Malcolm Gladwell took a ride in a Waymo — controlled by a perfect, calm algorithmic driver. As Gladwell put it, Waymo’s driving was executed “with the unruffled rationality of an engineering major at Stanford university.”
It was a kind of sneak preview of the ideal, intelligent city. Ah, but this goes further.
The roots of those further-reaching implications begin with Gladwell’s interviews with bicyclists, to whom cars are the greatest risk. They say that some drivers drive rationally and give wide berths. But others seem to resent the cyclists’ presence and seem to use their cars for personal expression. Forget art, journals, or lawn signs.… Read the rest “Intelligent bump ahead: Crazy pedestrians:: Pedestrian heaven and intelligent-city hell”