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Comment by wahsd | Hacker News Reader

Or simply a car club where you simply summon a Tesla (or any other brand) vehicle for transportation. I really don't even want to own a car. I would rather just call a car that will look like any of the other cars in the uniform fleet that will always be clean and smelling nice that I then get into and it takes me to my destination and then goes off to pick up someone else.

I think Uber and Lyft and the established industry will start gearing up for a war for your transportation needs. If the Auto industry is smart and has learned something (which I really still need to be convinced of), they will start/are working on such a shared use fleet model because one way or another, in the future no one is going to own their own car. it's simply far too inefficient if the vehicle can drive itself. Why would you want a vehicle that sits idle 90% of the day?

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"Why would you want a vehicle that sits idle 90% of the day?"

Some reasons I want my own car (note - I don't currently own one but rent occasionally) :

- My kids' car seats are already installed and ready to go

- My phone is already connected to the sound system, and ready to take calls, with contacts and built-in SatNav already knowing my home and work.

- The car has the Accessories I prefer. Eg, the sound system I want with Bluetooth connectivity, built-in DVD player, seating (leather vs cloth vs vinyl) with the right amount of space and recline movement.

- I'm familiar with all controls. How to set all lighting, interval wipers, and know how to set the climate control, and quickly defog.

A uniform fleet addresses the 4th point only. Maybe the 3rd point if my preferences happen to align with the fleet's administrators.

As a user of ZipCar for quick trips and traditional car rentals for longer trips, these are general points of annoyance for me.

I imagine you'd be able to pick from a few options as far as car type goes and then get a driverless car of that type. Once you knew which cars you like, then you could set it as a default option or something. Driverless cars would eliminate your concern about most of the controls anyway.

It'd be easy enough to have a car seat option as Uber does: https://newsroom.uber.com/nyc/uberfamilyfor-parents-on-the-g...

Anyway, interesting to see your list of annoyances from real world usage of a car sharing service!

The issue then becomes this: "uberFAMILY provides one forward-facing car seat for a child who is at least (a) 12 months old AND (b) 22 lbs. AND (c) 31 inches. A child is too big at 48 lbs. or 52 inches."

What if you need two car seats, or if your kid is outside those parameters? You still need a seat. Likewise, adding these options can add significant delay to your getting a car. Most people are used to transportation being reliable. When you step out of your home or office, your car is there, ready to go. Having to wait an extra 15 minutes for the car to show up is not what most people want to do.

I think car-sharing services will change things, quite a lot, but I don't think it will eliminate private car ownership. Most families will own one "family car" for road trips, etc, etc.

> - My phone is already connected to the sound system, and ready to take calls, with contacts and built-in SatNav already knowing my home and work.

> - I'm familiar with all controls. How to set all lighting, interval wipers, and know how to set the climate control, and quickly defog.

These things can be synchronized with the cloud... you just authenticate at the car and it will download and apply your preferences. IIRC 7er BMWs have this, based on the key (e.g. one for the man, one for the wife and one for the son).

Forget about car seats - bring your own vests and don't worry about it: http://saferide4kids.com/product/ridesafer-travel-vest/

Disclaimer: I haven't tried them. But I'd be open to it, as someone with kids who would prefer not to own a car eventually.

"Why would you want a vehicle that sits idle 90% of the day?"

I don't, but I do want access to a cheap to operate vehicle that I can load my kayaks on top of and my camping gear inside of and then go drive to a river as far away from everyone else as I can get (9 hour drives are not uncommon). This is why an electric car will not meet my needs for the forseeable future. <30 min charging stations need to be as common as gas stations for me to even think about it.

Some of us need to own cars. Those with children (unless you want to move carseats every day), those with special needs, the elderly and differently-abled to whom familiarity is extremely important. Those that live far away from paved roads and need trucks to get to town. Farmers and DIY enthusiasts that haul stuff every week.

Others want to own cars because they like to modify them, or restore old ones.

Personally I'm with you -- if I could pay a monthly fee and be able to summon a Tesla 3x/week, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I just can't see how we'd be a big slice of the market, which will keep innovation slow.

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