Re:Toyota Research Institute head says full autonomous drivi...
by Robotbeat on Monday August 28, 2017 @04:17PM
(#15119715)
1) Now the taxi can operate day and night without substantial breaks. That reduces per-passenger-mile amortization costs by at least a factor of 2.
2) Especially since amortization cost is also reduced, you might as well electrify the vehicle (this requires some sort of robot arm for fast charging, but I suppose you could pay someone like $0.50 per cycle to plug and unplug a bunch of vehicles in the interim). That reduces fuel costs by a factor of 2 and maintenance costs even more.
3) No driver means room for more people or ability to shrink the car, reducing all the above costs.
So you've now reduced all the other costs by a factor of 2. That means your overall costs are now reduced by 75% or more. Yeah, that's starting to look pretty attractive.
Re:Toyota Research Institute head says full autonomous drivi...
by jpatokal on Tuesday August 29, 2017 @01:04AM
(#15122200)
1) It's already very common for taxis to operate two shifts per day with two drivers. Also, there's less demand in the middle of the night than there is at peak hours.
2) Especially since amortization cost is also reduced, you might as well electrify the vehicle (this requires some sort of robot arm for fast charging, but I suppose you could pay someone like $0.50 per cycle to plug and unplug a bunch of vehicles in the interim). That reduces fuel costs by a factor of 2 and maintenance costs even more.
3) No driver means room for more people or ability to shrink the car, reducing all the above costs.
So you've now reduced all the other costs by a factor of 2. That means your overall costs are now reduced by 75% or more. Yeah, that's starting to look pretty attractive.