The future of technology and self-driving cars is changing dynamically. But Elon Musk believes that it may also create a new problem. As self-driving technologies get better everyday, people may choose to travel more often because they no longer have to deal with the stress of driving themselves. The Tesla CEO explains that convenience could eventually lead to heavier traffic on the roads.
Elon Musk Reacts To Discussion On Robot cars
Musk responded to a discussion on X about how autonomous vehicles may change people’s travel habits. Aaron Burnett, founder and CEO of investment firm mach33, shared his own experience with robot-driven travel. In his post, Burnett wrote, “I can confirm. I’ve doubled my annual miles ‘driven’ because my robot drives me 99% of the time.”
Burnett was replying to a post by American blogger and former Microsoft executive Robert Scoble, who described how using a robot-driven vehicle had changed the way he travels. He said, “My robot is driving me to a robot company in San Francisco. Life is good! Hope you have a great weekend. One thing about having a robot to drive you: you will drive more. I wouldn’t drive the three hour round trip from my house in San Jose nearly as often if I had to manually drive. So as more people get robots to drive them, traffic will get worse. Which is why Elon is digging tunnels. All technologies have pros and cons. I like hanging out with the people who see the pros.”
Musk shared Burnet’s post and agreed that self-driving vehicles may encourage people to spend more time on the road. He wrote, “Traffic will get much worse with robot cars, because the pain of driving yourself is not there anymore!”
For now, Musk’s brief comment has added fresh attention to an important question: if robot cars make travel much easier, will they also make traffic worse? As self-driving vehicles move closer to everyday life, the answer could impact how future cities plan their roads, tunnels and public transport.
