{"id":319236,"date":"2025-08-05T07:28:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T07:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/319236\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T07:28:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T07:28:11","slug":"ai-will-make-dublins-metrolink-obsolete-says-dermot-desmond-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/319236\/","title":{"rendered":"AI will make Dublin\u2019s MetroLink obsolete, says Dermot Desmond \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artificial intelligence<\/a> (AI) will make Dublin\u2019s planned MetroLink<\/a> obsolete and the Government should abandon the \u20ac10 billion project, according to businessman Dermot Desmond<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Instead, Mr Desmond has urged the Government to concentrate on the coming advantages of AI , where autonomously-driven vehicles (AVs) will cut car ownership dramatically in the decades ahead.<\/p>\n

If approved, construction of the 18.8\u202fkm mostly-underground MetroLink should begin between 2028 and 2031, with services between Swords, Dublin Airport, Dublin city centre, and on to Charlemont in south Dublin city opening in early 2035.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0MetroLink to Dublin Airport not needed, says Michael O\u2019LearyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Equipped with driverless trains running every 3 minutes during peak hours, the MetroLink is proposed to carry 20,000 passengers each hour, each way when it opens. <\/p>\n

\"DermotDermot Desmond has said he believes MetroLink will be out of date in 10 or 15 years\u2019 time. Photograph: Cyril Byrne <\/p>\n

However, Mr Desmond is scathing of the plan, believing that public and private transportation is on the cusp globally of the biggest changes for a century or more on the back of the growth of AI.<\/p>\n

The billionaire said he had believed that the Department of Finance should veto the MetroLink. \u201cI think it will be useless, out of date in 10 or 15 years\u2019 time. This is something that is not going to be required, it shouldn\u2019t be planned.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Decision on \u20ac9bn MetroLink rail project expected within weeksOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

AI and autonomous vehicles will cut the numbers of vehicles on the roads dramatically, he predicted: \u201cI think you need to look at what\u2019s going to happen in the future and then plan backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

The billionaire investor has become increasingly interested in the subject of AI, sponsoring a conference in Belfast last month with Queen\u2019s University, which heard from major speakers from the United States and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Government to examine Metrolink cost estimates after project director predicts big overrunOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere the change that\u2019s going to make a big difference to everybody in the world, not alone Ireland. I think that change is going to come out of transport,\u201d Mr Desmond declared then.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin 15 to 25 years, I think it will be mandated that there will be autonomous vehicles. People will not be allowed to drive anything,\u201d he said, adding that AI is already cutting travel times and saving energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic transport systems in the future will become much more efficient. Buses will know what and where the demand is and will organise themselves accordingly,\u201d said Mr Desmond, who urged the Government to plan for wide-scale AV bus services.<\/p>\n

The changes to come will overturn every conception held today about transport in cities, with faster journeys, less pollution and far less demand for parking because there will be fewer private vehicles, replaced by robotaxis.<\/p>\n

Most cars today lie idle for 80 per cent of their lives. \u201cThe most optimistic case for Dublin is a reduction of 98 per cent in vehicle numbers,\u201d he said, though he put the most realistic reduction at between 20 per cent and 60 per cent. <\/p>\n

\u201cAV cars will require less space on roads as they will be better able to travel efficiently if the margin for human error is removed,\u201d he said. \u201cWe already live in a world where our phones anticipate when we will leave for work and tell us how long it will take.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artificial intelligence (AI) will make Dublin\u2019s planned MetroLink obsolete and the Government should abandon the \u20ac10 billion project,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3163],"tags":[323,1942,115919,26383,53,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-319236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-dermot-desmond","11":"tag-metrolink","12":"tag-technology","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114974982329393379","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}