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You know there is a whole legion of jobs that require a vehicle? All construction jobs for example. Most service techs require a bunch of expensive tools and ne

You know there is a whole legion of jobs that require a vehicle? All construction jobs for example. Most service techs require a bunch of expensive tools and need a secure place to keep them on site. The list literally goes on and on... Can an hunter ride share the pacifica out to the forest with his/her hunting gear? How about bicyclists? People with kids know about activity shuffling... I am not sure that sharing will work for my families schedule. Driving drunk isn't the bulk of the accidents I go to on a regular basis. If we could just eliminate texting while driving, we could see a significant drop in accidents.

ghaff 10y ago
Once they're available (and I see no reason not to continue thinking that door-to-door self-driving is decades out), the ownership question definitely gets interesting. But I don't think it's as obvious as some think in part for the reasons you say. Furthermore, a lot of people use their cars at the same time of day. It's also the case that a lot of auto depreciation is mileage-based rather than time-based (especially in non-snowy/salty environments). The questions others raise about the maintenance/update requirements for these sorts of vehicles are interesting ones. My guess is that, like Zipcar and Uber, they will make a difference at the margins but won't cause a wholesale shift. But who knows? Especially if, as I believe, this happens over a number of decades with demographic shifts happening in parallel.
iainmerrick 10y ago
Can an hunter ride share the pacifica out to the forest with his/her hunting gear? How about bicyclists? People with kids know about activity shuffling... I am not sure that sharing will work for my families schedule. Easy: many households now have two (or more cars), but self-driving cars will allow many of them to reduce to a single car. One people carrier for family outings, on-demand robot taxis for commutes and quick errands. Maybe not a total revolution, but a 50% reduction in household car ownership would be a pretty big deal (it'd make neighbourhood parking a lot easier for a start).

ghaff 10y ago

Once they're available (and I see no reason not to continue thinking that door-to-door self-driving is decades out), the ownership question definitely gets interesting. But I don't think it's as obvious as some think in part for the reasons you say. Furthermore, a lot of people use their cars at the same time of day. It's also the case that a lot of auto depreciation is mileage-based rather than time-based (especially in non-snowy/salty environments). The questions others raise about the maintenance/update requirements for these sorts of vehicles are interesting ones. My guess is that, like Zipcar and Uber, they will make a difference at the margins but won't cause a wholesale shift. But who knows? Especially if, as I believe, this happens over a number of decades with demographic shifts happening in parallel.

iainmerrick 10y ago

Can an hunter ride share the pacifica out to the forest with his/her hunting gear? How about bicyclists? People with kids know about activity shuffling... I am not sure that sharing will work for my families schedule. Easy: many households now have two (or more cars), but self-driving cars will allow many of them to reduce to a single car. One people carrier for family outings, on-demand robot taxis for commutes and quick errands. Maybe not a total revolution, but a 50% reduction in household car ownership would be a pretty big deal (it'd make neighbourhood parking a lot easier for a start).