Lyft Expects Self-Driving Cars To Handle Most Rides In 5 Years

[Megalith]

That, of course, is the kind of (wishful, perhaps) thinking you would expect from the CEO of a modern ride-hailing company, but Lyft’s goes even further and surmises that car ownership will end in large cities by 2025. If given the opportunity, would you give up having a personal vehicle?

He…foresees that private car ownership will "all-but end" in major US cities by 2025. Far fewer young Americans have driver's licenses than the previous generation, in part because ridesharing reduces the need for a personal car -- add self-driving cars to the mix and many urbanites may never need their own vehicle, Zimmer says. He even predicts that cities will change in response to the technology, such as reclaiming parking lots as community spaces.

 

[evilsofa]

The key phrase here is "in major US cities". This was giving me a lot of pause before I ran it through that filter. And I still think that's overly optimistic; it's going to take longer than that.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Lyft is pretty fucking delusional.

And if you were someone who drives for Lyft, must make you feel really warm inside knowing they want to dump you to the curb as quickly as possible to collect all the profit.

 

[Snowdog]

Lyft is pretty fucking delusional.

And if you were someone who drives for Lyft, must make you feel really warm inside knowing they want to dump you to the curb as quickly as possible to collect all the profit.

It's the same thing Uber is doing. This is the big disruption when it gets cheaper to simply call for a car than own one.
As Uber’s robot cars hit the streets in Pittsburgh, the fears of its human drivers have become a reality

 

[d8lock]

So does this mean with a revoked license I can buy one of these?

 

[evilsofa]

So does this mean with a revoked license I can buy one of these?

Are you Lyft, bro?

 

[nutzo]

Even if they manage to build a truly autonomous, self driving car, it will take a long time before they replace a significant portion of existing cars on the road.
The average age of cars on the road is currently over 10 year, so even if they stopped making all current cars, and only made self driving cars (at the same rate) it would take them over 10 years just to replace half the cars on the road.

As for car ownership largely ending, won't happen unless the government makes it too expensive to own a car.
As for those who say that won't happen, just wait until they raise your registration to $5,000 a year, raise gas taxes so gas is $20/gallon, and put so many mandates on your auto insurance that the most basic policy runs $10,000 a year.

Once you don't need to pay a driver, and we have large fleets of self driving cars you can book with your cell phone at a reasonable rate (no driver to pay will bring the cost down), I can see people getting rid of their 2nd car.

 

[sfsuphysics]

As for car ownership largely ending, won't happen unless the government makes it too expensive to own a car.
As for those who say that won't happen, just wait until they raise your registration to $5,000 a year, raise gas taxes so gas is $20/gallon, and put so many mandates on your auto insurance that the most basic policy runs $10,000 a year.

Ok Mr Smartypants, I'll wait for that scenario to happen.

 

[dbu8554]

Lyft is pretty fucking delusional.

And if you were someone who drives for Lyft, must make you feel really warm inside knowing they want to dump you to the curb as quickly as possible to collect all the profit.

Lyft and Uber have been up front for a LONG time about this being their goal.

 

[amddragonpc]

No, I wouldn't give up my personal vehicle. It does worry me that Lyft, Uber, and whover else who wants to get into this game are lobbying lawmakers in Congress and at the state level to make self-driving cars the "norm" possibly resulting in the suspension of driving privileges for private citizens.

 

[Snowdog]

Even if they manage to build a truly autonomous, self driving car, it will take a long time before they replace a significant portion of existing cars on the road.
The average age of cars on the road is currently over 10 year, so even if they stopped making all current cars, and only made self driving cars (at the same rate) it would take them over 10 years just to replace half the cars on the road.

As for car ownership largely ending, won't happen unless the government makes it too expensive to own a car.

There are places where owning a car is just pain. Gridlock, and expensive parking when you can find it.

He is only talking about (and exaggerating to draw attention) major US cities.

Car ownership in Manhattan is already down around 20%.