Mark Rober just set up one of the most interesting self-driving tests of 2025, and he did it by imitating Looney Tunes. The former NASA engineer and current YouTube mad scientist recreated the classic gag where Wile E. Coyote paints a tunnel onto a wall to fool the Road Runner.
Only this time, the test subject wasn’t a cartoon bird… it was a self-driving Tesla Model Y.
The result? A full-speed, 40 MPH impact straight into the wall. Watch the video and tell us what you think!
I have a van load of tools to transport most of the trips I make.
So you’ll keep using it. And enjoy narrow but way less jammed streets. Maybe you’ll be incentivized/required to join the self-driving network, but in decades, not years, after positioning markers have been added to every road in the last repaving, while infrastructure funds have been directed towards making the city traversible for non-drivers.
See, the problem is, where I live already has great public transport, including electric commuter trains and buses, lots of cycle lanes etc.
And, despite that, traffic is still shit, because there’s a massive chunk of the population who need to be on the road for whatever reason.
Road tax
ROAD TAX
ROAD TAX!!!
Many people expect public transport companies to be profitable while allowing an incredible portion of tax money for road maintainance. If you want people to take personal responsibility for the consequences of something that destroys cities when in large amounts, you add an appropriate tax.
I strongly suggest you look at how roads are taxed here in NZ. Motorists already subsidise public transport, as well as being subsidised through rates, and it’s still at cost parity with driving in most cases. Our biggest city is also bringing in a congestion charge.
Public transport is incredibly expensive to run.