What would you pay for autonomous driving? Volkswagen hopes $8.50 per hour • Hacker News Board

Re: What would you pay for autonomous driving? Volkswagen hopes $8.50 per hour

#531

Post by lvl100 » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 4:25 PM UTC

tempestn wrote: post #49

Having finally had a chance to test-"drive" an advanced autopilot Tesla last weekend, I can confidently say at the current level of that tech I would pay less than nothing. At best (cruising down a well-marked highway) it was only slightly worse than useless, taking a different line in the lane than I considered optimal, leaving me feeling a background level of apprehension. From there it ranged through frustrating,…

Tesla scammed people into believing in FSD. I actually believed it for a second too. Yet here we are with Elon Musk as one of the richest con of all time.

Re: What would you pay for autonomous driving? Volkswagen hopes $8.50 per hour

#532

Post by iamgopal » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 4:36 PM UTC

headmelted wrote: post #529

hyperhopper wrote: post #62

> In a swipe at Tesla, he said that by charging hourly fees, VW would make autonomous driving more accessible than “a car with a five-digit surcharge.” This is completely disingenuous at best, and malicious at worst. This is a perfect example of the boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness [1]. This is just taking advantage of the poor-middle class' inability to pay a larger upfront cost, to extort them for more over…

Honestly I think they're both fairytales at this point. Tesla is WAY further away from fully autonomous driving than they're letting on to their customers, probably because a lot of people would demand refunds on their FSD charges if they knew there was a good chance it wouldn't arrive before the car's end of life in the best case. Volkswagen's plan here is just as ridiculous. Autonomous driving is economically impos…

As with everything else, quite soon price of hardware required for fully autonomous driving will go down exponentially. While software to support the same will keep increasing. Hence VW action fully justified.

Re: What would you pay for autonomous driving? Volkswagen hopes $8.50 per hour

#533

Post by arriu » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 4:41 PM UTC

GekkePrutser wrote: post #172

hyperhopper wrote: post #62

> In a swipe at Tesla, he said that by charging hourly fees, VW would make autonomous driving more accessible than “a car with a five-digit surcharge.” This is completely disingenuous at best, and malicious at worst. This is a perfect example of the boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness [1]. This is just taking advantage of the poor-middle class' inability to pay a larger upfront cost, to extort them for more over…

You mean 250 hours a year, not a week. But 31 minutes commuting per day is super low, that's 15 minutes each way. I doubt that is really the average to be honest. Of course with the pandemic commuting is not a big time sink anymore but I wonder how permanent this will be.

That average does seem quite low... However, I do live in the greater Toronto area and we're known for having terrible traffic. My pre-covid daily work commute was 2-3 hours on the 401.

Re: What would you pay for autonomous driving? Volkswagen hopes $8.50 per hour

#534

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 4:42 PM UTC

PaulHoule wrote: post #471

ghaff wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Carry-on luggage for one thing. (And the luggage I take is comfortably within limits before you ask. I'm also frequently in a bulkhead seat so the luggage has to go overhead.) I also like to just get settled in.

I hate the rollerbag phenomenon and fighting for the overhead compartments enough that I check bags even when I don't have to. Often the people handling the luggage think I'm strange to pay $50 to check a bag when I haven't maximized my carry-on bags or even take advantage of the free bag I get because I have the credit card. It might even get me investigated by the TSA for being un-American.

[deleted]

Re: What would you pay for autonomous driving? Volkswagen hopes $8.50 per hour

#535

Post by lnanek2 » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 4:43 PM UTC

Seems like a valid approach. The cheapest way to do self driving is to just have a drone pilot from a call center driver your car remotely through a video feed. An hourly fee enables that. As long as they take fault as the driver in accidents, seems superior to computer control as well.

Re: What would you pay for autonomous driving? Volkswagen hopes $8.50 per hour

#536

Post by michaelmrose » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 4:49 PM UTC

hyperhopper wrote: post #62

> In a swipe at Tesla, he said that by charging hourly fees, VW would make autonomous driving more accessible than “a car with a five-digit surcharge.” This is completely disingenuous at best, and malicious at worst. This is a perfect example of the boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness [1]. This is just taking advantage of the poor-middle class' inability to pay a larger upfront cost, to extort them for more over…

Supposedly an average of 293 hour per year or almost 25k over 10 years. They also want to disable part of the battery and rent it back to you too.

We ought wait until they manufacture them then ban import and hope they go bankrupt.

Re: What would you pay for autonomous driving? Volkswagen hopes $8.50 per hour

#537

Post by timwaagh » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 4:49 PM UTC

I highly doubt they will sell any at that price. It's more than some people make in an hour, working. It's not quite sane and shows a backwards mindset. why would an autonomous car even need a steering wheel?

Re: What would you pay for autonomous driving? Volkswagen hopes $8.50 per hour

#538

Post by asiachick » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 4:51 PM UTC

I can hardly wait for the Apple Car where they went 30% from every retailer and restaurant their car drives you to

Re: What would you pay for autonomous driving? Volkswagen hopes $8.50 per hour

#539

Post by nojokes » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 5:02 PM UTC

awillen wrote: post #523

kwhitefoot wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He or she said: > We have companies to help efficiently distribute wealth through the community to maximise the probability of social needs being filled. We here presumably means society in general. We set rules and give privileges to people to run companies in order to better society. In a capitalist system this is done through the medium of 'enlightened self interest' so yes, one starts a company to make money but…

"so yes, one starts a company to make money but that is not the reason we have companies." I don't understand this at all. The reason people create companies is the reason that companies exist. They're by definition the same thing - companies don't exist without people creating them. So if people start companies to make money, the reason companies exist is to make the people who start them money.

You can't just create a company - you need a legal framework for a company to exists.

Re: What would you pay for autonomous driving? Volkswagen hopes $8.50 per hour

#540

Post by yuliyp » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 5:07 PM UTC

hyperhopper wrote: post #62

> In a swipe at Tesla, he said that by charging hourly fees, VW would make autonomous driving more accessible than “a car with a five-digit surcharge.” This is completely disingenuous at best, and malicious at worst. This is a perfect example of the boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness [1]. This is just taking advantage of the poor-middle class' inability to pay a larger upfront cost, to extort them for more over…

I think this type of pricing aligns incentives better than what Tesla is doing. With Tesla's model, if you don't get what you expected out of the self driving features, sorry, but they already have your money. With VW, they're incentivized to continue improving it and convincing people to use it, since it's more money in their pocket if they do.