We came across this thought-provoking article from the BBC today discussing how you could’ve had possibly already bought your last car! With ‘transport as a service’ being mooted as the future, would mean car ownership would be off the cards and we’d all be travelling around by autonomous taxis. Many will cast these ideas aside as fiction and fantasy, but who would believe we’d be reading this on our smartphones instead of a printed version. It’s not that long ago when mobile phones became ‘mainstream’ or the car replaced the horse.
What will it mean for us locally? Here are just a few thoughts
- The number of vehicles on our roads will plummet
- Reduction in pollution as EV take over from petrol and diesel
- Car parks won’t be required in town centres
- No more tipping the takeaway driver
- Loss of a BIG revenue earner for local councils (car parks)
This could all become a reality sooner than you think.
If you think the car will disappear you are made…….. Public services are a joke, people will always want transport from the Town.
The horse disappeared from the road, didn’t it? So why is it ‘mad’ to think the car as we know it won’t go the same way? There will still be cars, just maybe not private ones and we will simply be hiring one that’s driven autonomously.
To suggest that such a system as described could be in place within 3 years (ie. by 2021) is wishful thinking. To make people give up their cars and start to use “public transport” in the form of autonomous taxis would require the system to have enough taxis to take everyone where they want to go when they want to go. Such a system would be impossible to implement without severely restricting the population’s freedom of movement and would therefore require legislation to do just that. I cannot imagine any political party (even the Greens! ) contemplating such action as part of their political agenda if they want people to vote for them.
Let’s give it 10 years at least. It could be an interesting ‘journey’ to watch as our transport needs evolve
Is there a risk that relying on autonomous vehicles like this will increase the number of vehicle movements? If I take my car to the the town centre it involves 2 movements – driving to town, driving home. If I hail an autonomous vehicle it has to drive to my house, drive to town, possibly drive somewhere else after dropping me at town, another vehicle may have to drive to collect me, and then drive home.
It would probably require parking areas dotted around the town centre and residential areas to try and reduce the number of journeys.