4 ms·

In this future you won't own a car, so there's nothing for you to paint.

rimliu 9y ago
But you can paint the car you are riding but do not own! I don't even want to imagine how those shared cars will look like.
arethuza 9y ago
For the record I rather like owning my own car - I can see why a lot of people (particularly in towns/cities) could live without having their own vehicle but not everyone lives in the centre of a city.
- ghaff 9y ago
  A lot of the "no one will own cars" folks need to get out of their bubble more. The typical car is a sort of moving storage locker and has often been customized for preferences and needs like carrying various types of sports gear. (Also car seats for kids.) Plus, a lot of people just like having a car that they're comfortable in.
  - kaybe 9y ago
    I have talked to many people about private cars (out measuring NO2 pollution in cities) and it seems that this is the main argument why they won't give up their car. Kids is another huge argument. Handling kid's gear with rentals or public transport sucks a lot. My current thinking goes into the direction of small private electrical golf carts for cities since those fulfill the most important requirements given to me by those who say they'd never want to give up their car. One could even make them foldable and stack them upright when parked. Slow speeds mean that not much of a safety buffer is needed in the material. Being able to make longer trips in the same vehicle is surprisingly low on the list. It is given mainly by people with kids who want to load the vehicle in front of their house and not have to pay for several vehicles (thus having a golf cart and a normal car does not sound appealing).
    - ghaff 9y ago
      There have been various proposals for city-optimized vehicles such as http://cp.media.mit.edu/citycar/ http://cp.media.mit.edu/citycar/. Maybe someday. The problem is that there isn't really a sharp divide between dense urban core and everything else. I think about the largest city nearest to me and traffic can get pretty high speed even nearby fairly dense areas. Traffic is often jammed up but when it isn't it doesn't just move at sedate speeds.
    - nradov 9y ago
      Even inside cities, vehicles frequently need to drive at speeds up to 70kph. So while small electric golf carts (neighborhood electric vehicles) will continue to be used as niche vehicles in limited areas they're useless to most drivers.
      - kaybe 9y ago
        This may depend on region. I'm in Europe, where the city speed limit is at 50 km/h and frequently reduced to 30km/h and where you can get literally stuck between buildings in a few places with a larger car.
bluGill 9y ago
This future is unlikely to exist. For most people owning their car will be an advantage. If you already take public transit you might not understand this, but a lot of car owners have customized their car with other things. I'm not talking cosmetic things like paint either. Many golfers carry their clubs. The chess guy has his chess set in the car. Shopping bags from the lunch break shopping trip - all things you live in your personal car. Sure you can carry them in, but you don't want to.
- ghaff 9y ago
  Furthermore, there's an assumption that sharing vehicles lowers costs. Parking is one reason given. Maybe. But if you don't live and/or work in a dense part of a city, parking isn't a big issue. Feel free to argue that people might be better off if there were less parking but today's reality is that a lot of people don't have any parking issues on a day to day basis. The bigger argument is around improved utilization. But the cost of owning a car is usually more about mileage than time and shared vehicles will actually have to travel more miles because they won't always be transporting a passenger. There are some age-related costs, especially in states where it snows. Yes, some people want the latest and greatest but then they have the option of leasing today.

But you can paint the car you are riding but do not own! I don't even want to imagine how those shared cars will look like.

arethuza 9y ago

For the record I rather like owning my own car - I can see why a lot of people (particularly in towns/cities) could live without having their own vehicle but not everyone lives in the centre of a city.

ghaff 9y ago
A lot of the "no one will own cars" folks need to get out of their bubble more. The typical car is a sort of moving storage locker and has often been customized for preferences and needs like carrying various types of sports gear. (Also car seats for kids.) Plus, a lot of people just like having a car that they're comfortable in.
- kaybe 9y ago
  I have talked to many people about private cars (out measuring NO2 pollution in cities) and it seems that this is the main argument why they won't give up their car. Kids is another huge argument. Handling kid's gear with rentals or public transport sucks a lot. My current thinking goes into the direction of small private electrical golf carts for cities since those fulfill the most important requirements given to me by those who say they'd never want to give up their car. One could even make them foldable and stack them upright when parked. Slow speeds mean that not much of a safety buffer is needed in the material. Being able to make longer trips in the same vehicle is surprisingly low on the list. It is given mainly by people with kids who want to load the vehicle in front of their house and not have to pay for several vehicles (thus having a golf cart and a normal car does not sound appealing).
  - ghaff 9y ago
    There have been various proposals for city-optimized vehicles such as http://cp.media.mit.edu/citycar/ http://cp.media.mit.edu/citycar/. Maybe someday. The problem is that there isn't really a sharp divide between dense urban core and everything else. I think about the largest city nearest to me and traffic can get pretty high speed even nearby fairly dense areas. Traffic is often jammed up but when it isn't it doesn't just move at sedate speeds.
  - nradov 9y ago
    Even inside cities, vehicles frequently need to drive at speeds up to 70kph. So while small electric golf carts (neighborhood electric vehicles) will continue to be used as niche vehicles in limited areas they're useless to most drivers.
    - kaybe 9y ago
      This may depend on region. I'm in Europe, where the city speed limit is at 50 km/h and frequently reduced to 30km/h and where you can get literally stuck between buildings in a few places with a larger car.

bluGill 9y ago

This future is unlikely to exist. For most people owning their car will be an advantage. If you already take public transit you might not understand this, but a lot of car owners have customized their car with other things. I'm not talking cosmetic things like paint either. Many golfers carry their clubs. The chess guy has his chess set in the car. Shopping bags from the lunch break shopping trip - all things you live in your personal car. Sure you can carry them in, but you don't want to.

ghaff 9y ago
Furthermore, there's an assumption that sharing vehicles lowers costs. Parking is one reason given. Maybe. But if you don't live and/or work in a dense part of a city, parking isn't a big issue. Feel free to argue that people might be better off if there were less parking but today's reality is that a lot of people don't have any parking issues on a day to day basis. The bigger argument is around improved utilization. But the cost of owning a car is usually more about mileage than time and shared vehicles will actually have to travel more miles because they won't always be transporting a passenger. There are some age-related costs, especially in states where it snows. Yes, some people want the latest and greatest but then they have the option of leasing today.