Fun Future Predictions: How will self drive cars impact the future?

[octothorp]

I wonder to what extent a service like Car2Go might make sense for this, if the technology was there. You've got a large enough base that mass implementation would actually be significant, the people driving the cars probably aren't as attached to the experience of driving and view it primarily as a convenience, and if you could convince insurance that the automated model is actually safer, then the savings might be significant enough for the company that it's worth implementing. To me, that's the most likely mass implementation scenario, rather than a large number of individual drivers deciding that this is a must-have feature.

[jammies]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Bus transit is cheaper too.

Bus transit is not point to point, nor do you have a vehicle to use at your destination. Further, bus transit is scheduled. It's not at all the same thing.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by LIP MAN

The QE2 is the closest you can get to auto pilot. Definitely helps kill time with that boring drive.

They don't call you LIP MAN for nothing.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by jammies

Bus transit is not point to point, nor do you have a vehicle to use at your destination. Further, bus transit is scheduled. It's not at all the same thing.

Oh I agree, I was countering the assertion that the indignities of being behind the wheel would be the reason for the adoption of air travelers to self drive cars. I think the convenience might, but air travel will always be preferable to most business travelers who need time.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by jammies

Bus transit is not point to point, nor do you have a vehicle to use at your destination. Further, bus transit is scheduled. It's not at all the same thing.

With driverless cars, someone could invent a system that would sort of be a hybrid between a taxi service and a transit service - all computer controlled.

It could pick you up where you are at, make quick stops to pick up others along the way, perhaps drop you off somewhere to get on a different vehicle going in a different direction, that would only be a minute away from picking you up, and would eventually drop you off right where you needed to be.

Implemented properly, it could be faster than driving is now, take you point to point, and still essentially be "public transit"

A place that had 100% computer controlled cars that were all logged into the same system, or could communicate with one another would eliminate the need for traffic lights, and probably most interchanges. It might be a little nerve racking at first for the occupants, but vehicles could zoom through intersections at high speeds, missing cars travelling across their path at high speeds by mere inches. The concept of lanes could go away too, as each car could be several inches apart driving beside each other. Three or four vehicles could fit side by side onto existing two lane roads.