You may be right, but I read this more as an argument that we’ll keep personal cars, not that we’re rent out half of them. If we’re sticking with personal wagons, isn’t it easier to just own your own engine too? Electric engines are cheap and battery prices are going down.
If you’re a first world citizen and able to spend $35k+ on a car, sure. Most of the cars that need replacing are way cheaper, and their replacement needs to be way cheaper too.
According to Kelly Blue Book, the average new light vehicle in the US was $37,185 in May 2019. Replacement pretty much has to happen as a substitution for new car sales, then flowing into the pre-owned markets.
Add to that that the “outdated assumption” says “a single vehicle needs to do both the moving and the accommodation of the user”. Perhaps a personal car can be said to “accommodate” people, but if you only want the engine, there’s already e-scooters. The whole point of robotaxi is to reduce the number of vehicles needed by making their utilization more efficient (by sharing them). Why should we have those inefficient personal wagons lying around? Why not have houses for “accommodation” and robotaxis for “moving” the people?
You may be right, but I read this more as an argument that we’ll keep personal cars, not that we’re rent out half of them. If we’re sticking with personal wagons, isn’t it easier to just own your own engine too? Electric engines are cheap and battery prices are going down.
If you’re a first world citizen and able to spend $35k+ on a car, sure. Most of the cars that need replacing are way cheaper, and their replacement needs to be way cheaper too.
According to Kelly Blue Book, the average new light vehicle in the US was $37,185 in May 2019. Replacement pretty much has to happen as a substitution for new car sales, then flowing into the pre-owned markets.
Isn’t that just the price of an electric car right now? Won’t they be vastly cheaper in the future?
Add to that that the “outdated assumption” says “a single vehicle needs to do both the moving and the accommodation of the user”. Perhaps a personal car can be said to “accommodate” people, but if you only want the engine, there’s already e-scooters. The whole point of robotaxi is to reduce the number of vehicles needed by making their utilization more efficient (by sharing them). Why should we have those inefficient personal wagons lying around? Why not have houses for “accommodation” and robotaxis for “moving” the people?