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Jerry Hirsch writes in the LA Times that personal transportation is on the cusp of its greatest transformation since the advent of the internal combustion engine. For a century, cars have been symbols of freedom and status but according to Hirsch, passengers of the future may well view vehicles as just another form of public transportation, to be purchased by the trip or in a subscription. Buying sexy, fast cars for garages could evolve into buying seat-miles in appliance-like pods, piloted by robots, parked in public stalls. "There will come a time when driving the car is like riding the horse," says futurist Peter Schwartz. "Some people will still like to do it, but most of us won't." People still will want to own vehicles for various needs, says James Lentz, chief executive of Toyota's North American operations. They might live in a rural area and travel long distances daily. They might have a big family to haul around. They might own a business that requires transporting supplies. "You will still have people who have the passion for driving the cars and feeling the road," says Lentz. "There may be times when they want the cars to drive them, but they won't be buying autonomous-only cars."
One vision of the future is already playing out in Grenoble, France, where residents can rent from a fleet of 70 pod-like Toyota i-Road and Coms electric cars for short city trips. "It is a sharing program like what you see in Portland [Oregon] with bicycles," says Lentz. Drivers can check out and return the cars at various charging points. Through a subscription, they pay the equivalent of $3.75 for 30 minutes. Because the vehicles are so small, it's easy to build out their parking and charging infrastructure. Skeptics should consider the cynicism that greeted the horseless carriage more than a century ago, says Adam Jonas who adds that fully autonomous vehicles will be here far sooner than the market thinks (PDF). Then, Jonas says, skeptics asked: "Why would any rational person want to replace the assuredness of that hot horse body trustily pulling your comfortable carriage with an unreliable, oil-spurting heap of gears, belts and chains?"
(Score: 1) by Nuke on Sunday November 23 2014, @01:53PM
the average commuter .. will perhaps use the car for two hours a day. The other 22 hours .. it will be sat .. decreasing in value. .. a waste when it could be out on the road again taking other people .... Then at night it could be ferrying drunks
It's going to be lovely, getting into a pod to go to work in the morning after it has been ferrying drunks around the previous night. I suggest taking a change of clothes with you. At least trains and buses get cleaned at the depot during the night, but I can't see that happening with these pods. Trains and buses are designed for it - wide open floors that can be swept or washed out.
As for cars depreciating in value, that would be solved (since we are talking about radical changes here) if they were designed to last. I have kept mine going for 17 years and nearly 300,000 miles now, and it has not depreciated for at least the last 7 (having reached zero). I can do it, but it could be made a lot easier - trains and buses again are designed for longer life and do far more than that.
(Score: 1) by srobert on Sunday November 23 2014, @03:57PM
Public cars will be for the hoi polloi (most of us). We can look forward to chewing gum on the floormats and a pervasive piss and cigarette smell. On the positive side you won't have to find a parking spot. Rich people will still have their own cars. That's progress.
(Score: 2) by keplr on Sunday November 23 2014, @11:45PM
They'll require you to swipe your credit card/ID card to use it. Then, if there are damages, verified by the in-car cameras (what, you thought you'd have privacy?), your account is automatically billed for the cleaning on top of the cost of the ride.
I don't respond to ACs.
(Score: 2) by paulej72 on Monday November 24 2014, @03:41AM
Team Leader for SN Development
(Score: 2) by keplr on Monday November 24 2014, @05:32AM
Companies that consistently fail to clean their cabs will go out of business; or people will decide they care more about low prices than cleanliness. I'm usually the token lunatic socialist, but free market principles actually work in cases where you can very precisely isolate the necessary variables and there's a sufficiently low barrier to entry for new firms to compete.
I don't respond to ACs.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday November 25 2014, @07:10PM
...which is why they'll probably pass laws requiring millions of dollars in insurance and special equipment in order to operate such a taxi service. Hell, many jurisdictions *already* have such laws on the books. That's why Uber keeps getting banned so many places (like the state of New Jersey IIRC.)
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday November 23 2014, @04:30PM
It's going to be lovely, getting into a pod to go to work in the morning after it has been ferrying drunks around the previous night.
You might not have the time to complain, but there will be people (particularly, the retired) who will and who can find ways to make it very costly for the owning company to keep doing that.