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Everyone in the world will benefit from a substantial consumer surplus from not having to pay the wages of every driver involved in the supply chain of products

Everyone in the world will benefit from a substantial consumer surplus from not having to pay the wages of every driver involved in the supply chain of products bought and sold. Of course, the subset of people who got fired will not have a great time, but the rest of us will benefit hugely, and hopefully our taxes will help cushion their blow with re training assistance and other benefits.

tyingq 10y ago
Is that necessarily how it works? I'm no economics expert, but what compels the savings to be passed back to consumers, versus just being reaped as additional margin? Edit: I'm assuming less competition, since the barrier to entry for a fully automated trucking company would be higher than a traditional human driven fleet.
- amelius 10y ago
  Yes, an autonomous truck company could temporarily lower their prices, thereby killing all their competitors, and then increase their prices to an unreasonable point.
  - AdieuToLogic 10y ago
    This is the Luxottica[1] model employed in the eyewear market. I think it is reasonable to consider that a similar situation could develop in the shipping industry, given a sufficiently disruptive + monopolized offering. 1 - http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/sticker-shock-why-are-glasses-so-expensive-4/ http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/sticker-shock-why-are-glasses-...
- jfoster 10y ago
  It has to be better than existing logistics in some way or it won't get used. That could mean it's more reliable, but it probably also means it's at least a bit cheaper. You're right that the majority of the savings probably wouldn't be realised by consumers until there is more than one player, though. On the other hand, given how many companies are attempting this, that seems like it will happen quite quickly.
zelias 10y ago
I think this falls apart when the subset of fired people exceeds the subset of beneficiaries. Everyone's job is at stake on some level.

tyingq 10y ago

Is that necessarily how it works? I'm no economics expert, but what compels the savings to be passed back to consumers, versus just being reaped as additional margin? Edit: I'm assuming less competition, since the barrier to entry for a fully automated trucking company would be higher than a traditional human driven fleet.

amelius 10y ago
Yes, an autonomous truck company could temporarily lower their prices, thereby killing all their competitors, and then increase their prices to an unreasonable point.
- AdieuToLogic 10y ago
  This is the Luxottica[1] model employed in the eyewear market. I think it is reasonable to consider that a similar situation could develop in the shipping industry, given a sufficiently disruptive + monopolized offering. 1 - http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/sticker-shock-why-are-glasses-so-expensive-4/ http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/sticker-shock-why-are-glasses-...
jfoster 10y ago
It has to be better than existing logistics in some way or it won't get used. That could mean it's more reliable, but it probably also means it's at least a bit cheaper. You're right that the majority of the savings probably wouldn't be realised by consumers until there is more than one player, though. On the other hand, given how many companies are attempting this, that seems like it will happen quite quickly.

zelias 10y ago

I think this falls apart when the subset of fired people exceeds the subset of beneficiaries. Everyone's job is at stake on some level.