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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: 2) by TheRaven on Wednesday July 26 2017, @06:38PM (1 child)
How quaint. I select the things that I want in an app or on a web site, and the shopping is delivered to my house. The combined time of both the ordering and putting away the shopping takes less time than driving (one way) to the nearest large supermarket. For smaller things, I'll pick them up at one of the small shops on my cycle home. All of the major supermarkets in the UK deliver, though I use the one that doesn't have a brick-and-mortar presence.
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday July 26 2017, @08:19PM
That's sort of the other end of the driving picture that most of the other people in the thread have been missing: how many of your necessary trips are still necessary? The "Retail is dying" headlines have really proliferated this year thanks to Amazon, FreshDirect, BlueApron, and other online services. As your post pointed out, that takes care of a swath of "necessary" trips that are no longer necessary.
Even in the suburbs I loathe getting in the car to go anywhere to buy anything because the traffic is prohibitive and the driving culture is appalling. And after you've battled through that and gritted your teeth as the 10th asshole in a row has cut you off, you get to the store staffed by people who don't know why they're there, what they're selling, and don't care; plus, the thing you want is not in stock or it's twice the price that you can find online. So why subject yourself to that entire exercise anymore at all if there are alternatives? Alternatives there are.
Beyond that there's the larger effect of Peak Stuff. How many tvs do any of us really need? How many pairs of shoes? Do the extra 10 outfits that will go out of style before you ever get around to wearing them all once really make your life so much more fulfilling? When the cost of all that is endless debt slavery to credit card companies/banks, is it really worth the stress and loss of freedom and health that come with it? If people decide they do not need to do those things, then that is another "necessary" trip in a car avoided.
Washington DC delenda est.