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3,000 Ride-Sharing Cars Could Replace Every Cab in New York City, MIT Study Says (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.

All 13,000 taxis in New York City could be replaced by a fleet of 3,000 ride-sharing cars if used exclusively for carpooling, according to research published today by MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). From a report: Instead of hailing taxis, passengers that use ride-sharing services for carpooling may lead to reduced traffic congestion, pollution, and fuel use. The CSAIL researchers used public data from NYC taxi rides published by the University of Illinois to develop the algorithm. They calculated that 3,000 four-person vehicles travelling to similar destinations could meet 98 percent of taxi demand in the city with an average wait time of 2.7 minutes. Perhaps the most important part of the system is a dynamic repositioning of vehicles based on real-time demand, which makes the system 20 percent faster.

3 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. Re: But I don't want to ride with others by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Agree. I hate carpooling. I absolutely hate it.

    Hate getting involved when the other cheapo customer get pissed off with the driver when I think it was fine.

    Hate the car turning back near the original pickup location to pickup someone else after we left for 10 mins.

    I'll rather pay more.

    I love Uber, but I HATE Uberpool.

  2. Yes- non-fixed route, fixed schedule- buses by Immerial · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This could work... only if people would let it. The main complaint I see is ... but I don't want to sit with a stranger. What if these 3000 cars had individual compartments... complete with a comfy chair, newspaper/video of your choice, and a coffee? That might be enough for some folks. That plus having them dynamically allocated means not having to wait long and if you miss it/run late, schedule another one to pick you up.

  3. Say goodbye to a lot of tax revenue by RogueWarrior65 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Medallions cost around $1 million each. Do you really think a ten billion dollar asset is just going to roll over and play dead?