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Will it be the future of transportation? Every vehicle will be shared, you travel between far cities with trains and then count on self-driving cars to move bet

Will it be the future of transportation? Every vehicle will be shared, you travel between far cities with trains and then count on self-driving cars to move between a place and another. Imagine how much more optimized that can be compared to now, in terms of vehicle ownership efficiency (nowadays if you own a car, it's waiting in the garage 99% of its lifetime). Imagine how everything could be furtherly improved if every one communicated its travel needs on a centralized system that suggests the trips for these autonomous vehicles, minimizing fuel/time, depending on current demand. Like spot instances but for travelling: you specify a particular hour by which you need to be in a place and the system can give you a discount if you're alright with walking few minutes before and afterwards not to derail too much someone else's trip. Like autobus with steroids basically. Now imagine what a nightmare it would mean to live in a society where this is the only way to move. Nobody would get a car, because that would become too expensive compared to use such a system. Whatever this centralized thing is going to be, it will own the position of every individual at any time. Any actor hacking/controlling such system would be able to manipulate the world, knowing the location of each individual 24/7. The end of privacy and freedom.

sottol 2y ago
As much hate as California gets, the CPRA and CPPA give me a little hope. Otherwise, maybe Europe might be better off with the GDPR. But I'm almost more worried about what a company in such a position will do monetarily to its customers once it has reached a quasi-monopoly (or duopoly). I hope it turns out to be more like air-travel than Uber/Lyft, which afaict are now more expensive than cabs they replaced.
- Zigurd 2y ago
  It is possible Google could run away with the game based on two moats: 1. Mapping data; 2. Driving AI. But that outcome is far from certain. OTOH does Google really want to own all the taxis, vans, and busses on the planet? I expect that if Waymo matures into a product that can be used anywhere on any shared vehicle, the companies that provide the tech will have a supplier relationship with lots of different vehicle operators.

sottol 2y ago

As much hate as California gets, the CPRA and CPPA give me a little hope. Otherwise, maybe Europe might be better off with the GDPR. But I'm almost more worried about what a company in such a position will do monetarily to its customers once it has reached a quasi-monopoly (or duopoly). I hope it turns out to be more like air-travel than Uber/Lyft, which afaict are now more expensive than cabs they replaced.

Zigurd 2y ago
It is possible Google could run away with the game based on two moats: 1. Mapping data; 2. Driving AI. But that outcome is far from certain. OTOH does Google really want to own all the taxis, vans, and busses on the planet? I expect that if Waymo matures into a product that can be used anywhere on any shared vehicle, the companies that provide the tech will have a supplier relationship with lots of different vehicle operators.