As Google, Uber, Amazon and Tesla work to transform transportation, there’s an important task that should be taken up by civil engineers: better informing the public about the risks. The tech powerhouses are preoccupied with errands such as banishing the headaches of commuting, eliminating automobile crashes and rendering obsolete driving with hands on steering wheels and feet on pedals. Many jobs involving driving are going to disappear, but much good can come of these innovations, including improved safety.
Look at what Tesla is doing: proposing an unproven system involving narrower-than-usual tunnels through which magnetically supported “skates” will carry urban commuters to and from jobs and airports. To do it, Tesla is seeking permits to tunnel in the Chicago area and other places with its own tunnel-boring machine.