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The biggest advantage to self-driving cars that I see is that I can drive a car into a city center, drop myself off, then have the car wander aimlessly through

by kylec 12y ago

The biggest advantage to self-driving cars that I see is that I can drive a car into a city center, drop myself off, then have the car wander aimlessly through the streets until I need to be picked up. The cost of the gas is almost certainly cheaper than the cost to park would be.

batbomb 12y ago
The biggest advantage to self-driving cars is that you don't have to buy a car, so the car doesn't wander aimlessly, it just picks somebody else up and taxis them around.
- qq66 12y ago
  Because of rush hour, a large fraction of self-driving cars will still need to park. However, they can drive themselves out of the city center and park in the cheaper outskirts.
- DasIch 12y ago
  In most cases that's not really an advantage at all. We already have a system like this: public transport. Public transport seems to be generally rather bad in the US, which might make self-driving cars seem useful but other parts of the world often have better public transport and self-driving cars seem a lot less exciting here.
- gambiting 12y ago
  Why would I want to use the same car as other people? It will be dirty, because people will do all sorts of things in there,and I would feel very uncomfortable.
- sokoloff 12y ago
  A car, as currently used, is not just a transport mechanism. It's also a storage mechanism. (Umbrella, sunglasses, kids' car seats, emergency diapers, emergency cash, emergency feminine products, OTC meds (ibuprofen, antacids, etc), a reasonably secure place to keep my backpack if I don't want to carry it, mints/candy, etc.) Automating a taxi service doesn't 100% replace the utility of a personal car.
semanticist 12y ago
You don't want it to drive around, that's pointless. (Also, petrol's not cheap everywhere.) It could just zoom off to an out of/edge of town car park, and presumably plug itself in to charge while it waits.

by kylec 12y ago

batbomb 12y ago

The biggest advantage to self-driving cars is that you don't have to buy a car, so the car doesn't wander aimlessly, it just picks somebody else up and taxis them around.

qq66 12y ago
Because of rush hour, a large fraction of self-driving cars will still need to park. However, they can drive themselves out of the city center and park in the cheaper outskirts.
DasIch 12y ago
In most cases that's not really an advantage at all. We already have a system like this: public transport. Public transport seems to be generally rather bad in the US, which might make self-driving cars seem useful but other parts of the world often have better public transport and self-driving cars seem a lot less exciting here.
gambiting 12y ago
Why would I want to use the same car as other people? It will be dirty, because people will do all sorts of things in there,and I would feel very uncomfortable.
sokoloff 12y ago
A car, as currently used, is not just a transport mechanism. It's also a storage mechanism. (Umbrella, sunglasses, kids' car seats, emergency diapers, emergency cash, emergency feminine products, OTC meds (ibuprofen, antacids, etc), a reasonably secure place to keep my backpack if I don't want to carry it, mints/candy, etc.) Automating a taxi service doesn't 100% replace the utility of a personal car.

semanticist 12y ago

You don't want it to drive around, that's pointless. (Also, petrol's not cheap everywhere.) It could just zoom off to an out of/edge of town car park, and presumably plug itself in to charge while it waits.