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Someone will still need to manage the fleet of self driving cars. Who is going to fill them with gas, do routine maintenance, clean them after some drunk dude

Someone will still need to manage the fleet of self driving cars. Who is going to fill them with gas, do routine maintenance, clean them after some drunk dude puked all over the back seat, etc?

toomuchtodo 12y ago
If they're electric vehicles, they'll charge on their own based on closest charging station and the cost of electricity at the time they need their charge. Also, the only maintenance you'd require would be tire rotations/changes every ~5K miles, and a new battery every 150K-200K miles (Tesla automated the battery pack swap, I'm sure they could automate pulling four wheels off and bolting four new ones back on). I agree someone is going to need to clean them out though.
- mncolinlee 12y ago
  Heck, they won't even need to plug in once we get wireless, inductive charging stations or inductive roads. Both are coming. You could outsource the car cleaning with an agreement at any full service car wash. One doesn't even need a physical presence anywhere to make the business work.
  - toomuchtodo 12y ago
    They already have wireless charging for electric vehicles: http://www.pluglesspower.com/ http://www.pluglesspower.com/ While high-capacity electric vehicles like a Tesla wouldn't be able to wirelessly charge, it should be trivial to build a physical dock they can connect to with no human intervention (similar to how SpaceX designed the DragonEye mating connector for autonomous mating to the ISS).
    - mncolinlee 12y ago
      I'm well aware. I was referring to public charging infrastructure using wireless charging. This is almost non-existent due to the lack of compatible vehicles today. I understand that some electric buses are already using wireless charging in major trials.
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    Reliable wireless inductive charging for cell phones doesn't even exist. I imagine an inductive charger for a car would function very well as a harddrive eraser as well, especially in 'inductive road' form. There will be significant power losses (10-20%) and alignment issues. One thing I really like about the whole inductive road concept is that it totally removes the need for a battery, one of the most expensive parts of an electric car. You'd basically have a full-size slot car (if you remember those) track (but without sliding contacts).
- hnal943 12y ago
  We have self-cleaning public toilets, and automated car washes. I can certainly see an down-market option where the cars are cleaned automatically.

Someone will still need to manage the fleet of self driving cars. Who is going to fill them with gas, do routine maintenance, clean them after some drunk dude puked all over the back seat, etc?

toomuchtodo 12y ago

If they're electric vehicles, they'll charge on their own based on closest charging station and the cost of electricity at the time they need their charge. Also, the only maintenance you'd require would be tire rotations/changes every ~5K miles, and a new battery every 150K-200K miles (Tesla automated the battery pack swap, I'm sure they could automate pulling four wheels off and bolting four new ones back on). I agree someone is going to need to clean them out though.

mncolinlee 12y ago
Heck, they won't even need to plug in once we get wireless, inductive charging stations or inductive roads. Both are coming. You could outsource the car cleaning with an agreement at any full service car wash. One doesn't even need a physical presence anywhere to make the business work.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  They already have wireless charging for electric vehicles: http://www.pluglesspower.com/ http://www.pluglesspower.com/ While high-capacity electric vehicles like a Tesla wouldn't be able to wirelessly charge, it should be trivial to build a physical dock they can connect to with no human intervention (similar to how SpaceX designed the DragonEye mating connector for autonomous mating to the ISS).
  - mncolinlee 12y ago
    I'm well aware. I was referring to public charging infrastructure using wireless charging. This is almost non-existent due to the lack of compatible vehicles today. I understand that some electric buses are already using wireless charging in major trials.
- jacquesm 12y ago
  Reliable wireless inductive charging for cell phones doesn't even exist. I imagine an inductive charger for a car would function very well as a harddrive eraser as well, especially in 'inductive road' form. There will be significant power losses (10-20%) and alignment issues. One thing I really like about the whole inductive road concept is that it totally removes the need for a battery, one of the most expensive parts of an electric car. You'd basically have a full-size slot car (if you remember those) track (but without sliding contacts).
hnal943 12y ago
We have self-cleaning public toilets, and automated car washes. I can certainly see an down-market option where the cars are cleaned automatically.