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The two main ways self-driving cars could clear up traffic jams are: * Far fewer cars needed — as more cars could be shared * Far fewer parked cars — as cars
by sambeau 13y ago
The two main ways self-driving cars could clear up traffic jams are:
* Far fewer cars needed — as more cars could be shared
* Far fewer parked cars — as cars needn't stay with the 'driver'
The two cases are linked: a car that doesn't have to wait around where the passengers are dropped off can return to base or can be away performing more lifts while the original passengers are busy.
Families would have need for fewer vehicles. Sharing a vehicle would make more sense.
If cars are busy during a drop-off-pick-up cycle there is no need for them to be clogging up the streets.
- dalore 13y agoCue traffic jam of cars with no drivers because they are trying to get to their next passenger/base.
- kps 13y agoA system could prioritize vehicles based on something like number of people per unit road surface.
- sambeau 13y agoWhile there may be more cars doing return journeys I suspect there will not be the same level of traffic jams as the cars return. 1. Most outward trips would be chained: drop 1, drop 2, drop 3, return to base; rather than: drop 1, return to base, drop 2, return to base, drop 3, return to base. As would most return journeys. 2. The roads would be clearer in cities due to fewer parked cars. In some cases there would be an extra lane now available. 3. Cars could still have multiple bases, especially if they are shared. Car parks could be re-utilised as a stop-off points where empty cars could 'swap out' and remove themselves from the system briefly. 4. Chains could be linked: do the early run, do the late run. Do the Smiths; do the Joneses. 5. Empty cars with no urgent pick-up could wait for the roads to clear before embarking on a return journey. 6. Would anyone care if a car returns to base slowly if there wasn't an urgent passenger waiting? Cars could be more efficiently used and that would certainly imply that the fewer number of cars in existence would be being used for more trips throughout the day. I admit that it will be hard to remove the rush-hour problem entirely without a significant amount of car-sharing. However with a fully self-driving system cars could do clever passenger shares (and/or mid-route swaps). Passengers would be free to only car-share within their sex / family / workplace / social networks etc.
- noir_lord 13y agoThere is also the option of owning a car but having it drive paying people around during the day while you are at the office amortizing the cost the car against it's utility. You'd get off a plane in a foreign city hit Web2point0nameforcarservice.com and a car would drive up (sending you a picture of the car and it's license to you and your details to the site (so we know who to bill if you throw up in the car for example)). This way you spread the cost of owning a car but it's available to you if you want to go away for the weekend (since you just mark it as out of service). It's going to be a wild ride (pun intended).
- saraid216 13y ago> Web2point0nameforcarservice.com AutoTaxi.