Self-driving Taxis (self-driving Teslas if we want to be honest on those making claims about it) are not 2020 material (or 2021, 2022…). The system is flawed and irresponsible. You are not flying high in the sky with nothing to bump into. So, no. Stop trying to make it happen. It won’t.
However, one very realistic and applicable approach would be in the car sharing market. Shared cars sit idle in parking lots across many large cities. Plenty of time to charge their batteries. It is fitting given the limited range of electric cars (you are not going to do a road trip with a Tesla. You can, but it’s annoying, or straight up painful if the bladerunnerish Tesla judges you are not worthy of supercharging, or DC fast charging (link)). Car sharing is cheaper, convenient and a good option for those who don’t need or want the freedom of owning their own pants and underwear.
Why aren’t Tesla cheerleaders praising this capability? Maybe because the rental doesn’t make that much money and they have wet dreams about replacing the L in the total factor productivity equation? Uber has been more straight forward with that. That just may be the hopelessly delusional thinking that self-driving is an edge Tesla and only Tesla has.
What is it about Taxis anyway? What made Taxis so sexy lately? Taxis haven’t been sexy since 1976. My dad worked as a taxi driver for a couple of years and I know how insufferably unprofitable the work is.
I always wondered why people would want their shiny new (and expensive) Tesla to be vomit-soaked and used as a cab. Best case scenario it will smell like someone else’s buttocks. Why?
Oh, Uber did, now everyone is a taxi driver and a gig worker because “these days… “.
The self-driving Tesla idea is being sold as an Uber you don’t have to drive. The allure of turning an expense (a car) into a profit-making machine. Mom and pop investors love that idea. They have used it in the real estate market for the last 30 years (buy, fix, sell or rent). Maybe the same applies but on a smaller scale and with daily profits (in their mind). This is getting uncomfortably close to a make-money-at-home-in-a-few-easy-steps scheme in my opinion.
It is also too bad they would have to wait months and pay thousands to repair a fender bender.
Maybe cab drivers that have been running Ford Crown Victorias, Toyota Corollas and Toyota Camrys were wrong all along and what you need is a luxury car that is hard and expensive to fix.
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Combine the ignorance of the workings of a vastly complex technology and application, an everything bubble, free money, unsophisticated investors and money hungry financial talking heads. That is what gets us where we are.
Perhaps Tesla doesn’t look as sexy sitting in a car sharing parking spot for days on end. Maybe that doesn’t eliminate the L of the aforementioned equation enough for your overlord’s taste.
I’m not a Tesla hater. I like tech and I like speed. What I don’t like is a company selling something that doesn’t exist and thinking they can sell me a pair of pants but only allow me to zip and unzip them when they feel like it.
Unknown Economist