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Agreed -- this seems like a terrible plan. Taxis are designed to be durable more than comfortable, have drivers to constrain rider misbehavior, and generally h

Agreed -- this seems like a terrible plan. Taxis are designed to be durable more than comfortable, have drivers to constrain rider misbehavior, and generally have fares ride in back, and they still get nasty. If I wanted my car to serve as an unsupervised taxi, it would have to be durable inside, I could never leave any personal belongings in it (e.g. gym bag, sunglasses, recent purchases), and I would have to get it seriously cleaned on a regular basis. That would dramatically increase the cost and/or decrease the value of ownership. Just look at bikes: either you hire/"share" a 40-pound tank that sucks to ride, rent something decent with a substantial deposit, or buy a nice bike that you would never loan out to random strangers. Public transportation is a great thing, but it is fundamentally different from private vehicles.

Klathmon 9y ago
And yet Uber and Lyft are monumentally successful, which is the exact same thing, but with a driver.
- username223 9y ago
  Uber and Lyft are "monumentally successful" (while still hemorrhaging money and, in one case, flirting with being sued out of existence) because people are bad at math. People are much better at noticing that their stuff gets trashed. Don't underestimate the importance of "with a driver."
  - Klathmon 9y ago
    Okay but if your argument is that "people won't sign up for it", you are clearly wrong. Regardless of the financial success of those companies, they are everywhere in just about every major city and even most suburban areas in the US. Throw a streaming camera in the car, and require a credit card on file, and they can trash the inside of my car all they want, they are just paying for the cleaning or new interior.
    - matte_black 9y ago
      Think it’s that easy? Good luck, if they don’t pay then maybe go through your insurance, which is a lot higher too because you need special insurance since you use your car for commercial purposes.
      - Klathmon 9y ago
        I don't actually think it's that easy, and I would most likely not ever do something like that, but I think it's ridiculous to imply that nobody would sign up for such a service, hell the fact that over 2/3s of my friends in college were driving for uber and lyft on their off-time, a few of them actually bought newer cars just so they could Uber/Lyft and easily made the difference back. Still, even without the "general population ridesharing" aspect, I'd love to "rent out" my car to friends and family. Between myself and my wife, we really don't need 2 cars, but we have 2 because there are some semi-rare instances where we both need to be somewhere different. The amount of time that we both need to be somewhere different at exactly the same time is even more rare. If we had a self-driving car capable of taxiing us around, it would allow us to drop down to 1 car instead of 2, meaning it can be quite a bit more expensive and still save us money.
    - username223 9y ago
      People won't stay signed up for it for very long. > Throw a streaming camera in the car, and require a credit card on file, and they can trash the inside of my car all they want, they are just paying for the cleaning or new interior. You might want to think this one through a bit more carefully. One dude hides a joint in his back pocket, and now your car smells like weed. Another accidentally sat on a piece of gum earlier, and now part of it is stuck to your seat. When do you notice? How do you decide who is at fault, or when to start a credit card dispute? You will have a dozen random people using your car every day, very few malicious, but none with any interest in taking care of it beyond not trashing it. Taking care of "your" car will become a full-time job. EDIT (slow-ban reply): Fair enough. Plenty of people have rental properties. I think it seems like an enormous hassle, but it can apparently be a decent living or side-hustle, so I could be wrong about cars.

Klathmon 9y ago

And yet Uber and Lyft are monumentally successful, which is the exact same thing, but with a driver.

username223 9y ago
Uber and Lyft are "monumentally successful" (while still hemorrhaging money and, in one case, flirting with being sued out of existence) because people are bad at math. People are much better at noticing that their stuff gets trashed. Don't underestimate the importance of "with a driver."
- Klathmon 9y ago
  Okay but if your argument is that "people won't sign up for it", you are clearly wrong. Regardless of the financial success of those companies, they are everywhere in just about every major city and even most suburban areas in the US. Throw a streaming camera in the car, and require a credit card on file, and they can trash the inside of my car all they want, they are just paying for the cleaning or new interior.
  - matte_black 9y ago
    Think it’s that easy? Good luck, if they don’t pay then maybe go through your insurance, which is a lot higher too because you need special insurance since you use your car for commercial purposes.
    - Klathmon 9y ago
      I don't actually think it's that easy, and I would most likely not ever do something like that, but I think it's ridiculous to imply that nobody would sign up for such a service, hell the fact that over 2/3s of my friends in college were driving for uber and lyft on their off-time, a few of them actually bought newer cars just so they could Uber/Lyft and easily made the difference back. Still, even without the "general population ridesharing" aspect, I'd love to "rent out" my car to friends and family. Between myself and my wife, we really don't need 2 cars, but we have 2 because there are some semi-rare instances where we both need to be somewhere different. The amount of time that we both need to be somewhere different at exactly the same time is even more rare. If we had a self-driving car capable of taxiing us around, it would allow us to drop down to 1 car instead of 2, meaning it can be quite a bit more expensive and still save us money.
  - username223 9y ago
    People won't stay signed up for it for very long. > Throw a streaming camera in the car, and require a credit card on file, and they can trash the inside of my car all they want, they are just paying for the cleaning or new interior. You might want to think this one through a bit more carefully. One dude hides a joint in his back pocket, and now your car smells like weed. Another accidentally sat on a piece of gum earlier, and now part of it is stuck to your seat. When do you notice? How do you decide who is at fault, or when to start a credit card dispute? You will have a dozen random people using your car every day, very few malicious, but none with any interest in taking care of it beyond not trashing it. Taking care of "your" car will become a full-time job. EDIT (slow-ban reply): Fair enough. Plenty of people have rental properties. I think it seems like an enormous hassle, but it can apparently be a decent living or side-hustle, so I could be wrong about cars.