AI Impacts will we soon all order a car like you can now order a Pizza?

As earlier posts in this AI “impacts “ series indicated, electric vehicles (EVs) ( or maybe even hydrogen powered vehicles? ) especially when regulatory approvals are given for autonomous (self-driving ) will replace almost all petrol-powered Internal Combustion Engine (ICE ) vehicles and will spread rapidly across the richer countries and eventually (within 15 years) around the world. This will further stimulate the rapid demise of ICE vehicles and lead to further expansion of EVs.

Tesla are exploring new ways to encourage purchase of EVs and that too may drive forward the transfer to EVs . customers will be able to buy a Tesla online for delivery to you house and there may be various options offered

1 you buy outright under normal purchase agreement paying instalments over an agreed period and own the vehicle at the contract end.
2 You take out a 3-year contract ( similar to the contract for a smart phone) paying an agreed amount each month and at the end of the 3-year contract you can upgrade the vehicle ( just as you upgrade your phone) and start a new contract for 3 years.
3 The added advantage Tesla offer on both is that (once autonomous vehicles are permitted ) you will be able to let Tesla “rent out” your vehicle to others during periods when you do not need it ) This could accelerate purchases as many people will be able to cover the costs of monthly rental or ownership from the revenues they get from letting others use the vehicle when it is not needed.

If autonomous cars are owned , this will make it less likely that people buy several EV cars for a multi person household as the same car will take someone to work and then return home by itself to be used repeatedly for different journeys by other family members rather than being parked all day at work. Taxi company operating costs of running a vehicle fleet will plummet drastically especially when they can deploy electric RoboTaxis. This will allow them to offer new types of services to private individuals and municipalities which were not possible before. This will be a further devastating blow to vehicle manufacturers – even those who have pivoted to EV manufacture.

Taxi companies offering “Transport as a Service” ( TaaS) subscriptions at very low competitive prices. will become a low-cost alternative transport option. The annual costs of using TaaS for all family journeys and transport needs will work out cheaper, not just compared to buying and running a new private car but will be even cheaper than just the running costs alone of an existing privately owned vehicle. There will be no reason in future to buy or operate your own private vehicle if you can just order any trip on any kind of vehicle to anywhere at any time you may want from your TaaS provider .It will be like ordering a pizza and having the specified type of vehicle, depending on your need , delivering itself to your door 24/7 at a very low cost. It is even possible that it will no longer be necessary for city administrations to operate municipal bus companies as the Taxi companies could provide Robobuses as TaaS services running along specified bus routes and being reimbursed on passenger miles delivered. Low volume / social routes might even be subsidised giving a higher fee per passenger mile provided by the Taxi company.

These services and radical changes in societal attitudes to and use of private transport will have a major impact on the use of space in cities and will offer opportunities to make cities more attractive places to live and work . The next post will explore implications of these impacts on the structure of cities, use of city space and urban living in the AI era.