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I could just as easily see it going the other way. With self-driving we could free up tons of urban land from being parking, as all cars can essentially valet t

I could just as easily see it going the other way. With self-driving we could free up tons of urban land from being parking, as all cars can essentially valet themselves to a more optimal, consolidated parking location that may not be adjacent to your destination, or put themselves in “Uber mode” and run errand while you’re not using them. Uber becomes even cheaper, thus making it even easier for people to live in cities without a car, and greatly improving transport in places where public transit is not great. Thus the reduced need for car ownership and all that parking that is now on the market for redevelopment should lower the cost of living in cities which is a huge deterrent that keeps people out right now. I imagine that there will be some flux in both directions, with the less desirable suburbs being the losers in that equation.

dmix 9y ago
Urban parking lots would essentially become high traffic charging stations. Those cars will need to charge every 100-200km, so owning parking lots will become highly profitable soon. If I was a long-term real estate developer I'd be buying up a bunch of urban parking lots and converting them into charging stations. Then selling a stock of them to Tesla/Uber in 5-10yrs at a high mark-up. Apartment/grocery stores/office/etc buildings with underground parking could technically lease out their land as well. It would still very likely free up far more land than is needed for charging, as so much parking space is used for far longer than the average charging/waiting-for-fleet-calls would need. Not to mention the AI space optimization they would utilize.
- djrogers 9y ago
  > Those cars will need to charge every 100-200km More like every 400-500km. Even current electric cars generally have ranges in the 350km+ range, and they're getting better every generation. Unless my work provides me free charging, I'll be charging at home where my electricity is supplied by my solar panels.
  - dmix 9y ago
    Oh wow, it was actually 200 miles for a Tesla 3 which is 350km. And it's only going to improve. That means in an urban environment they'll be able to drive for quite a long time before charging... that's interesting as it means even less real estate needed for charging. The implications of this technology on daily life in the next decade will be nearly as interesting as the deployment of consumer internet in the 1990s. There are so many possibilities, it's very exciting...
    - maccard 9y ago
      Interestingly That's not far off the range of an average petrol/gas car according to [0] - I can't vouch for the numbers in that article though. [0] https://solarchargeddriving.com/2011/05/13/whats-your-gasoline-cars-range/ https://solarchargeddriving.com/2011/05/13/whats-your-gasoli...
- ckinnan 9y ago
  Yeah, the demand for parking will collapse, which would bring down the value of parking lots, that's going to be a far bigger trend than space for charging.
- erikpukinskis 9y ago
  I don’t see why they’d need to charge near demand though. Charged vehicles can move into dense areas, drive around for a couple hours and then grab one rider to go out to a charge station in a cheap area, then grab someone else and head back in to the city center. Seems like there will be plenty of fungibility in charge locations.
  - dmix 9y ago
    It's not just charging though, space is also needed for waiting for a fleet call while conserving energy. I'm sure the usage time will be highly optimized but there are still going to be significant differences in demand/number of cars on the road between surge/peak hours and usual demand. Potentially meaning extra vehicles needed for surge are not being used 75% of the day.
empath75 9y ago
It makes no sense for an individual to buy a self driving car, honestly. Remove the cost of paying for a driver from a taxi ride and taking taxis everywhere becomes much more economical.

dmix 9y ago

Urban parking lots would essentially become high traffic charging stations. Those cars will need to charge every 100-200km, so owning parking lots will become highly profitable soon. If I was a long-term real estate developer I'd be buying up a bunch of urban parking lots and converting them into charging stations. Then selling a stock of them to Tesla/Uber in 5-10yrs at a high mark-up. Apartment/grocery stores/office/etc buildings with underground parking could technically lease out their land as well. It would still very likely free up far more land than is needed for charging, as so much parking space is used for far longer than the average charging/waiting-for-fleet-calls would need. Not to mention the AI space optimization they would utilize.

djrogers 9y ago
> Those cars will need to charge every 100-200km More like every 400-500km. Even current electric cars generally have ranges in the 350km+ range, and they're getting better every generation. Unless my work provides me free charging, I'll be charging at home where my electricity is supplied by my solar panels.
- dmix 9y ago
  Oh wow, it was actually 200 miles for a Tesla 3 which is 350km. And it's only going to improve. That means in an urban environment they'll be able to drive for quite a long time before charging... that's interesting as it means even less real estate needed for charging. The implications of this technology on daily life in the next decade will be nearly as interesting as the deployment of consumer internet in the 1990s. There are so many possibilities, it's very exciting...
  - maccard 9y ago
    Interestingly That's not far off the range of an average petrol/gas car according to [0] - I can't vouch for the numbers in that article though. [0] https://solarchargeddriving.com/2011/05/13/whats-your-gasoline-cars-range/ https://solarchargeddriving.com/2011/05/13/whats-your-gasoli...
ckinnan 9y ago
Yeah, the demand for parking will collapse, which would bring down the value of parking lots, that's going to be a far bigger trend than space for charging.
erikpukinskis 9y ago
I don’t see why they’d need to charge near demand though. Charged vehicles can move into dense areas, drive around for a couple hours and then grab one rider to go out to a charge station in a cheap area, then grab someone else and head back in to the city center. Seems like there will be plenty of fungibility in charge locations.
- dmix 9y ago
  It's not just charging though, space is also needed for waiting for a fleet call while conserving energy. I'm sure the usage time will be highly optimized but there are still going to be significant differences in demand/number of cars on the road between surge/peak hours and usual demand. Potentially meaning extra vehicles needed for surge are not being used 75% of the day.

empath75 9y ago

It makes no sense for an individual to buy a self driving car, honestly. Remove the cost of paying for a driver from a taxi ride and taking taxis everywhere becomes much more economical.