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One of the things I'm really excited about with self-driving is that it will tilt the economics towards car pools rather than car ownership. Currently everyone
by ollysb 13y ago
One of the things I'm really excited about with self-driving is that it will tilt the economics towards car pools rather than car ownership.
Currently everyone has to buy cars that will be suitable for any journey they might have to make. This means that people commute to work in cars that can take a whole family on holiday. Self-driving would mean you could always get the most suitable car for the journey you're about to make. Perhaps you're feeling tired and want to sleep on the way to work? Maybe you want to do some work so you'd like a desk? Put your feet up in an entertainment centre?
Self-driving will become popular because it will mean the end of wasting hours of your life watching the car in front of you. Just think of the ads, what could you do with an extra 3 hours a day?
- k-mcgrady 13y ago>> "what could you do with an extra 3 hours a day?" I agree with everything you've said but the economics will be very important. If the cars are more expensive than ordinary cars getting back 3 hours a day could be enough to justify the cost. But how long you drive per day obviously depends on where you live. Most people I know (and I live in the suburbs) don't commute more than 1 hour total per day. They might not be able to justify the extra cost of a self-driving car.
- Siecje 13y agoI'm not sure it will encourage car pools. People will still want the comfort of having your own car with your personal music, temperature settings, privacy, etc.
- pmichaud 13y agoI don't think he meant car pools in the sense of multiple people for 1 car. I think he meant pools of cars--multiple cars available for 1 person, depending on that person's needs at the moment.
- ollysb 13y agoYeah, zipcar was what I had in mind.
- mavhc 13y agoThey can pay 4 times the cost for that then. Self driving cars mean your house is larger or cheaper, you have no parking fees, don't have to learn to drive, don't need to waste time and money on insurance/tax/testing.
- netcan 13y agoI agree. There are all sorts of economies. For most short drives around a city a 2 person golf cart-like car would be fine. Also, no parking issues. One weird effect of effectively using cheap robo-taxis for all our transport is that it will put the cost of each journey right in your face. I imagine this will have all sorts of weird effects on people's habits. Right now you spend the price of a car upgrade every few years, taxes & insurance once a year and petrol every week or two. You don't really feel the cost of a supermarket trip. If you drive your niece to the airport, you don't think about the cost at all. A drive to the woods with your family counts as free even if you use €20 worth of petrol and €20 in depreciation. Governments might be more inclined to get the full cost of roads from transport companies one step removed from the public than directly from them. The effects of a new mode of transport are hard to predict. Few people would have guessed that family cars would lead to supermarkets & disneyland.
- yk 13y ago> Just think of the ads, what could you do with an extra 3 hours a day? Not sure if this is what you meant, but I read it as: You can bang a lot of 'product information' into someone you hold captive for three hours. So this could be a 'interesting' way to finance self driving cars. You play ads inside the car, and the customer has to pay to switch them off. Addendum: I don't like this future, they promised me rocket ships, and all I get was a cell phone full of spam.
- Daniel_Newby 13y agoYeah, right, like an advertising company would develop a self-driving car.