Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Sunday November 23 2014, @09:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the prefer-to-own-an-automobile dept.

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?"

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by paulej72 on Monday November 24 2014, @03:41AM

    by paulej72 (58) on Monday November 24 2014, @03:41AM (#119306) Journal
    Yes, you will be billed for the cleaning, but will it be cleaned?
    --
    Team Leader for SN Development
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by keplr on Monday November 24 2014, @05:32AM

    by keplr (2104) on Monday November 24 2014, @05:32AM (#119324) Journal

    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

      by urza9814 (3954) on Tuesday November 25 2014, @07:10PM (#119891) Journal

      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.

      ...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.)