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Whether Ive is a visionary is ancillary to the point. The vision of the robotaxi has been had by many, including myself long before autonomous vehicles were reg
by Fricken 8y ago
Whether Ive is a visionary is ancillary to the point. The vision of the robotaxi has been had by many, including myself long before autonomous vehicles were regarded as anything less than science fiction. What matters to Apple and everyone else is execution.
Robotaxis will be more personalized than privately owned ones. Rather than be limited to a single one-sided fits all form factor for all your transportation needs, you'll be able to call upon the optimal vehicle depending on whether you're commuting, hauling a load, going on a road trip, spending a lavish night on the town, or sending your kids to soccer practice.
- AnthonyMouse 8y ago> Rather than be limited to a single one-sided fits all form factor for all your transportation needs, you'll be able to call upon the optimal vehicle depending on whether you're commuting, hauling a load, going on a road trip, spending a lavish night on the town, or sending your kids to soccer practice. This is the opposite of personalization. It's commodification. Instead of your car personalized to your specifications to fit into your niche, you get a dozen generic categories and decide that today you'll be summoning Generic Touring Vehicle but tomorrow it will be Generic Multi-Personnel Transport Vehicle or Generic Light Duty Towing Vehicle. The fact that they offer fries in three different sizes doesn't mean yours is personalized because you picked the medium one.
- Fricken 8y agoWhat does personalized mean then if it doesn't mean tailored to suit your needs? What do personalized fries look like if it doesn't mean getting the size/type of French fries you asked for?
- AnthonyMouse 8y agoIt means the one you got is not interchangeable with the one anybody else got in some non-frivolous way. It's not personalization when fifty other people got exactly the same thing. Buses aren't personalized just because they each go to a different place.
- Fricken 8y agoI don't get it. Cars are mass produced, they make millions of them, all same. Between one person's Honda civic and another, what's the non-frivilous difference?
- AnthonyMouse 8y agoThere isn't one. Existing cars aren't personalized by the factory. Some people personalize their own after the fact. Other examples of personalized things: A caricature of you drawn at a carnival, the local chef who knows just how you like your meal, that thing your nephew made you in shop class, etc. In tech it usually means using the surveillance the company has conducted on you to make search suggestions and things like that. But people are increasingly finding that creepy and invasive, so it's not clear more of that is going to be a winner in the transportation market. Even historically it has been mostly backfill to rationalize the surveillance. Having some cloud surveillance technology literally following you around and recording your whereabouts isn't exactly the same kind of warm feeling you get from your favorite chef knowing how you like your dinner.
- Someone 8y agoYour car is blue, black, red, or whatever. It may have bigger/wider wheels, a spoiler, a better radio, stickers on its back that express your preferences, those sunglasses in its glove compartment that you never use, but have fond memories of, etc. Whether those are frivolous, I think is in the eye of the beholder.