Is Bob Lutz Nuts?

Bob Lutz is, like Lee Iacocca, a legend in the auto biz.  Lutz worked with Iacocca at Chrysler, then moved to GM just before it became Government Motors.  He's written a couple of books on the car biz; both are probably interesting, to say the least.

Recently, Lutz has been making noises about 'self-driving' cars and 'the end of the automotive era.'  Some of those noises are.......uhhhmmmnnn.....nuts.

...Lutz’s article begins with the assertion that the end of the automotive era is upon us. “We’re now getting to the point where the automobile can’t fulfill its primary purpose anymore,” he said, “which is to move people from place to place on the surface of the Earth, easily and efficiently.” He pointed out that human-driven cars lead to a loss productivity, which provides an incentive to shift to autonomous cars. “We have so much traffic congestion that enormous amounts of time is being lost in all the major cities and urban conglomerations around the world in traffic.”...

Ol' Bob's point of view is fine, if you happen to live in a very large city.  Detroit, NYC, LA, SFO,  Chicago, Atlanta--yah, well, OK.  But for the other 70% of the country's inhabitants, Bob Lutz is nuts.  Here's more proof:

...“Is this a huge change? Yes! Is it hard for people to get used to? Yes! We had the same thing when we still had horses,” he said. But in high traffic areas, the autonomous cars, which he predicts won’t be owned by anyone but will be shared among people as a paid service, will help make transportation more efficient. “In a way it restricts some of the freedoms we’ve had up to now,” he said, “but on the other hand it opens up incredible new possibilities and mainly it’s gonna give everybody time back.”...

There is simply no comparison whatsoever between horse-based transportation and car-based transportation.  None.   And Bob, take a hard look at "community-owned" goods.  You might remember the term "maintenance," Bob.  Who's going to do that?  You want to "share" a car last occupied by a vomitous drunk, Bob?  Be my guest!

Ol' Bob has been drinking the socialist-dictator juice too heavily.  Smart guy, but nutso-batso prophet.