Why would I want to own a "far more expensive" self driving car? I would love to get rid of my car and rely on fully autonomous Uber/Lyft. Even factoring in car rental for travel or moving or whatever I think it would be far cheaper that way. My car is a never ending money pit with insurance, gas, maintenance, registration, tires, it never stops.
You're going to pay for all those things even if it's indirectly through someone else who owns the vehicle. Most vehicle costs are related to mileage, not time--especially outside of areas where rust is a major factor.
I'm sure there will be a difference at the margins in cities where many people don't need a car on a daily basis. I assume that's already the case with Uber/Lyft today. And self-driving when it eventually arrives in those areas presumably will decrease costs some. But for someone who lives outside of dense city centers it seems likely they'll continue to want to own a car that is a model they like, equipped to their specifications, and storing all the various things they keep in a car.
>Why would I want to own a "far more expensive" self driving car?
It doesn't matter what you want, it matters what car companies do. They're not going to spend millions of dollars on R&D and marketing hype for self-driving cars only to make far less money on them than they do now on conventional cars.
>My car is a never ending money pit with insurance, gas, maintenance, registration, tires, it never stops.
Yes. That's the entire point, cars are micro-economies supporting multiple businesses and profit centers. And self driving cars will be the same, for the same reasons.
I'm not sure exactly what you're saying. Are you talking about some kind of monopoly or trust that prevents Uber/Lyft et al from getting access to self driving cars? That seems unlikely to me. As far as the various industries centered around car ownership I don't see why they'd go anywhere. Self driving cars will still need maintenance, oil, tires, etc. The only thing changing here is who owns the car. I don't want that to be me. As soon as it is economical for me to pay for transportation as a service and get rid of my money pit that is parked outside my apartment 24/7 I will do so.
You're right I didn't mention it, but that fact is actually crucial to my point. I'm lucky enough to live in a place where walking, taking the bus, riding a bike (the one I own or a bike share), or taking a Lyft get me almost everything I want at a very reasonable cost. And as new transportation services emerge I need my car less and less. So I'm hoping that in the near future there is some service that can take over the few things I do need a car for. Something like Car2Go or ZipCar is actually almost there.
