mishtalk | Despite accelerating progress towards fully autonomous cars and
trucks, many people still do not accept the obvious fact it’s going to
happen soon.
For example, in response to Death Spiral for Car Ownership? End of Fuel-Powered Cars by 2024? one reader suggested it will not happen because of capitalism.
Failure to Understand Capitalism
People who believe in this utopia do not understand capitalism. We own cars because consumers chose what they wanted and backed that up with their hard earned cash.
It is already far cheaper to ride the bus or carpool. Few choose that because sharing has its downsides. Fleets of driverless cars are really just a more modular bus service. Some will use this, but most will prefer ownership.
Ass Backwards
The above line of thinking is ass backwards.
Capitalism is precisely why driverless is coming. Corporations are
betting their money and resources. The government is not resisting. The
trucking industry will save hundreds of millions of dollars. People who
believe driverless is not coming are the ones who do not understand
capitalism!
Fully autonomous vehicles are not some pie in the sky prediction by
Al Gore. Real companies (hundreds of them) all working on driverless. A
bet against them is a foolish bet against capitalism.
