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Couldn't you argue that self-driving cars are more appropriate to more sprawling areas versus other types of public transportation? Buses, trains, subways, ligh

by wilg 10y ago

Couldn't you argue that self-driving cars are more appropriate to more sprawling areas versus other types of public transportation? Buses, trains, subways, light rail etc all seem inefficient for urban sprawl, but self-driving cars require no complicated infrastructure and let you get point-to-point just as fast as today.

white-flame 10y ago
Owning your own self-driving car would make sense there. But in rural areas, you'd have to wait too long for a centralized service's car to show up because of lack of economy of scale, and the larger distances it'd have to service. In theory, you could schedule them well ahead of time to arrive when needed, but that's far less convenient and the scale & distance will still significantly affect the price.
- Rapzid 10y ago
  Yeah, owning personal transportation isn't going anywhere for a LONG time except, largely, in certain growing circles in less than a handful of US Urban centers. For everyone else self-driving will just another trickle-down feature their cars get; like electronic stability control. When the Ford Fiesta has had self-driving features for 3 years(so I can pick it up used) that's when I'll have it. And that's probably about when it will start seeing widespread adoption; when it's available standard in lower-end cars and used lower-end cars.
gragas 10y ago
I don't think the technology is convincing yet. You can't go hunting or fishing in a self-driving car.
Kadin 10y ago
Self driving, privately owned cars, sure. There are two issues that I think get talked about together, whenever the idea of self-driving cars comes up: self-driving cars themselves, and then self-driving cars as part of an Uber-like pooled vehicle business model. I think that self driving cars as a technology are definitely on the horizon, and if they don't hit any major roadblocks (literally or figuratively...), some level of self-driving capabilities might become mandatory in the next couple of decades. It makes driving on freeways much safer, and also allows for types of interchanges that aren't possible with human drivers. But the argument you sometimes hear tossed around, that self-driving cars will lead to Uber-like services displacing all or nearly all private car ownership... that strikes me as much more speculative. There are cultural-psychological aspects to car ownership, and I'm not convinced that the value proposition could be made sufficiently strong to cause people to not want to own their own car, while still creating a viable business for the pooling company, in a suburban or exurban (to say nothing of truly rural) area. Owning a car in a dense city is a pain in the ass and a huge expense; owning a car in a rural area is basically a necessity to live as an independent adult. It'll be a lot harder to get people in that second group to switch to vehicle pooling than the people who probably detest having a car in the first place for all the expense and inconvenience it causes.

by wilg 10y ago

white-flame 10y ago

Owning your own self-driving car would make sense there. But in rural areas, you'd have to wait too long for a centralized service's car to show up because of lack of economy of scale, and the larger distances it'd have to service. In theory, you could schedule them well ahead of time to arrive when needed, but that's far less convenient and the scale & distance will still significantly affect the price.

Rapzid 10y ago
Yeah, owning personal transportation isn't going anywhere for a LONG time except, largely, in certain growing circles in less than a handful of US Urban centers. For everyone else self-driving will just another trickle-down feature their cars get; like electronic stability control. When the Ford Fiesta has had self-driving features for 3 years(so I can pick it up used) that's when I'll have it. And that's probably about when it will start seeing widespread adoption; when it's available standard in lower-end cars and used lower-end cars.

gragas 10y ago

I don't think the technology is convincing yet. You can't go hunting or fishing in a self-driving car.

Kadin 10y ago

Self driving, privately owned cars, sure. There are two issues that I think get talked about together, whenever the idea of self-driving cars comes up: self-driving cars themselves, and then self-driving cars as part of an Uber-like pooled vehicle business model. I think that self driving cars as a technology are definitely on the horizon, and if they don't hit any major roadblocks (literally or figuratively...), some level of self-driving capabilities might become mandatory in the next couple of decades. It makes driving on freeways much safer, and also allows for types of interchanges that aren't possible with human drivers. But the argument you sometimes hear tossed around, that self-driving cars will lead to Uber-like services displacing all or nearly all private car ownership... that strikes me as much more speculative. There are cultural-psychological aspects to car ownership, and I'm not convinced that the value proposition could be made sufficiently strong to cause people to not want to own their own car, while still creating a viable business for the pooling company, in a suburban or exurban (to say nothing of truly rural) area. Owning a car in a dense city is a pain in the ass and a huge expense; owning a car in a rural area is basically a necessity to live as an independent adult. It'll be a lot harder to get people in that second group to switch to vehicle pooling than the people who probably detest having a car in the first place for all the expense and inconvenience it causes.