Self driving vehicles is not about safer cars, although it is certain to help its to reduce the cost of owning a car. The real benefit of a self driving car is (1) the elimination of parking space near the home, (2) centralization of recharging (99% of self driving tech is driven by the electric car industry), and (4) the real winner is the lowering of cost of access to automobile
The first two are obvious, having self driving cars means that cars can be in garages or parking areas away from homes and businesses, freeing up expensive real estate, central charging is obvious too, but lo were in free. It if driving is more complex, many North American families have multiple cars because they are needed by multiple people, but the use may not coincide in time. On average a car is used 2 hours per days, the other 22 it is unused, if we double the hours used it would lead to a reduction in the total number of vehicles by half.
It is easy to imagine small groups buying cars together because users need than at different times. Some people only need cars on the weekends and other only during the week days. Some only for commuting and others for use during the day.
That is the golden ticket for car manufacturers the ability of people to have access to different vehicles when they need them, pricing usage accordingly. Therefore increasing the utility of a rather expensive asset.
The goal of self driving vehicles is to increase their utilization, thereby reducing the overall number of vehicles
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