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Re:Google, Detroit diverge on road map for self-driving cars by ams6110 on Monday June 30, 2014 @10:17PM (#7968859)
25 years is not that long. To me it feels like it was yesterday. And everything today feels pretty much the same. People still work pretty much the same sorts of jobs, at the same hours, still eat Big Macs for lunch, they own cars that work pretty much the same as then, get pretty much the same fuel economy, live in homes or apartments that are pretty much like the ones then, they buy their food in supermarkets that are pretty much the same as then, etc.

I know I would never want to share my car with strangers, any more than I would want to let strangers live in my house while I am at work. This may change I suppose, but if it does I think it will be more by force than by choice.

Re:Google, Detroit diverge on road map for self-driving cars by prawn on Tuesday July 01, 2014 @12:16AM (#7969143)
Not disagreeing that many things stay the same as you listed, but at the same time, there have been incremental changes everywhere that would be noticeable in their absence years back. I perform a job that didn't exist 25 years ago, I stay in touch with friends in new ways and so on.

25 years from now, we'll still eat similar things, use similar vehicles, transact in similar ways, but I think that the gap between the front of technology and those old things will widen. We won't see current cars quickly replaced, but I'm confident that Google & co will make decent progress with each year on their technology, then regulation, then adoption.

As for sharing your car, remember that eventually generations of future drivers will know little different. Or gradual cost pressure or advantages will influence decisions. It will start with use of vehicles in resort/campus-type situations, then eventually start to replace second vehicles then may be the only car for some people.

Driving age in Australia is 16. So there are another 9 years before someone is born who will reach driving age by the 25 year mark.