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from the I'm-sorry-Dave,-I-can't-do-that dept.
[...] some experts believe as much as 95% of passenger miles could be electric, autonomous by 2030, thanks to some basic economics. Because electric vehicles cost a whole lot less to drive and maintain—but more to buy—and because autonomous vehicles greatly reduce the cost of commercial driving, a combination of the two technologies will make autonomous Transportation as a Service exponentially more cost competitive than either owning a car, or hiring a car and driver. It's also exponentially more profitable for car companies, who have long feared the loss of maintenance and service profits associated with a transition to electric cars.
This question will come up more frequently as self-driving technology advances. Will perfection of that technology make a difference, though, in the face of social behaviors that have been deeply ingrained over the past century?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @06:22PM
>"I'm not seeing shared cars as ever becoming a thing."
They already are, in the form of taxis, rental cars, and various new concepts like Zip Cars. What you are right about is that shared cars are unlikely to become the only thing, and maybe not even the majority of passenger miles. Most people who can afford to own their car will choose that option. You get to set it up the way you like, store things in it that you want close at hand, and share it only when you want to. People who think that private vehicles are going away are people who are opposed to wealth. They want to optimize society for minimum wealth.