How Robotaxis Might Mitigate Electric Car Depreciation (robohub.org)

Hallie Siegel writes: Autonomous car expert Brad Templeton argues that we're in for a period of about 5 years in electric cars where each year's new model is a lot better, and that could be a problem for people trying to sell them. Further exacerbating Moore's Law for cars is that autonomous features (like traffic jam assist) rely heavily on computers. Unfortunately cars cost a lot more than computers or cell phones, so throwing them away before the end of their lifespan is a bit of a problem. How do get over the depreciation problem while autonomous cars and electric cars are going through this period of rapid development? Templeton suggests that a taxi model could be the answer, since use is so much more intense that with a private ownership model, that the cars are likely to wear out before they become worthless from a resale perspective.

Comments

Good idea but

[110010001000]

Good idea but autonomous cars is about 40 years away from being realistic. I am sure people will protest "but Google has a car that works now!". No. They really don't. They have a car that can navigate through heavily pre-mapped city streets. If they turn that car loose in the middle of Chicago it won't work. But the idea of using electric cars for human-driven taxis is a good one. In fact that is one of the reasons why so many taxis are hybrids already. Another reason is that hybrids can use the HOV in some areas.

Component Upgrades

[bondsbw]

If a computer were too expensive, I would replace components until it made financial sense to purchase a full system.

Something similar could happen with automobiles. The manufacturer could provide a refit program at least once during the typical life of the vehicle (perhaps 3 or 4 years in). It would bring in much of the latest technology for a much lower cost than purchasing a new vehicle, keeping customers happy and less likely to look at a competitor's latest model.