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I think it’s irrational but from a different perspective: urban and suburban driving sucks - you’re paying a lot of money for a metal box you use to sit in traf
by acdha 3y ago
I think it’s irrational but from a different perspective: urban and suburban driving sucks - you’re paying a lot of money for a metal box you use to sit in traffic unable to do anything else, and do that for a fair fraction of your free time every day. Due to the 20th century decision to subsidize car travel at the expense of everything else, most people in at least North America don’t have a great alternative.
That means there’s a HUGE market for the dream of having your own personal chauffeur because that means getting a non-trivial chunk of their waking hours back to play games, watch video, read, catch up on work, use social media, etc. I remember one of the researchers at Google mentioning testing a prototype on the trip out to Tahoe because not being awake meant you could do a ski trip over a normal two day weekend.
That also means that a lot of people really want to be selling this product: millions of customers and they’re already used to paying thousands of dollars a year and taking out loans to get cool toys. That’s really going to skew judgement towards saying you’ll have it soon, even if you aren’t willing to cross the line into full Musk-level fraud.
- nradov 3y agoThere are already thousands of people who do ski trips from the SF Bay Area to Lake Tahoe over a normal two day weekend. It's kind of a grind due to heavy traffic and mountain road conditions but generally not too bad. And if you don't want to drive yourself then there are already scheduled charter buses that run every weekend.
- acdha 3y agoThe “kind of a grind” was the point: he valued being able to have a nice dinner, leave in the evening, and sleeping in the car to having to stressfully watch traffic. I think there are a LOT of people who’d pay for that.
- eep_social 3y ago> have a nice dinner, leave in the evening, and sleeping Ah, like a train!
- acdha 3y agoYes. A lot of this dream is wanting that convenience without having to share space with strangers.
- nradov 3y agoSF Bay Area residents can take an Amtrak train from Emeryville to Truckee. But the times aren't convenient for weekend ski trips, and it's a hassle to get from the train station to any ski resort. Only a real masochist would attempt that with children plus luggage. The ski buses are going to be a better option for most people who don't want to drive because they go direct to the resorts. https://shop.sportsbasement.com/collections/sports-basement-outdoors-ski-bus https://shop.sportsbasement.com/collections/sports-basement-...