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Well, that's if you assume that Cars-as-a-Service don't need to be stored anywhere and magical disappear when they are not in use. I know Google has magical fa

by Wilya 12y ago

Well, that's if you assume that Cars-as-a-Service don't need to be stored anywhere and magical disappear when they are not in use. I know Google has magical fairy powers, but last I checked, a self-driving car is exactly the same size as a regular car, and takes the same storage space.

dragonwriter 12y ago
Part of the storage space requirements for cars in normal use is access space for human drivers and to allow random access entrance and exits. Cars as a service can eliminate much of the storage space requirement.
- TheEzEzz 12y ago
  As well as 'redundant' storage, since each car effectively gets multiple parking spots at the moment (a dedicated garage, plus a guaranteed spot at work, etc). Once cars are automated you only need enough storage spots for the cars not on the road, which is much smaller.
  - ma2rten 12y ago
    Also, cars could park on big parking lots, which don't necessarily have to be near someone's home.
paul_f 12y ago
Just think of how little time your car is actually driving versus being parked.
omarhegazy 12y ago
Yes, the car is the same size. But the bottleneck -- the crucial part -- here is not the size of the car; rather the length of the maximum distance that the car can be parked away from you by. When you're driving the car, it's really small. Has to be in a parking lot somewhere a walking distance away from you. When it's driverless, the radius gets so much larger, increasing the amount of potential parking space, increasing the efficiency of the distribution of parked cars. It doesn't have to park near you -- it just has to park. That makes the space issue so much better.
TeMPOraL 12y ago
Not everyone is driving at the same time, so Google can use their "magical fairy powers" (also known as statistics / data analysis) to determine how many cars are needed to support a city, maximizing the number of them that are constantly in motion, dropping one passenger and picking another. The ones that are not needed at the time can be stacked tightly in a dedicated multi-storey parking garage.

by Wilya 12y ago

dragonwriter 12y ago

Part of the storage space requirements for cars in normal use is access space for human drivers and to allow random access entrance and exits. Cars as a service can eliminate much of the storage space requirement.

TheEzEzz 12y ago
As well as 'redundant' storage, since each car effectively gets multiple parking spots at the moment (a dedicated garage, plus a guaranteed spot at work, etc). Once cars are automated you only need enough storage spots for the cars not on the road, which is much smaller.
- ma2rten 12y ago
  Also, cars could park on big parking lots, which don't necessarily have to be near someone's home.

paul_f 12y ago

Just think of how little time your car is actually driving versus being parked.

omarhegazy 12y ago

Yes, the car is the same size. But the bottleneck -- the crucial part -- here is not the size of the car; rather the length of the maximum distance that the car can be parked away from you by. When you're driving the car, it's really small. Has to be in a parking lot somewhere a walking distance away from you. When it's driverless, the radius gets so much larger, increasing the amount of potential parking space, increasing the efficiency of the distribution of parked cars. It doesn't have to park near you -- it just has to park. That makes the space issue so much better.

TeMPOraL 12y ago

Not everyone is driving at the same time, so Google can use their "magical fairy powers" (also known as statistics / data analysis) to determine how many cars are needed to support a city, maximizing the number of them that are constantly in motion, dropping one passenger and picking another. The ones that are not needed at the time can be stacked tightly in a dedicated multi-storey parking garage.