-driving cars that are both <a href="https://c.im/tags/safer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>safer</span></a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/cleaner" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>cleaner</span></a> than the status quo, <br>a tantalizing prospect in a country where transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and residents are several times more likely to die in a crash than those living in other rich nations.</p><p>Enticing though they are, such arguments conceal a <a href="https://c.im/tags/logical" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>logical</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/flaw" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>flaw</span></a>. <br>As a classic 19th-century theory known as a <a href="https://c.im/tags/Jevons" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Jevons</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/paradox" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>paradox</span></a> explains, <br>even if autonomous vehicles eventually work perfectly<br> — an enormous “if”<br> — they are🆘 likely to increase total <a href="https://c.im/tags/emissions" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>emissions</span></a> and crash <a href="https://c.im/tags/deaths" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>deaths</span></a>, <br>simply because ⭐️people will use them so much. </p><p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/2/24232386/self-driving-car-jevons-paradox-robotaxi-waymo-cruise" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">theverge.com/2024/9/2/24232386</span><span class="invisible">/self-driving-car-jevons-paradox-robotaxi-waymo-cruise</span></a></p>