New York drivers' group pushes for 50-year ban on self-driving cars
What better way to solve a problem than putting it off for the next generation to deal with?
We've all tried to put off dealing with issues that scare us. But one driver's group in New York is taking that head-in-the-sand approach to the extreme.
The Upstate Transportation Association, a group that advocates for professional drivers, has asked the New York state legislature to ban autonomous vehicles for 50 years, CNN reports. A second group, the Independent Drivers Guild, said it will continue to push for New York to uphold its current ban on driverless vehicles, as well.
Its reason is simple -- autonomous vehicles will likely result in job losses in the professional driving industry. Ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft are likely to move to self-driving vehicles once they're commercially viable, in part because it's cheaper to buy a car than employ a human. There are other benefits, of course, including the expected marked drop in accidents, injuries and fatalities that come along with driverless cars.
Of course, banning self-driving cars for 50 years does absolutely nothing to address the issue of net job loss. It only pushes it back by a generation or two, kicking the can down the road for someone else to deal with. Self-driving cars will take some jobs no matter when they arrive.
Automation takes jobs from every industry. It's not confined to the automotive sector. It's something that citizens and politicians grapple with every day, and there's no clear solution to the problem yet. But one thing is for sure -- delaying the inevitable, and the benefits it brings, probably isn't that solution.
