Tesla cars will eventually drive themselves across the country to meet you

[Nehkara]

Summon Your Tesla From Your Phone

As part of the release of Tesla version 7.1 software update, Tesla is introducing a feature called Summon.

Initially this feature will be used at home... you get out of your car and then your car will open the garage, put itself away, close the garage, and shut itself down.

Similarly, your car will meet you in front of your house - extrictating itself from the garage - in the morning (or whenever).

However, long term Tesla explains that this functionality will improve to the point where your car can drive itself across the country - charging along the way - to meet you, even syncing to your calendar so it arrives at the right place and time.

Pretty cool eh?

[Fuzz]

Great, so we are going to have a bunch of empty vehicles driving all over clogging the roads...I'm not sure this cunning plan has been thought all the way through...

[millhouse11]

I'd like to drive to the airport, send the car home, and have it waiting for me when I get back from my trip. That would be pretty sweet.

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Great, so we are going to have a bunch of empty vehicles driving all over clogging the roads...I'm not sure this cunning plan has been thought all the way through...

I think you are overestimating the effect significantly.

Assuming you need to get around some way regardless, you will just have the person's Tesla on the road rather than a rental car/taxi/uber.

[Fuzz]

http://humantransit.org/2015/11/self...-disaster.html
A good read on the subject.

[GoinAllTheWay]

A big part of me is excited about these kind of developments. Self driving cars would be so awesome. Especially ones that could do what millhouse11 suggests. Or even cars that would drive you to work and then head home.

A bigger part of me, however, would miss doing the driving.

[Fuzz]

In the long run I think a lot of people just won't have cars. Not having to have a garage(well, ok a garage to store a car) pay for a parking spot, worry about all the other costs...just call for a car like a taxi. There will be so many that it just won't be an issue, and people will wonder why anyone would want one of their own. It's obvious Uber sees this as the future, drivers are an inconvenient middle step for them.

I can see the day when human operated vehicles will be banned form major roadways, it will just be to unsafe and all the smart cars will be able to do it faster with many more vehicles on the road. It will start with a few lanes here and there, but eventually it is inevitable.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

http://humantransit.org/2015/11/self...-disaster.html
A good read on the subject.

This misses a few important points.

1. 60%of urban congestion is due to human caused accidents
2. Another large contributor to urban congestion is actually people looking for parking spots


This would eliminate that. And the article starts with the position they don't believe ownership would significantly decline, which virtually every think tank has said it would.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

In the long run I think a lot of people just won't have cars.

Or might have specialty cars they rarely drive. Imagine Car2Go except with self driving cars for the majority of transportation. Except with minivan sized vehicles and mobile app to get almost just in time pickup.

Micro-mass-transit.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

It's obvious Uber sees this as the future, drivers are an inconvenient middle step for them.

While this is talked about a lot in the media, I don't see it. As is stands today, at the rates that Uber pays its drivers, it's less than the standard mileage deductions allowed by the IRS and CRA. If Uber were able to get a new medium-sized sedan SDC powered by gas today, it would be more expensive than a human-driven car that's driving an older car.

And frankly, the business model of Uber is to push vehicle fleet expenses onto its human drivers. To go into a fleet business model, where it has to finance and maintain them is a 180 degree turn. Plus, while it's possible to skirt regulatory oversight by using human drivers and job creation to lobby for you, Uber won't get that with robot cars.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

This would eliminate that. And the article starts with the position they don't believe ownership would significantly decline, which virtually every think tank has said it would.

A lot of these studies are done by think tanks that are anti-car to begin with or those that think people are perfectly rational.

While you can have capital cost savings by sharing a vehicle, the experiences of existing fleet vehicles say that to make the same trip, a fleet SDC will need to travel more because it has to make dead head miles to the next passenger which erases any economic advantage.

Personally, I think the desire for ownership is so strong such that a marginal economic difference would not overcome. There are plenty of things that people own, or at least have exclusive access to, that are not utilized 100% but are rarely shared.

[RW99]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I can see the day when human operated vehicles will be banned form major roadways, it will just be to unsafe and all the smart cars will be able to do it faster with many more vehicles on the road. It will start with a few lanes here and there, but eventually it is inevitable.

Good thing the Right to Drive Pickups isn't in the US Constitution

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by accord1999

While this is talked about a lot in the media, I don't see it. As is stands today, at the rates that Uber pays its drivers, it's less than the standard mileage deductions allowed by the IRS and CRA. If Uber were able to get a new medium-sized sedan SDC powered by gas today, it would be more expensive than a human-driven car that's driving an older car.

And frankly, the business model of Uber is to push vehicle fleet expenses onto its human drivers. To go into a fleet business model, where it has to finance and maintain them is a 180 degree turn. Plus, while it's possible to skirt regulatory oversight by using human drivers and job creation to lobby for you, Uber won't get that with robot cars.

Then why is Uber investing into self driving car research?

"They took all the guys that were working on vehicle autonomy — basically whole groups, whole teams of developers, commercialization specialists, all the guys that find grants and who were bringing the intellectual property," recalls a person who was there during the departures. "These guys, they took everybody."
All told, Uber snatched up about 50 people from Carnegie Mellon, including many from its highest ranks.

http://www.theverge.com/transportati...mellon-poached

Although he didn't give any specifics about whether Uber envisions itself building its own car or working with partners, he believes that self-driving cars are going to be "in the world that exists tomorrow," no matter what.
"Are we going to be part of the future?" he asked. "Or are we going to resist the future, like that taxi industry before us? For us, we're a tech company, so we've said, let's be part of that. It's a super exciting place to be."

http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-...g-cars-2015-10

An odd strategy if you don't plan to build your own self driving car, isn't it?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

This misses a few important points.

1. 60%of urban congestion is due to human caused accidents
2. Another large contributor to urban congestion is actually people looking for parking spots


This would eliminate that. And the article starts with the position they don't believe ownership would significantly decline, which virtually every think tank has said it would.

I'd be pretty surprised if 60% of the congestion in downtown Calgary is caused by human accidents. I rarely hear of accidents downtown. Where did that statistic come from? I'm suspicious...

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by accord1999

A lot of these studies are done by think tanks that are anti-car to begin with or those that think people are perfectly rational.

While you can have capital cost savings by sharing a vehicle, the experiences of existing fleet vehicles say that to make the same trip, a fleet SDC will need to travel more because it has to make dead head miles to the next passenger which erases any economic advantage.

Personally, I think the desire for ownership is so strong such that a marginal economic difference would not overcome. There are plenty of things that people own, or at least have exclusive access to, that are not utilized 100% but are rarely shared.

In 30 to 50 years though? Lots of young people don't drive these days, and don't care to own a car. The car culture is inevitability going to be a niche thing of the past. Honestly 5 years ago we were barely talking about cars that could drive themselves, and the progress in the past year has been pretty amazing.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

In 30 to 50 years though? Lots of young people don't drive these days, and don't care to own a car. The car culture is inevitability going to be a niche thing of the past. Honestly 5 years ago we were barely talking about cars that could drive themselves, and the progress in the past year has been pretty amazing.

Yep, you can count me in this crowd. Never really understood car guys, and I'd be surprised if I ever end up owning my own. I do have my license and know how to drive, but I would rather just spend the extra money on living in a more central location.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

An odd strategy if you don't plan to build your own self driving car, isn't it?

I think it's purely for show, to get more attention and hype to increase valuations. At the current rates, the Uber human driver is just not very costly compared to what the costs would be if Uber had to finance and maintain a new SDC.

It's the same reason why they're in China, even though they reportedly spend $3 for every $1 of revenue and face a far better connected competitor.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

In 30 to 50 years though? Lots of young people don't drive these days, and don't care to own a car. The car culture is inevitability going to be a niche thing of the past. Honestly 5 years ago we were barely talking about cars that could drive themselves, and the progress in the past year has been pretty amazing.

But lots of young people do still buy cars or want to buy cars. Overall car sales are high, new Gen Y car sales have gone up as the economy improved while used cars last much longer than they used to. It's the same thing with city living, while some millenials are moving to the city, many are also moving to the suburbs and the general trend of US migration away from the NE cities to the southern suburbs has started up again.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/...-texas/388775/

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Yep, you can count me in this crowd. Never really understood car guys, and I'd be surprised if I ever end up owning my own. I do have my license and know how to drive, but I would rather just spend the extra money on living in a more central location.

Well, with a nice apartment/condo in the city core, how much space and money are wasted in the kitchen and bathrooms that are unused most of the time? Think of all the money you could be saving or extra space you could if it didn't a kitchen or washroom but instead was shared across the floor or even building.

Yet, outside of dorms that doesn't happen. The trend is the opposite, of increasingly expensive and large kitchens and expensive and numerous bathrooms.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I'd be pretty surprised if 60% of the congestion in downtown Calgary is caused by human accidents. I rarely hear of accidents downtown. Where did that statistic come from? I'm suspicious...

Sorry, not ignored. I'm super interested in the progression of this technology and read articles on it every other day or so. I'll look for the article I read it in over the next couple of days. Basically, it was written in rebuttal of the study your article quoted