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Comment by chipsrafferty

2 days ago

Why sell a car when you can charge per ride?

Well, you wouldn't have to sell the car. You could also setup a licensing / loan / dedicated car system.

It would work well for local municipalities that want to provide low-cost door-to-door service for the elderly.

We have a bus service here, The ART, and a dedicates "paratransit" bus service that provides door-to-door service to eligible riders.

And a couple private large-scale developed and managed neighborhoods that have driverless non-automated (remote controlled) transit systems.

If you know a large portion of your riders have disabilities, dedicated buses or vans make sense.

I'm sitting here advocating for this, and it's a great service that I'm glad they have it for those in need, and yet I need fucking plywood for hurricanes myself.

Yeah, it is Florida. But honestly, the transit system here and bike infrastructure development and traffic planning is good.

  • > You could also setup a licensing / loan / dedicated car system.

    I think the word you were searching for is leasing the vehicle.

    • > the word you were searching for is leasing the vehicle

      Car leasing tends to be time based. A self-driving car may depreciate more like an airplane, based on miles driven.

It's not so much "why sell the car" but more "who is going to buy this car?" Plus, without maintenance the self-driving capability will probably degrade and become unsafe.

Supply. There may not be enough Waymos sitting around to satisfy all of the demand at a point in time.

For the same reasons why you accept a lower price when selling in bulk basically. There are fewer overhead costs for you to deal with. You have to deal with the risks and the slower payout and money now is worth more than money later, the very premise responsible for loans.