Replacing the car with public transit, of course, would be far more ecologically sustainable, not to mention more efficient and cheaper by orders of magnitude than the development of hordes of autonomous zombie cars. But that's the problem, isn't it? The capitalist system can never accept the cheaper, more efficient solution. And certainly not the socially equitable solution. Growth is imperative, and for growth you need consumption. People need to buy cars, not bus passes and railway tickets.
In Zombie Capitalism Chris Harman wrote of the global crisis of an economic system staggering blindly and malevolently forward, kept moving in its undead state only by constant infusions of brains and blood. The zombie car is just such an infusion, a cash injection into the lifeless corpse of automobility, meant to reanimate the car and everything it has stood for, just at the point when it is in danger of running out of gas forever.
Its promoters ask us to put aside our distrust and suspicions, to quit worrying and just get in the car, and stop asking questions while it zombies ahead, lifeless and hungering. We are asked to put our faith in the zombie car, just as we can put our faith in the capitalist growth machine, to solve our ecological crisis, even though it played a major role in causing that crisis. But hey, this time it will be different, right?
Perhaps "what's good for Google is good for America." Perhaps not. Either way, the zombie car is a menace to both humanity and the planet.
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