What Will You Get?

• Autonomous taxis will be cost competitive with public transportation, while offering the speed and convenience of a car, without the hassle of licensing, insurance, high upfront costs, parking and maintenance. This is a very different thing.
  
  Laws on licensing and liability are important for self-driving cars (14 February, p 20), but nowhere have I seen a discussion of the most crucial factor: will they be allowed to travel unoccupied? If they are, it will radically change the way we use our cars. Commuters will no longer pay for expensive town-centre parking when they can drive to work and send their car home, or to a cheap, out-of-town car park, then summon it to take them home again in the evening.
  
  The masses will probably be using car subscription services. $100 a month for a car that shows up at your exact location five minutes after you press the "Send Vehicle" button on your cell phone versus $25000 a year insurance for a human driver.
  
  As road building in the UK demonstrates, increased capacity only relieves congestion in the short term. Having spent millions widening the motorway orbiting London to eight lanes and more, the level of congestion is again back where it was at six lanes. (Self-drive cars will increase traffic density by at least 8 times bc computer control will allow very close packing)
  
  Most accidents don't happen because of sinkholes, tornadoes or deranged lunatics running on the road. The top three causes of accidents are distracted driving (computer will be programmed to only drive), speeding (they can easily be programmed to obey the speed limit, and currently do), and drunk driving (computers can't get drunk, I know, I've tried). You are basically making the argument that because humans might be better in the rare situations that humans are better, despite the fact that in the most common cases and for what causes the most accidents, computers will be (if they aren't already) much, much better.
  
  As far as I'm concerned, autodrive cars can't get here fast enough. They will usher in a wholesale removal of so much bullshiat from our culture: speeding tickets, DUIs, road rage, parking, soul-sucking commutes, and traffic jams, will all just go away, and of course they will save 30,000 lives a year in the US alone once everyone uses them. The removal of parking lots will make neighborhoods more walkable. Communal ownership (buy a share of a car, have an entire fleet at your command via smartphone app, the NetJets model) will reduce the number of cars on the road, relieve pressure on public transportation, alleviate traffic, and give more mobility to poorer classes of people. People can spend fewer hours in the office because they can work remotely during their commute. Long distance trips will be easier because the car can drive almost 24 hours a day, stopping only to refuel, and you'll arrive rested and refreshed.
  
  you got to buy something quick in a shop. the car drives you right in front of the shop, you click a button, leave the car and the car goes by itself finding a parking spot while you're in the shop buying stuff. when you're done, you click your app on your cellphone and the car comes back from the parking space to the front of the store, you get up and drive away. there's no "I must leave the car on the sidewalks because it's just a quick run in the shop" or hours hovering around a block finding a parking spot... it will be like having a personal chauffeur!!
  
  The coolest way I could see it going is someone like Google running a two tier service on electric self drive 'taxis'. One is paid on a monthly subscription and has free wifi and tv's in the vehicle. The other costs very little but pushes you with ads and the wifi costs extra or is filled with more ads. You use an uber like app to call a car to you, then after dropping you off it goes to the nearest charging depot. Puts the service in everyone's reach.
  
  Everytime you need transportation you'll just rent a driverless car for that specific purpose only. Overnight trips with sleeper cars - this is a great future!
  
  Eventually driving will be the most comfortable option around as everyone chooses to live in self-driving RVs since they are cheaper than an apartment. Basically, everyone will only pay for parking and live in their cars. Hopefully they'll be solar paneled up and electric for the environment's sake.
  
  Bring on the robot drivers. Let's do this.