Main Paineframe posted:Not necessarily! Some techno-utopianists and techno-libertarians think that the endgame of self-driving cars is people's own private self-driving cars acting as taxis when their owner isn't using them - dropping you off at work, then running off to transport people around all day until you finish work, at which point it returns to act as your car for a while; once you're done and go home for the night, it ventures off into the dark to go haul drunks around. A few of the craziest ones even think it'll replace public transport. It sounds stupid as hell, but it's basically exactly Uber's business model, except that the owner doesn't have to be in the car, and it's done while the owner is busy rather than during their free time. That's almost certainly Uber's goal - rather than maintaining their own fleet of robot cars, they'll market a robo-Uber service to driverless car owners, serenading them with sweet talk about their car going out and earning them some bonus cash all on its own while they're working or sleeping. Nothing like driving to work Friday morning with 8 hour old puke covering your back seat.
|
|
# ? Feb 6, 2015 18:08 |
|
|
# ? Apr 29, 2024 09:34 |
|
I would imagine if driverless cars come out traditional taxi companies would be at a huge advantage as they already have the experience and infrastructure for vehicle fleets. I assume early driverless cars will be luxury models and their owners would be hesitant to have them do taxi duty .
|
# ? Feb 6, 2015 21:57 |
|
Main Paineframe posted:Not necessarily! Some techno-utopianists and techno-libertarians think that the endgame of self-driving cars is people's own private self-driving cars acting as taxis when their owner isn't using them - dropping you off at work, then running off to transport people around all day until you finish work, at which point it returns to act as your car for a while; once you're done and go home for the night, it ventures off into the dark to go haul drunks around. A few of the craziest ones even think it'll replace public transport. It sounds stupid as hell, but it's basically exactly Uber's business model, except that the owner doesn't have to be in the car, and it's done while the owner is busy rather than during their free time. That's almost certainly Uber's goal - rather than maintaining their own fleet of robot cars, they'll market a robo-Uber service to driverless car owners, serenading them with sweet talk about their car going out and earning them some bonus cash all on its own while they're working or sleeping. Sounds like a great way to get your shiny new self-driving car stolen and/or badly vandalized. I'm not sure if the current theories for legalizing self-driving cars contemplate allowing cars to drive around empty/without anyone in the driver's seat, but it might happen someday.
|
# ? Feb 9, 2015 06:03 |