IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2019 - 22

OPINION

Yair Wiseman

riverless vehicles will
be common on the
road in a short time.
They will have many
impacts on global
transport market trends. One
remarkable impact of driverless
vehicles will be the laying aside of
rail systems, for several reasons.
The main reasons are that traffic
congestion will no longer be a justi-
fication for rail, rail will not be the
best answer for the disabled, and
air pollution caused by driverless
cars is more or less equal to air
pollution from trains. Last but not
least is that driverless cars are
safer than trains.

D

Driverless Cars
Will Make Passenger
Rail Obsolete

because of disability or an ex-
hausting job [2].
3) To reduce air pollution, be -
c a u s e one train can replace
many cars [3].
4) To reduce the number of vehicle
accidents and fatalities [4].
To a certain extent, some of
Why Rail is Alive and
these arguments are only valid until
Subsidized
driverless cars are available on the
There are four key reasons why rail
market. In four states in the U.S. -
is still alive and even subsidized in
Arizona, California, Michigan, and
most countries:
Ohio, driverless vehicles are avail-
able without the necessity of
a driver. This article shows
that reasons 1)-4) detailed
above are no longer valid
Traffic jams and are mainly triggered
reasoning for rails, nor are
they valid justification.

same way, so that traffic congestion
will be significantly alleviated when
driverless cars are the standard.
In addition, street parking occu-
pies areas that could be utilized for
moving vehicles [7]. A vacant driver-
less vehicle can move automatical-
ly to a remote parking. Freeing up
street parking space will generate
uncomplicated road expansion.
Another issue is the subsidization
of rail systems. Most countries subsi-
dize their rail systems. China invests
$128 billion in rail each year [8],
whereas Europe invests €73 billion in
rail each year [9]. The subsidies are a
primary piece of rail system budgets
almost anywhere in the world. Only
Japan's rail system is not subsidized.
Without subsidies, almost no rail sys-
tem can survive. Only some lines of
freight rails can be moneymaking
[10]. However, freight rails will also
have more competition with new
technologies of self-driving truck
platoons [11]. Accordingly, most rail
systems will perish as soon as rail
subsidies are ended.
In reality, rail systems lose bil-
lions of dollars every year. If existing
rail systems cannot stay alive, they
should be allowed to humbly depart

by varied responses to events on the
roads, and by the different driving
patterns of different drivers.
1) To reduce congestion on jammed
roads [1].
2) As a transportation means for
people who are unable to drive
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2019.2913067
Date of publication: 30 May 2019

22

Traffic Congestion
is not a Justification
for Rail
Studies in various countries
have shown that today's
traffic jams and congestion are
mainly triggered by varied responses
to events on the roads, and by the
different driving patterns of different
drivers [5]-[6]. On the other hand,
driverless cars of even competing
companies will behave much the
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JUNE 2019
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2019

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