Slashdot Mirror
Senior Citizens Will Lead the Self-Driving Revolution (theverge.com)
The Villages in Florida -- home to 125,000 residents, over 54,000 homes, 32 square miles, 750 miles of road, and three distinct downtowns -- will soon get a fleet of robot taxis. "Voyage, a startup that has been operating a handful of self-driving cars in the San Jose, California-based retirement community also called The Villages, announced today that later this year it will expand to the much-larger Villages north of Orlando," reports The Verge. "This is thanks to a successful Series A fundraising round that raked in $20 million in 2017." From the report: It's an indication that, strangely enough, many of the first people to fully experience the possibilities presented by self-driving cars will be over the age of 55. Most experts agree that robot cars will first roll out as fleets of self-driving taxis in controlled environments -- college campuses, business parks, dedicated freeway lanes, city centers, or retirement communities. Self-driving startups get to boast about providing a real service for people in need, while seniors get to lord over their grandchildren about being early adopters of a bold new technology. They're also getting something a little more valuable: Voyage is giving the owners of The Villages and the smaller San Jose development equity stakes of 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively, according to The Information. Voyage's self-driving cars aren't fully driverless. Safety drivers will remain behind the wheel just in case there's a need to intervene. And to compliment its digital mapping capabilities, the startup says it will partner with Carmera, a 3D mapmaker for autonomous vehicles. This type of partnership is necessary for what Voyage believes is "the largest deployment (by area size) of self-driving cars in the world."
It even comes with a Get-Off-My-Lawn button.
Table-ized A.I.
Drugs don't seem to work 100% for her so she can't drive. The elderly & the blind (vision impaired) are all early candidates. /. , gander or snooze. Bring it on.
I like driving but even I'd prefer to
Most senior citizens don’t have copious amounts of spare cash - so this first really needs to filter down to the low end of the automotive market.
You might want to look up this "retirement community". Their target customer isn't senior citizens, it's rich people who happen to be over 55.
I betcha the streets are all very low speed limits if golf carts are considered "normal road traffic". Perfect place to test a bunch of unproven vehicle technology.
Most senior citizens don’t have copious amounts of spare cash
They do in The Villages. It is located in Silicon Valley. A townhouse there can cost nearly $1M, and a modest house nearly $2M. It is not for poor people. It is a good choice for a rollout because they can afford the cars, and many of them are techno-geezers.
Disclaimer: I live in San Jose, about 5 miles from The Villages, and I know several people that live there.
Will seniors trust them?
Many seniors engage in evidence-based-reasoning. If data shows SDCs are safe, and they have a lower accident rate than HDCs, then they will trust them.
What about disabled young people like me? :(
Young people tend to just go with the crowd. So if their Facebook friends trust SDCs, so will they.
In fact, most accidents were caused by non-Senior Citizen drivers
In total, or per mile driven ?
No need. If a self-driving car lets a senior get around still, they will buy them in droves. Seniors can be fiercely independent, and often one of the hardest things a son or daughter must do is confiscate their parent's driver license, or write to the DOT saying their parents should have their license revoked.
Likewise, many seniors will go into depression if their doctor says they shouldn't drive anymore.
A self-driving car that lets them drive around still is a godsend as they're not dependent on taxies, public transport, uber/lyft/etc or family to drive them around.
Thus, they are more receptive of SDCs if it means they can still maintain a lifestyle of relative independence. Even in the early days, all it takes is one of the neighbours saying they are much happier being able to get around by themselves even though they were forced to give up their license to have everyone out car shopping the next day.
strangely enough, many of the first people...will be over the age of 55
Many elderly people have reached the stage where they know they should not be driving any more, but have to...or move from the house they've lived in for years. So this could be great for them...
Most senior citizens donâ(TM)t have copious amounts of spare cash - so this first really needs to filter down to the low end of the automotive market.
But you don't need "most", you need a market that has moderate wealth and who'd desperately like to get back to the freedom of having a car. I think my parents would be a good case, they lost their driver's licenses involuntarily - okay my mom gave hers up, but only because it was obvious she wasn't fit to drive anymore - and they have a down paid house and comfortable economy. They could take taxis and occasionally they do but it's to them different, it's like not their car, driven by a stranger and for some things like going to their cabin it feels awkwardly expensive even though that's more psychological. I mean let's say they'd probably have a $30k car each if they could drive, together plus extra "I want it" factor... I think they'd pay $100k for a self-driving car.
Not that this sounds like anything like that, it's a slow-moving ride with a safety driver meaning it's basically just testing of the kind Google has been doing for many years. This seems to be more of a novelty, but I guess they're hoping to be bought by someone trying to jump on the SDC bandwagon. I'd be very surprised if this is the path to market dominance. But they, the more the merrier I just wish they'd get there... they've barely started to put the safety driver in the back seat, much less kick him out entirely.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Drive slower? My grandmother drove fast as hell. She felt that as long as she could come to a halt before a red light that is all that's required. She drove like an NYC cabbie. I don't why, but slow she was not. Much to everyone's concern.
Did she come from Pasadena?
Will seniors trust them?
Many seniors engage in evidence-based-reasoning. If data shows SDCs are safe, and they have a lower accident rate than HDCs, then they will trust them
Really? I tend to find they flatly reject anything that's not part of their already established worldview.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Reading these comments, it seems nobody has actually been to the Villages in Florida.
The summary is right, it's huge -- it goes on and on and on. What it leaves out, though, is that the entire place is meant to be navigable on foot but mostly via golf cart. Everybody there has a customized golf cart, and you can go anywhere in the Villages via golf cart and everyone does. There's almost no automobile traffic.
The place is split up into "towns" with each one having a little town square and often its own recreational features (pools, community centers, golf courses, etc). They're all open to all Villages residents, too, and the little squares have businesses that are unique.
It's also pretty affluent -- the newer parts of the Villages are pretty luxurious and I think they get a lot of money for the homes/townhouses. The older parts are more similar to small prefab houses, but I think the whole place is in demand and while parts are cheaper, none are cheap. (Side fact: very high STD incidence in the Villages).
Anyway, it seems like a reasonable place to test self-driving cars due to the limited traffic. The downside is you'll never pull these people out of their golf carts. I'd wager that there are people who can't drive a car but still drive their golf cart. Plus, most of the residents are still in a pretty mobile/independent stage of living. If you already can't drive at all, you probably have other problems that make living in your own home a challenge, limiting the audience for self-driving cars.