4 ms·

I think we'll see a lot of approximations of it. Autonomous taxis in predefined spaces (see Cruise, Waymo), trucks on highways (maybe changing to human drivers

I think we'll see a lot of approximations of it. Autonomous taxis in predefined spaces (see Cruise, Waymo), trucks on highways (maybe changing to human drivers when entering/nearing cities). But no safe full self-driving for a while. Although I do feel like the money spent in the US so far would've been better spent setting up better public transit/train lines.

Super_Jambo 6y ago
Better public transit can't be leveraged into a monopoly though, it would just quietly improve peoples lives.
- AstralStorm 6y ago
  Of course it can, that's what most public transport companies are. They tend to be government subsidized. There's very little competition because there is not much to compete for, except in longer distance rail and bus. You also need permission from the city to use public stops, consult routes and times, which is a barrier of entry. Not an insurmountable one and nobody prohibits you from running private stops or garages. You can even negotiate the use of bus lanes or tram lines. The other barrier is much higher capital investment. Both bus drivers, busses and stops are not cheap, while the margin on a ticket is thin. (Compared to taxi fleet.) But it can be done even encouraging competition - see South Korea for an example of where it worked.
DarmokJalad1701 6y ago
> Although I do feel like the money spent in the US so far would've been better spent setting up better public transit/train lines. How much are talking? Waymo is 10 billion in the hole. Tesla spent maybe around that much developing autopilot. This is also not public money being spent. A typical public transit system costs orders of magnitude more than that. Example: California's High Speed Rail project started at 40 billion and projections have already ballooned to 98 billion.

4 ms·

I think we'll see a lot of approximations of it. Autonomous taxis in predefined spaces (see Cruise, Waymo), trucks on highways (maybe changing to human drivers

by TotempaaltJ 6y ago

Super_Jambo 6y ago
Better public transit can't be leveraged into a monopoly though, it would just quietly improve peoples lives.
- AstralStorm 6y ago
  Of course it can, that's what most public transport companies are. They tend to be government subsidized. There's very little competition because there is not much to compete for, except in longer distance rail and bus. You also need permission from the city to use public stops, consult routes and times, which is a barrier of entry. Not an insurmountable one and nobody prohibits you from running private stops or garages. You can even negotiate the use of bus lanes or tram lines. The other barrier is much higher capital investment. Both bus drivers, busses and stops are not cheap, while the margin on a ticket is thin. (Compared to taxi fleet.) But it can be done even encouraging competition - see South Korea for an example of where it worked.
DarmokJalad1701 6y ago
> Although I do feel like the money spent in the US so far would've been better spent setting up better public transit/train lines. How much are talking? Waymo is 10 billion in the hole. Tesla spent maybe around that much developing autopilot. This is also not public money being spent. A typical public transit system costs orders of magnitude more than that. Example: California's High Speed Rail project started at 40 billion and projections have already ballooned to 98 billion.