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What can a smart car do that a 'regular' car can't? Save millions of lives by being safer driving than humans? Drive you home the rest of the time? Drive you

What can a smart car do that a 'regular' car can't? Save millions of lives by being safer driving than humans? Drive you home the rest of the time? Drive you cross country overnight while you sleep? Come and pick you up at the airport after a holiday? Make you money during the day as an autotaxi while you're not using it? Save your life by avoiding accidents you didn't see? Radically bring down the cost of taxis and car hire for those who don't own a car? In our lifetimes all cars will be electric driverless cars in at least some countries. It may not be Tesla but the future is coming.

maxxxxx 8y ago
No question this is coming. But I think the current car manufacturers are very well positioned to ride that wave. I don’t see much room for startups there.
- grey-area 8y ago
  Software is eating the world. Will be interesting to see how it plays out - it's quite possible other manufacturers will see the light and start producing autonomous cars (they certainly have a production advantage at the moment), but I think the advantage Tesla has is that they own the whole stack and know where they're going.
- bobsil1 8y ago
  They’ll mostly go out of business. They’re 7 years behind Model S and staffed with MechE’s not ML researchers.
  - phkahler 8y ago
    That's cute.
koolba 8y ago
> Save millions of lives by being safer driving than humans? That’s not a perceptible change. It’s a wonderful thing and I’m all for people not dying, but people aren’t suddenly going to notice the difference. It’s not like people entering a car think “Am I going to die?!” every time they go to work. > Drive you home the rest of the time? Again I don’t see this as being more than a convenience. At beta it leads to more screen time zoning out with a Netflix a la train commuting. > Drive you cross country overnight while you sleep? The vast majority of people can’t afford to take a week off to travel across the country so they would not notice this. > Come and pick you up at the airport after a holiday? Again a convenience, not a major change. One can already call an Uber from the airport. > Make you money during the day as an autotaxi while you're not using it? I don’t see this being as popular an idea as people make it out to be. The phrase “Make money while you sleep” has been pitched for years and in the case of renting your car out overnight, doesn’t factor insurance costs and the race to the bottom on pricing . Once that catches up there won’t be much money to be made. > Save your life by avoiding accidents you didn't see? Again this is a great thing but not perceptible to the daily user. > Radically bring down the cost of taxis and car hire for those who don't own a car? It’s already lower than the cost of ownership thanks to VC money. > In our lifetimes all cars will be electric driverless cars in at least some countries. It may not be Tesla but the future is coming. Electric has nothing to do with “smart”. It can be a gas engine. It can be a fuel cell. It could be something we don’t even know about yet.
- grey-area 8y ago
  All these conveniences mount up, I sincerely think they are in aggregate a significant selling point for most people. Electric has nothing to do with “smart”. This is the same mistake big automakers are still making. Electric is the future, it is also radically simpler, allows for automated recharges etc. It's be very hard to build an autonomous gas car.

maxxxxx 8y ago

No question this is coming. But I think the current car manufacturers are very well positioned to ride that wave. I don’t see much room for startups there.

grey-area 8y ago
Software is eating the world. Will be interesting to see how it plays out - it's quite possible other manufacturers will see the light and start producing autonomous cars (they certainly have a production advantage at the moment), but I think the advantage Tesla has is that they own the whole stack and know where they're going.
bobsil1 8y ago
They’ll mostly go out of business. They’re 7 years behind Model S and staffed with MechE’s not ML researchers.
- phkahler 8y ago
  That's cute.

koolba 8y ago

> Save millions of lives by being safer driving than humans? That’s not a perceptible change. It’s a wonderful thing and I’m all for people not dying, but people aren’t suddenly going to notice the difference. It’s not like people entering a car think “Am I going to die?!” every time they go to work. > Drive you home the rest of the time? Again I don’t see this as being more than a convenience. At beta it leads to more screen time zoning out with a Netflix a la train commuting. > Drive you cross country overnight while you sleep? The vast majority of people can’t afford to take a week off to travel across the country so they would not notice this. > Come and pick you up at the airport after a holiday? Again a convenience, not a major change. One can already call an Uber from the airport. > Make you money during the day as an autotaxi while you're not using it? I don’t see this being as popular an idea as people make it out to be. The phrase “Make money while you sleep” has been pitched for years and in the case of renting your car out overnight, doesn’t factor insurance costs and the race to the bottom on pricing . Once that catches up there won’t be much money to be made. > Save your life by avoiding accidents you didn't see? Again this is a great thing but not perceptible to the daily user. > Radically bring down the cost of taxis and car hire for those who don't own a car? It’s already lower than the cost of ownership thanks to VC money. > In our lifetimes all cars will be electric driverless cars in at least some countries. It may not be Tesla but the future is coming. Electric has nothing to do with “smart”. It can be a gas engine. It can be a fuel cell. It could be something we don’t even know about yet.

grey-area 8y ago
All these conveniences mount up, I sincerely think they are in aggregate a significant selling point for most people. Electric has nothing to do with “smart”. This is the same mistake big automakers are still making. Electric is the future, it is also radically simpler, allows for automated recharges etc. It's be very hard to build an autonomous gas car.