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Driverless cars may reduce U.S. auto sales 40% by 2040

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Good (Score: 2, Interesting)

by fishybell@pipedot.org on 2015-05-21 07:42 (#9EWJ)

There are too many cars polluting the skies and requiring vast quantities of landscape to be paved for roads and parking. Also of note, driverless cars won't just impact US automakers, they will impact all automakers. There will likely be a short lived (in the 10ish year time span) boost in sales as everyone gets theirs, then people will just relax and enjoy. As an avid driver, I'm only worried (and even then, just slightly) that driverful cars will at some point be banned.

As a side note, I expect driverless cars to last longer than driverful cars due to the cars always driving smoothly and the potential for the car to drive itself to the mechanic for maintenance.

Re: Good (Score: 1)

by billshooterofbul@pipedot.org on 2015-05-21 15:54 (#9FWE)

Hmm... From reading the summary, I don't think this will necessarily mean less miles traveled by cars. Just less cars. If I'm going to work at 8:00 and leaving work only at 5:00 and my wife needs the car to run errands. All of that can be done with one car, but today uses two, because my wife might not want to drop me off and pick me up from work ( at an hour's commute each way durring traffic, that kind makes sense) . So now if the car can just return home after dropping me off, it doesn't suck an additional four hours from her day where she could be doing other things. The down side is that instead of just operating for two hours a day taking me to and from work, it now operates four hours a day.

But obviously not spending the resources and energy to create a second car saves the enviornment a bit.

Re: Good (Score: 1)

by tanuki64@pipedot.org on 2015-05-21 18:15 (#9G57)

From your use case above I don't know, if you don't overlook something. Many families cannot afford two cars. So everything has to done be with only one car. Many people manage. Some probably with optimizations, which not require additional tours. If now a car can drive alone from one to the other owner, it really might mean more traffic. Less thinking and compromises necessary to achieve the same effect easier and more convenient. Additionally sooner or later people will notice 'hey, my car sits most of the time motionless around... it could make me money, if it transports people when I don't need it. So someone develops an app, which calls stand-by private cars, which are registered for this service... kills the cap driver business and possibly other forms of public transportations. It might make less cars necessary, but it might at the same time increase traffic. The net effect? I have not idea.

Re: Good (Score: 2, Informative)

by kwerle@pipedot.org on 2015-05-21 23:51 (#9GNV)

From your use case above I don't know, if you don't overlook something. Many families cannot afford two cars.
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=how+many+cars+does+the+average+american+own
According to a February study by Experian Automotive, which specializes in collecting and analyzing automotive data, Americans own an average of 2.28 vehicles per household, and more than 35 percent of households own three or more cars.Jul 27, 2008

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2015-05-22 13:00 Informative +1 billshooterofbul@pipedot.org

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