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> Car sharing (short term rental) services I would expect self driving car to have much higher utilization most of the time. In addition you have people who ca

by qwytw 3y ago

> Car sharing (short term rental) services I would expect self driving car to have much higher utilization most of the time. In addition you have people who can't/don't want to drive and would be able to use the service. > practices or games and hope it actually shows up promptly? Effectively it would be a much cheaper (supposedly) Uber/Lyft/etc. alternative. > sports practices or games and hope it actually shows up promptly? And That's a bit of corner case and generally I would expect it would reduce the number of households which have more than 1 car rather than a full replacement for car ownership.

nradov 3y ago
You're really missing the point. It won't actually be cheaper except for the few customers who rely mostly on public transportation. Driving children to activities is hardly a "corner case". It's bizarre how disconnected many HN users are from how regular middle class Americans live. Very few married couples with children would be able to manage with one car; they often need to go different places.
- qwytw 3y ago
  I'm sorry, I wanted to quote: > And what if I need to evacuate the family in a natural disaster? When I said it's a corner case but pasted the wrong sentence. > You're really missing the point. It won't actually be cheaper except for the few customers who rely mostly on public transportation. Am I? Why would you not expect it to become cheaper overtime? Uber/etc. needs human drivers who need to be paid and car sharing is inefficient because because most cars end up somewhere where none needs them unless there is continuous bidirectional traffic which is pretty rare. Self driving in theory would solve both these issues. > Very few married couples with children would be able to manage with one car; they often need to go different places. Yes well they could in theory get two separate self-driving taxis they don't have to always stay in the same car together.
  - funcDropShadow 3y ago
    > Am I? Why would you not expect it to become cheaper overtime? Ride sharing services are amenable to network affects. I.e. they tend to end in monopoly. And monopolies are not known for reducing costs for the customer. If some effective regulation could counter the network effect, i.e. make it easier and cheaper to switch between different sevices, then a monopoly could be avoided.
    - qwytw 3y ago
      > Ride sharing services are amenable to network affects Are they? Currently it's a low margin business with no real moat. It's hard to maintain high market share without continues subsidies. > make it easier and cheaper to switch between different sevices What barriers and/or costs are there for consumers which would make it difficult for them to switch between different services?

by qwytw 3y ago

nradov 3y ago

You're really missing the point. It won't actually be cheaper except for the few customers who rely mostly on public transportation. Driving children to activities is hardly a "corner case". It's bizarre how disconnected many HN users are from how regular middle class Americans live. Very few married couples with children would be able to manage with one car; they often need to go different places.

qwytw 3y ago
I'm sorry, I wanted to quote: > And what if I need to evacuate the family in a natural disaster? When I said it's a corner case but pasted the wrong sentence. > You're really missing the point. It won't actually be cheaper except for the few customers who rely mostly on public transportation. Am I? Why would you not expect it to become cheaper overtime? Uber/etc. needs human drivers who need to be paid and car sharing is inefficient because because most cars end up somewhere where none needs them unless there is continuous bidirectional traffic which is pretty rare. Self driving in theory would solve both these issues. > Very few married couples with children would be able to manage with one car; they often need to go different places. Yes well they could in theory get two separate self-driving taxis they don't have to always stay in the same car together.
- funcDropShadow 3y ago
  > Am I? Why would you not expect it to become cheaper overtime? Ride sharing services are amenable to network affects. I.e. they tend to end in monopoly. And monopolies are not known for reducing costs for the customer. If some effective regulation could counter the network effect, i.e. make it easier and cheaper to switch between different sevices, then a monopoly could be avoided.
  - qwytw 3y ago
    > Ride sharing services are amenable to network affects Are they? Currently it's a low margin business with no real moat. It's hard to maintain high market share without continues subsidies. > make it easier and cheaper to switch between different sevices What barriers and/or costs are there for consumers which would make it difficult for them to switch between different services?