Would you want a self driving car?

[Eddie Teach]

Car ownership is extremely inefficient.  The car spends most of the time just sitting there parked and rotting.  It's necessary when it needs to be near a driver, but otherwise it's an idiotic state of things.

Do cars that are driven constantly go longer (mileagewise) than cars driven 10-20000 miles a year before breaking down?

[dps]

Fuck no, I wouldn't want a self-driving car, for largely the same reason I want a computer with a processor instead of just a box that connects to the internet and lets me access the cloud--I don't want the loss of personal autonomy.

What I would want is to be able to afford a chauffeur for the times I don't want to drive myself.

[Habbaku]

Being driven by a bot is a small price to pay to have everyone else taken off the wheel.

[Habbaku]

Fuck no, I wouldn't want a self-driving car, for largely the same reason I want a computer with a processor instead of just a box that connects to the internet and lets me access the cloud--I don't want the loss of personal autonomy.

What I would want is to be able to afford a chauffeur for the times I don't want to drive myself.

Do you wear a seatbelt while driving?

[alfred russel]

Car ownership is extremely inefficient.  The car spends most of the time just sitting there parked and rotting.  It's necessary when it needs to be near a driver, but otherwise it's an idiotic state of things.

Do cars that are driven constantly go longer (mileagewise) than cars driven 10-20000 miles a year before breaking down?

Maintenance costs are probably reduced - some of the maintenance schedules of most cars are based on time. Also - a reduction in exposure to elements is a big deal--I would expect a car that travels 200k miles in a year to have less costs than a car that travels 200k in 20. That is 19 less summers and winters to endure. Plus maintenance can be more efficiently managed through fleets rather than on an ad hoc basis by individual owners. Also cars will stay newer, and more up to date, with the latest safety equipment etc.


A major savings is the reduction in car storage expenses. People won't need garages or driveways. There won't be a need for parking lots, parking decks, or on street parking. During off peak hours, cars can go out of service outside of cities where space is not at such a premium.

[dps]

Fuck no, I wouldn't want a self-driving car, for largely the same reason I want a computer with a processor instead of just a box that connects to the internet and lets me access the cloud--I don't want the loss of personal autonomy.

What I would want is to be able to afford a chauffeur for the times I don't want to drive myself.

Do you wear a seatbelt while driving?

Yes, but I'm opposed to laws making it mandatory.

[garbon]

Fuck no, I wouldn't want a self-driving car, for largely the same reason I want a computer with a processor instead of just a box that connects to the internet and lets me access the cloud--I don't want the loss of personal autonomy.

What I would want is to be able to afford a chauffeur for the times I don't want to drive myself.

Do you wear a seatbelt while driving?

Yes, but I'm opposed to laws making it mandatory.

[DGuller]

Car ownership is extremely inefficient.  The car spends most of the time just sitting there parked and rotting.  It's necessary when it needs to be near a driver, but otherwise it's an idiotic state of things.

Do cars that are driven constantly go longer (mileagewise) than cars driven 10-20000 miles a year before breaking down?

I don't know that for a fact, but I would be extremely surprised if it weren't the case.  Not all wear-and-tear is a function of miles.  Some of it is a function of time (rubber rots), and a lot of it is a function of the number of cold starts a car goes through.

[Zanza]

Yes. I've driven the semi autonomous cars of today and I didn't miss anything e.g. when just leaning back in a traffic jam.

[Eddie Teach]

Ok, but what about distance between passengers? A privately owned car will be parked right where the owner needs it. No matter how advanced the system, nor how heavy the usage, the public car will have to travel to pick people up. This can be a large portion of its mileage, especially when people are just going to the grocery store a couple miles away.

[Gups]

We've had self driving trains here since the 1980s,  I think they are quite common elsewhere too, mainly light rail. No accidents as far as I know.

[DGuller]

Ok, but what about distance between passengers? A privately owned car will be parked right where the owner needs it. No matter how advanced the system, nor how heavy the usage, the public car will have to travel to pick people up. This can be a large portion of its mileage, especially when people are just going to the grocery store a couple miles away.

How long does an Uber car travel to pick up the passenger?  How will automated cars be different?

[Eddie Teach]

How long does an Uber car travel to pick up the passenger?

No idea. Never used it. I'd assume it won't need to go so far downtown as it does outside the beltway.

[alfred russel]

Ok, but what about distance between passengers? A privately owned car will be parked right where the owner needs it. No matter how advanced the system, nor how heavy the usage, the public car will have to travel to pick people up. This can be a large portion of its mileage, especially when people are just going to the grocery store a couple miles away.

If there are fleets of taxis all over the city, that distance should not be large. Also, even in the current world, where the uber/lyft fleets are a small minority of cars on the road, there are experiments with ride sharing. It seems likely that will be an option--you say you want to go from your suburban house to the city center at rush hour, you can be matched with people taking similar trips at the same time and reduce the cost.

[alfred russel]

ET, this is an unusual line of argument you are taking. If people have a chance to avoid purchasing a very large and bulky ~$25k piece of machinery because they can rent one when needed at even roughly the same long term cost (though I suspect it will be less), they will do so.