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This is peak Hacker News: "Don't buy a $50 train ticket - buy a not-actually-invented yet probably $120,000 car instead". The high-speed rail project is a shit
by abritinthebay 9y ago
This is peak Hacker News: "Don't buy a $50 train ticket - buy a not-actually-invented yet probably $120,000 car instead".
The high-speed rail project is a shit show, but more cars is not the answer either.
- dragonwriter 9y agoMore cars, or at least more car trips,—independent of whether they need drivers or what kind of powerplant they have—is, in fact, exactly the problem at which HSR is directed.
- erikpukinskis 9y agoAlmost no one will buy autonomous cars. You will just hail one for less than the cost of gas. Only rich people and people in and out of a car all day (full time parents, car-based workers, etc) will buy them.
- ubernostrum 9y agoYou will just hail one for less than the cost of gas. If the cost of the ride is less than the cost of gas, how is the operator making a profit? Especially since they have to cover more than just the cost of gas. (an Uber-style "use VC money to subsidize below-cost services" model is not sustainable in the long term, by the way)
- closeparen 9y agoI think the point is that they’ll be electric.
- sah2ed 9y agoIn addition to closeparen's point that such autonomous cars will be electric, they will also have much lower mantenance costs due to the lower internal complexity of doing away with the ICE.
- CPLX 9y agoThis is self evidently true because incredibly complex software implementations that interact with the real world have no maintainance requirements.
- abritinthebay 9y ago... hoping sarcasm. But you never know on here...
- dx034 9y agoAnd every family and anyone who likes having a car. I'd expect not more than 10-20% to stop buying cars. Having your own car is about more than just access to transportation.