Teamsters versus the AARP and the rest of society for Robotic cars

Suncor is getting self driving trucks for the Oilsands. By 2020, they plan to convert to robotic trucks

Ken Smith, president of Unifor Local 707A, which represents 3,300 Suncor employees. Smith said Suncor has signed agreements to purchase 175 driverless trucks.

Truck, bus, delivery, and taxi drivers account for nearly 6 million professional driving jobs in the United States.

Too bad for the drivers over the next few decades but I want my commute time automated and I want grandma to be independent and mobile and I want to save lives and reduce injury from accidents

So millions of driving jobs would be lost but
* I and others could have a productive commute. I have 2 hours per day commuting. I could theoretically boost productivity by 20%
* Many elderly people can no longer drive safely. Robotic cars will help them to be more mobile and independent
* costs saved throughout the supply chain have the potential to lower costs and provide big economic gains
* a trillion to the US economy from lower accident costs, lower insurance and boosted productivity
* over 30,000 lives saved and 240,000 reduced car accident hospitalizations in the US alone every year

According to an AARP spokeswoman, by 2030 over 78 million boomers will be 65+, and research shows that men will outlive their driving abilities by six years and women by 10.

The Transport Workers Union is pushing to exempt bus drivers from prosecution for killing pedestrians in crosswalks is an unfortunate example of “union power” ignoring the interest of the public. The TWU bill in the City Council is supported by 16 council members, many of whom are recipients of political contributions from the TWU. Councilman I. Daneek Miller, in an op-ed in the Daily News, cited the traumatization of the bus driver who was recently arrested for hitting a 15-year-old girl in Williamsburg. There was no mention of the trauma of the young victim, who may lose a leg and be maimed by the crash.

Automation of driving has the potential to save over a million lives per year globally from reducing fatal car accidents.

Google has claimed the robotic car could :

We can reduce traffic accidents by 90%.
We can reduce wasted commute time and energy by 90%.
We can reduce the number of cars by 90%.

About 5.5 million motor vehicle accidents occurred in 2009 in the U.S., involving 9.5 million vehicles. These accidents killed 33,808 people and injured more than 2.2 million others, 240,000 of whom had to be hospitalized.

Adding up all costs related to accidents—including medical costs, property damage, loss of productivity, legal costs, travel delays and pain and lost quality of life—the American Automobile Association studied crash data in the 99 largest U.S. urban areas and estimated the total costs to be $299.5 billion.

Traffic congestion wasted 4.8 billion hours and 1.9 billion gallons of fuel a year for urban Americans. That translates to $101 billion in lost productivity and added fuel costs.

Shared Robotic cars could reduce the costs for taxis and transportation by five times

A senior who cannot drive might easily pay $4000 per year for transportation. This is usually on a fixed income. Lowering the costs by five times would be $800 per year for transportation.

Young people (under 16) who cannot drive would have mobility options other than being driven by their parents.

Society will have a lot more net benefits from robotic cars.