alt Hacker NewsCan someone remind me why we need autonomous cars? What's wrong with paying someone to drive?
Autonomous cars is an inefficient solution anyway, I don't see how it benefits the rider.
Can someone remind me why we need autonomous cars? What's wrong with paying someone to drive?
Autonomous cars is an inefficient solution anyway, I don't see how it benefits the rider.
Yeah sure!
In theory they should be cheaper one day because you don't need to pay someone to drive. This means you can use them in situations where for cost reasons you would have driven yourself - e.g. for long journeys, in the countryside, for commuting etc.
Getting people out of their own cars and into autonomous cars is better for several reasons:
1. We need to own fewer cars collectively, which is better for the environment.
2. Don't need to waste a ton of space on car parks.
3. It's safer (at least for Waymo). Not just for occupants but also for pedestrians and cyclists.
Having a cheap option for last mile travel also makes trains more attractive.
All of this of course rests on them actually ending up cheap, which hasn't been the case so far but we'll see.