5 ms·

Well said, and I think the idea that in the future people will own less and rent more is discussed quite often. In the tech space this has been true for some ti

Well said, and I think the idea that in the future people will own less and rent more is discussed quite often. In the tech space this has been true for some time, hell, I still remember buying a version of Adobe Master Suite and later lamenting at the switch to subscription model. I used to be quite negative about of going further down this path, but the way I see it now, what choice do we have in the future? The world population is growing, resources are limited. Is it it feasible that we can all own houses, multiple cars, gadgets etc? I don't know anymore what the 'right' approach is here. Do we allow people to own and consume as much as they want forever or will the future be radically different in this sense where no one owns anything (car, property or gadgets)? The model that works now may not work forever. Curious to hear from someone more well versed in this kind of topic on their thoughts?

xivzgrev 5y ago
How is autonomous driving an increasingly scarce resource? The tech industry, with zero marginal cost, took to the subscription model with great success. Hugely profitable. Now every business looks to work in subscriptions. I think what we will end up having is that initial players to offer autonomous driving will be able to charge, because it’s scarce and to recoup investment. Eventually the tech will get commoditized as computers grow ever more powerful, and someone will offer a car with free autonomous driving in order to sell more cars. Subscriptions make the most sense for stuff you buy regularly, and stuff that can’t be monetized other ways (like Netflix). Car manufacturers are neither. Plus they have to compete with likes of Waymo and Uber - are they going to want to charge $8.50 an hr, plus the cost of gas, car, insurance etc, when I could take a self driving Uber for $20/hr?
- CorrectHorseBat 5y ago
  >How is autonomous driving an increasingly scarce resource? Space is the scarce resource. In a city that's full of 90% of the time parked cars it doesn't really make sense for everyone to have their own car. Autonomous driving just combines the best of Uber and car sharing.
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago
    In a city having excellent public transport makes even more sense than cars :) And outside the city space isn't an issue.
    - jbjbjbjb 5y ago
      Thats difficult if like in North America you’ve spent the last hundred years building your cities from scratch to suit cars and feel nice and spacious.
    - CorrectHorseBat 5y ago
      Public transport is not the answer to everything. What if you want to visit your relatives outside the city/move some heavy things/...
      - gspr 5y ago
        For visiting outside the city, you temporarily rent a vehicle outside the city, where space isn't a problem. For moving heavy things: come on, how big of an impact on city traffic is this really?
        CorrectHorseBat 5y ago
        Or, you accept there is nothing wrong with a few cars in the city and have taxis/car sharing/autonomous cars inside the city for when you need them.
        gspr 5y ago
        Sure.
    - relativ575 5y ago
      Look around a residential area in Zurich. Not very far from a train station. Yet there are still a lot or cars, and many empty parking space. If a place with such a fantastic public transportation still requires that many cars, what does it tell you about people's habit? https://www.google.com/maps/@47.4049509,8.5855091,3a,75y,292.08h,78.63t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sSUYD3fQdD__yfbTlSRoFuQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DSUYD3fQdD__yfbTlSRoFuQ%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D171.90012%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@47.4049509,8.5855091,3a,75y,292...
3np 5y ago
The approach presented here is arguably the worst of both worlds, environmentally speaking; pay upfront and own the scarce hardware, rent access to the software.
frzj 5y ago
In the contrary. Somebody always owns it, at least in our economic system. If I had bought/leased a new iPhone I couldn't have bought as many Apple shares during the dip last year. And I could afford to buy during a pandemic because I have no rent to pay. You can't build wealth by wasting money, at least in europe, where there are no Californian companies that pay 100k a year.

xivzgrev 5y ago

How is autonomous driving an increasingly scarce resource? The tech industry, with zero marginal cost, took to the subscription model with great success. Hugely profitable. Now every business looks to work in subscriptions. I think what we will end up having is that initial players to offer autonomous driving will be able to charge, because it’s scarce and to recoup investment. Eventually the tech will get commoditized as computers grow ever more powerful, and someone will offer a car with free autonomous driving in order to sell more cars. Subscriptions make the most sense for stuff you buy regularly, and stuff that can’t be monetized other ways (like Netflix). Car manufacturers are neither. Plus they have to compete with likes of Waymo and Uber - are they going to want to charge $8.50 an hr, plus the cost of gas, car, insurance etc, when I could take a self driving Uber for $20/hr?

CorrectHorseBat 5y ago
>How is autonomous driving an increasingly scarce resource? Space is the scarce resource. In a city that's full of 90% of the time parked cars it doesn't really make sense for everyone to have their own car. Autonomous driving just combines the best of Uber and car sharing.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  In a city having excellent public transport makes even more sense than cars :) And outside the city space isn't an issue.
  - jbjbjbjb 5y ago
    Thats difficult if like in North America you’ve spent the last hundred years building your cities from scratch to suit cars and feel nice and spacious.
  - CorrectHorseBat 5y ago
    Public transport is not the answer to everything. What if you want to visit your relatives outside the city/move some heavy things/...
    - gspr 5y ago
      For visiting outside the city, you temporarily rent a vehicle outside the city, where space isn't a problem. For moving heavy things: come on, how big of an impact on city traffic is this really?
      - CorrectHorseBat 5y ago
        Or, you accept there is nothing wrong with a few cars in the city and have taxis/car sharing/autonomous cars inside the city for when you need them.
        gspr 5y ago
        Sure.
  - relativ575 5y ago
    Look around a residential area in Zurich. Not very far from a train station. Yet there are still a lot or cars, and many empty parking space. If a place with such a fantastic public transportation still requires that many cars, what does it tell you about people's habit? https://www.google.com/maps/@47.4049509,8.5855091,3a,75y,292.08h,78.63t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sSUYD3fQdD__yfbTlSRoFuQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DSUYD3fQdD__yfbTlSRoFuQ%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D171.90012%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@47.4049509,8.5855091,3a,75y,292...

3np 5y ago

The approach presented here is arguably the worst of both worlds, environmentally speaking; pay upfront and own the scarce hardware, rent access to the software.

frzj 5y ago

In the contrary. Somebody always owns it, at least in our economic system. If I had bought/leased a new iPhone I couldn't have bought as many Apple shares during the dip last year. And I could afford to buy during a pandemic because I have no rent to pay. You can't build wealth by wasting money, at least in europe, where there are no Californian companies that pay 100k a year.