Automated transport systems/Intro

If infrastructure is to be automated, there obviously needs to be automated transportation. Taking ore from mines to smelting plants, taking processed materials such as machine parts to manufacturing plants, and taking goods and products to their destinations - such haulage is laborious and unstimulating work and it is desirable to use technology to free us from such tasks. Bear in mind that decentralizing the means of producing food, water, energy and machinery will massively reduce the amount of haulage to be done. When you can fabricate everything you need and most of the things you want in your backyard, there is no need for anything to be delivered to you except for raw materials like scrap metal.

For an automated post-scarcity infrastructure to be a reality, there must be not only vehicles capable of moving around autonomously, but also automated logistical systems that are capable of directing these vehicles. Autonomous logistics is now a fully mature technology; there are computers that can autonomously manage warehouses, order products that are running low, and ship packages around the world. Connect these smart logistical systems to driverless vehicles and you have an automated transport infrastructure, capable of joining together a post-scarcity world economy.

Then there is the issue of transporting people. Cars currently are very inefficient in terms of energy per passenger, they harm the planet, lead to inefficient land-use in our cities and they are also extremely dangerous. Due to its everyday nature, we sweep under the carpet how risky driving really is. The annual global death toll in road accidents is an amazing 1.2 million people per year and 15 million serious injuries^[1][2]. This is the equivalent of Auckland, the most populous city in New Zealand, being nuked each year in terms of death, and every man woman and child in New York and Hong Kong being severely injured every single year.

Luckily, several better methods of transport exist. A few of the more exotic ones are explored below, but a more familiar example is the train. Trains are one of the most efficient forms of transport in terms of energy per unit weight moved. They are also the easiest to automate, with some already being so, such as the Docklands Light Railway  in London.