Should we design for self-driving cars — or for people? | Sam Schwartz | TEDxMidAtlantic

Source | YouTube | TEDx Talks

Sam Schwartz, the traffic engineer who literally invented the word “gridlock,” offers an overview of the last 100 years of cars and traffic. And he offers the sobering warning that if we don’t alter our ideas about autonomous vehicles, we may find ourselves living in a future designed for cars rather than the people they are intended to serve. Mr. Schwartz is CEO of Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants, a firm that specializes in transportation planning and engineering. He is the traffic columnist, Gridlock Sam, for The New York Daily News (he released the word ‘gridlock’ into the public lexicon). Previously Mr. Schwartz was New York City’s Traffic Commissioner. He started his transportation career in the late 1960’s as a NYC cabbie and joined the Traffic Department, as a junior engineer, in 1971