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The promise of electric and driverless vehicles is that vehicles will become better for our planet and safer for us. These are worthy targets, but there are significant barriers to making such cars hit the roads in large numbers.

There’s also the risk that paying attention to these technological wonders will allow us to face a deeper question: How can we make our lives less dependent on cars?

After decades of placing the automobile at the center of America’s transportation plans and policy, we now deal with the negativities of air pollution, traffic, road deaths, sprawl, and the overcrowding of alternative ways to transport people and goods. The solution to problems caused in part by cars is not only to use different types of cars, but also we are rebuilding our world to trust them less.

Lately I’ve been thinking about the risks and rewards of belief in technology, because a new book by Peter Norton, associate professor of history at the University of Virginia. Dr. Norton detailed decades of unfulfilled promises that some inventions by car manufacturers and tech companies to rid us of the worst aspects of our car addiction are just around the corner.

radio waves, split path engineering, transistors and redesigned technology from targeted bombs emerged after World War II as ways to present an automobile utopia. Dr. Norton told me that technologies are often sketchy, but the idea behind them is that “anyone can go wherever they want, whenever they want, and park for free and there won’t be any accidents.”

These technologies were never provided, and Dr. Norton said he doubts the future of self-driving cars, too. “The whole boon comes down to our agreeing that high tech is better technology. It doesn’t stand up,” he said.

It’s just Dr. Not Norton’s view. Even most self-driving optimists say the technology will no longer be ready to hit the roads in large numbers. many more years.

Our health and the health of the planet if we switch to electric cars we will improve significantly. They are a focal point global climate summit It continues in Glasgow. And removing error-prone drivers from the equation could make our roads much safer. But making better cars is not a panacea.

As my New York Times Opinion colleague Farhad Manjoo said, the proliferation of electric vehicles comes with the risk of reinforcing car addiction. Wrote. Self-driving cars can encourage more mileage on the road, which in turn traffic and the spread worse. (Uber and similar services once promised to reduce congestion and reduce the number of miles Americans traveled. they did the opposite.)

The future of transportation should include more energy efficient and safer cars. However, Dr. Norton said it would also be beneficial to redirect money and attention to make walking, cycling and using public transportation more affordable and attractive options.

Dr. What Norton is talking about may sound like a fantasy made up by him. Greta Thunberg. The car is a life-changing convenience and changing our trust in it will be difficult, costly and contentious. Why should we try?

Well, the transport status quo is dangerous, it swept away public space and government money, and it’s environmentally unsustainable. It took decades to build the United States around the car. It was a choice – sometimes contested – and now we can choose a different path.

Dr. Norton asked us to imagine what would happen if some of the crazy dollars spent developing self-driving cars were invested in no-nonsense products and policy changes. He talked about changing zoning codes to allow more homes to be built. in the same locations as shops, schools and workplaces so Americans don’t have to drive everywhere. He also said that battery-free bicycles and electric railroads are technological marvels that provide more benefits than driverless vehicle software has ever done.

Dr. Talking to Norton reminded me of the blessings of innovation. We know that technology improves our lives. But we also know that belief in the promises of technology sometimes keeps us from facing the root causes of our problems.

To read more: by Bloomberg CityLab interesting interview with Norton. Fast Company also released one this week. excerpt from the book, titled “Autonorama: The Imaginary Promise of High-Tech Driving”).

Before you go …

• Facebook plans to delete its records about our faces: My colleagues Kash Hill and Ryan Mac shuts down its 10-year-old system to identify people from images of their faces. This should not be surprising – but this – Facebook has evaluated the disadvantages of facial recognition technology and has decided (for now) that the benefits are not worth the risks to our privacy.

• Zillow has done many oops: My colleagues and I couldn’t stop talking about it yesterday. Known for showing people estimates of home values, Zillow also buys homes himself and flips them for profit. But Zillow’s computer systems greatly overestimated the value of the houses he boughtand the company lost money on average on every sale. Zillow said on Tuesday close house flip business.

• Witches also need online payments: One writer was rejected by digital payments provider Stripe. tried to sell tarot reading services online. His article in Wired explores the impact payment companies like Stripe, Square and PayPal have on which products and services can be found online and which can’t. (Subscription may be required.)

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Animals probably love democracy. Here, a dog seems enthusiastic about voting. And a candidate for mayor in New York, get one of your cats (hello, Gizmo!) to the survey site. (His entry was denied.)

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