Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation
How to build a transportation system to provide mobility for all

Road to Nowhere exposes the flaws in Silicon Valley’s vision of the future: ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft to take us anywhere; electric cars to make them ‘green’; and automation to ensure transport is cheap and ubiquitous. Such promises are implausible and potentially dangerous.

As Paris Marx shows, these technological visions are a threat to our ideas of what a society should be. Electric cars are not a silver bullet for sustainability, and autonomous vehicles won’t guarantee road safety. There will not be underground tunnels to eliminate traffic congestion, and micromobility services will not replace car travel any sooner than we will see the arrival of the long-awaited flying car.

In response, Marx offers a vision for a more collective way of organizing transportation systems that considers the needs of poor, marginalized, and vulnerable people. The book argues that rethinking mobility can be the first step in a broader reimagining of how we design and live in our future cities. We must create streets that allow for social interaction and conviviality. We need reasons to get out of our cars and to use public means of transit determined by community needs rather than algorithmic control. Such decisions should be guided by the search for quality of life rather than for profit.
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Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation
How to build a transportation system to provide mobility for all

Road to Nowhere exposes the flaws in Silicon Valley’s vision of the future: ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft to take us anywhere; electric cars to make them ‘green’; and automation to ensure transport is cheap and ubiquitous. Such promises are implausible and potentially dangerous.

As Paris Marx shows, these technological visions are a threat to our ideas of what a society should be. Electric cars are not a silver bullet for sustainability, and autonomous vehicles won’t guarantee road safety. There will not be underground tunnels to eliminate traffic congestion, and micromobility services will not replace car travel any sooner than we will see the arrival of the long-awaited flying car.

In response, Marx offers a vision for a more collective way of organizing transportation systems that considers the needs of poor, marginalized, and vulnerable people. The book argues that rethinking mobility can be the first step in a broader reimagining of how we design and live in our future cities. We must create streets that allow for social interaction and conviviality. We need reasons to get out of our cars and to use public means of transit determined by community needs rather than algorithmic control. Such decisions should be guided by the search for quality of life rather than for profit.
26.95 In Stock
Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation

Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation

by Paris Marx
Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation

Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation

by Paris Marx

Hardcover

$26.95 
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Overview

How to build a transportation system to provide mobility for all

Road to Nowhere exposes the flaws in Silicon Valley’s vision of the future: ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft to take us anywhere; electric cars to make them ‘green’; and automation to ensure transport is cheap and ubiquitous. Such promises are implausible and potentially dangerous.

As Paris Marx shows, these technological visions are a threat to our ideas of what a society should be. Electric cars are not a silver bullet for sustainability, and autonomous vehicles won’t guarantee road safety. There will not be underground tunnels to eliminate traffic congestion, and micromobility services will not replace car travel any sooner than we will see the arrival of the long-awaited flying car.

In response, Marx offers a vision for a more collective way of organizing transportation systems that considers the needs of poor, marginalized, and vulnerable people. The book argues that rethinking mobility can be the first step in a broader reimagining of how we design and live in our future cities. We must create streets that allow for social interaction and conviviality. We need reasons to get out of our cars and to use public means of transit determined by community needs rather than algorithmic control. Such decisions should be guided by the search for quality of life rather than for profit.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781839765889
Publisher: Verso Books
Publication date: 07/05/2022
Pages: 272
Sales rank: 641,525
Product dimensions: 5.60(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Paris Marx is a Canadian technology writer whose work has been published by NBC News, CBC News, Jacobin, and Tribune, among many others. Paris is also a PhD candidate at the University of Auckland and the host of the critical technology podcast Tech Won’t Save Us.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 How the Automobile Disrupted Mobility 9

2 Understanding the Silicon Valley Worldview 36

3 Greenwashing the Electric Vehicle 63

4 Uber's Assault on Cities and Labor 89

5 Self-Driving Cars Did Not Deliver 114

6 Making New Roads for Cars 140

7 The Coming Fight for the Sidewalk 160

8 The Real Futures That Tech Is Building 180

9 Toward a Better Transport Future 202

Conclusion 228

Acknowledgments 235

Notes 237

Index 253

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