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Americans are just like everyone else when it comes to effects of price and convenience. In Manhattan, only 23% of households own cars (https://www.nycedc.com/
by kjksf 9y ago
Americans are just like everyone else when it comes to effects of price and convenience.
In Manhattan, only 23% of households own cars (https://www.nycedc.com/blog-entry/new-yorkers-and-cars https://www.nycedc.com/blog-entry/new-yorkers-and-cars).
In suburbs, it's 100%+.
Are Americans living in suburbs 5x more freedom loving than those living in Manhattan?
Of course not. In suburbs owning a car is a necessity (regardless of price). In Manhattan, you can live without a car and space is in such a premium that owning a car is an expensive hassle. You can see how massive effect of price and convenience can be.
Now imagine that long term per-mile cost of using a car from a fleet is lower than buying your own car? Most people will switch.
How is that possible? Cars are idle, on average, 96% of the time. If a fleet of cars can generate 50% utilization (12 hour out of 24 hour day), there's a lot of room to make a profit while charging lower per-mile price than owning a car.
When self-driving technology works, it'll be a matter of time for majority (easily 50%+) of people to switch to using a car from self-driving fleet vs. owning a car.
- dmitrygr 9y agoGo look at the typical contents of a soccer mom's car and you will realize why what you just said is very short-sighted. For some people cars are not just a method to get from A to B in the morning and from B to a in the evening.
- xbmcuser 9y agoYou are assuming the way people live their lives and commute will be the same in the next 2-3 decades. A child born today that will live with automated travel in the future won't have the same needs when he grows into the 30s and has his own kids. You and I might not be willing to trust a robot to drive our children to soccer camp or whatever activity but someone that grows up with tech wont have the same hesitance.
- igetspam 9y agoI actually disagree with a fundamental part of your argument. I do believe those living outside city centers are significantly more "freedom loving" than their city dwelling counterparts. I don't live out here because I can't afford to live in a city, I live out here because I'm afforded more freedom (more free space to move around, fewer lifestyle restrictions, generally fewer regulations, etc) to do as I want. I think the idea of autonomous vehicles or an outright ban on vehicles makes sense in a place like Manhattan. Most of us don't live there and this is a rather sprawling country. Waiting around for an autonomous blob to get to my house when my pig has decided that ant poison is delicious and needs to be rushed to the vet wouldn't work. If price were a motivating enough factor for people to change, places like SF and Manhattan would be empty.
- rosser 9y agoYou don't value "freedom" more. You value a specific kind of freedom more. Don't conflate the two.
- filesystem 9y agoI think your point would be better served with some elaboration. It seems that you are claiming that you know (based on one paragraph) what that poster values and he doesn't. I don't think I need to explain why that is absurd.