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Nevada approves regulations for self-driving cars

physorg.com

11–20 of 140 posts

Re: Nevada approves regulations for self-driving cars

#11

Is it possible that this will turn cities in to less desirable places to live? Imagine if you could take your car in to the city for drinks, have it drive around for a while and pick you up when your done. That is just one possibility, I'm sure there are so many applications I can't even think of them.

Something that is needed here and probably many places is competition in Public Transport. I imagine a time where it will be cheaper to have your electric car drive you into work than to catch a train, then drives itself home and charges until you're ready to be picked up again. Or just driverless taxis on the cheap.

Public transport here costs at least $20 a week just for students relatively close to the city. You can expect $50+ for adults, it's not uncommon for people here to live 1+ hours away and commute from the coast, costing $15+ per trip.

Re: Nevada approves regulations for self-driving cars

#12

Is it possible that this will turn cities in to less desirable places to live? Imagine if you could take your car in to the city for drinks, have it drive around for a while and pick you up when your done. That is just one possibility, I'm sure there are so many applications I can't even think of them.

The proliferation of self-driving cars will absolutely affect where people live, eventually. I imagine that to start with, we'll see certain areas - such as the Vegas strip, perhaps - that support Valet™, a feature first appearing in luxury vehicles that does exactly what we'd already expect from human valet drivers. But to drill down even further, I'm not exactly sure where the very first Valet™ supported parking lo…

And yes, self-driving cars will provide a huge boom to services like Zipcar, and indirectly to marketplaces like AirBnB that convert ownership into access.

Re: Nevada approves regulations for self-driving cars

#13
post #4

This opens lots of cool possibilities such as eliminating the need for two cars in the family for example. You go to work, the car then comes back and drives the wife and then later in the afternoon when both parents are working it goes to school and picks up the kids!

The downside is that cars could be driving a lot more. Now, instead of a roundtrips each for me and my wife, it is two for me and two for my wife (assuming worst case).

Individually, the costs go down (one car, woot!). Societally, (assuming anthromorphic global warming ;) the cost is much higher.

Of course, with one car, I can afford a far more green car, so maybe it balances out again.

Re: Nevada approves regulations for self-driving cars

#14
post #7
post #4

This opens lots of cool possibilities such as eliminating the need for two cars in the family for example. You go to work, the car then comes back and drives the wife and then later in the afternoon when both parents are working it goes to school and picks up the kids!

It could eliminate the need for having a car altogether. Hello zipcar

Oh, yes. Having a robot taxi pick you up when you need it and disappear when you're done beats finding a parking space any day of the week. +1 city dwellers.

I'd like to be able to give my kids an RFID tag so that I could send them to school when I'm running late, or pick them up after sports practice. Trust will be an issue... but entirely doable.

Re: Nevada approves regulations for self-driving cars

#16
post #4

This opens lots of cool possibilities such as eliminating the need for two cars in the family for example. You go to work, the car then comes back and drives the wife and then later in the afternoon when both parents are working it goes to school and picks up the kids!

The downside is that cars could be driving a lot more. Now, instead of a roundtrips each for me and my wife, it is two for me and two for my wife (assuming worst case). Individually, the costs go down (one car, woot!). Societally, (assuming anthromorphic global warming ;) the cost is much higher. Of course, with one car, I can afford a far more green car, so maybe it balances out again.

the energy and material costs of producing a second car is very high. probably higher than the extra driving for the single car in the scenario .

Re: Nevada approves regulations for self-driving cars

#17
post #4

This opens lots of cool possibilities such as eliminating the need for two cars in the family for example. You go to work, the car then comes back and drives the wife and then later in the afternoon when both parents are working it goes to school and picks up the kids!

The downside is that cars could be driving a lot more. Now, instead of a roundtrips each for me and my wife, it is two for me and two for my wife (assuming worst case). Individually, the costs go down (one car, woot!). Societally, (assuming anthromorphic global warming ;) the cost is much higher. Of course, with one car, I can afford a far more green car, so maybe it balances out again.

[deleted]

Re: Nevada approves regulations for self-driving cars

#18
post #4

This opens lots of cool possibilities such as eliminating the need for two cars in the family for example. You go to work, the car then comes back and drives the wife and then later in the afternoon when both parents are working it goes to school and picks up the kids!

The downside is that cars could be driving a lot more. Now, instead of a roundtrips each for me and my wife, it is two for me and two for my wife (assuming worst case). Individually, the costs go down (one car, woot!). Societally, (assuming anthromorphic global warming ;) the cost is much higher. Of course, with one car, I can afford a far more green car, so maybe it balances out again.

[deleted]

Re: Nevada approves regulations for self-driving cars

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The proliferation of self-driving cars will absolutely affect where people live, eventually. I imagine that to start with, we'll see certain areas - such as the Vegas strip, perhaps - that support Valet™, a feature first appearing in luxury vehicles that does exactly what we'd already expect from human valet drivers. But to drill down even further, I'm not exactly sure where the very first Valet™ supported parking lo…

And yes, self-driving cars will provide a huge boom to services like Zipcar, and indirectly to marketplaces like AirBnB that convert ownership into access.

At first I thought that taxi companies would use the vehicles, but now I think it is more realistic that zip car would be first (or someone like them) since not everyone will be fast to adopt and may be uncomfortable riding.in one. Then over time the economics will force cab companies to switch at which point it will be a mature market.

Bschool professors will talk about how cab companies made the wrong strategic choice even though it will really be the only option and one essentially predetermined.

Personally, I can't wait!

Re: Nevada approves regulations for self-driving cars

#20
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The downside is that cars could be driving a lot more. Now, instead of a roundtrips each for me and my wife, it is two for me and two for my wife (assuming worst case). Individually, the costs go down (one car, woot!). Societally, (assuming anthromorphic global warming ;) the cost is much higher. Of course, with one car, I can afford a far more green car, so maybe it balances out again.

the energy and material costs of producing a second car is very high. probably higher than the extra driving for the single car in the scenario .

Also, having a parking place at work for both cars (husband and wife) is also very costly.
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