Re: Even in the extremely unlikely event that fully autonomous vehicles ever become viable
Doctor Syntax,
That's easy. They'll charge more for peak travel. The school run, and run to the office. Then you'll be able to hire them cheaper during the day - which may well mean that current 2 car families can drop down to a single car and a monthly hire fee or something. Also maintenance can be done during working hours - leaving more of your fleet available for peak travel.
Some people will happily pay more for their own car.
As for the dirty issue, why not a robot vacuum cleaner for a robot car?
The car companies are looking at this as a way to keep making money if automous cars do come off, and (another big if) if that then leads to more people car-sharing. Because if both happen, they'll sell many fewer cars, and lose some economies of scale.
But it's both a big social and a big technological change. And those often take longer.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
