Autonomous cars: Atlanta's transportation future? (DMV, cost of, pool)

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by primaltech

But it is all there is to it, though. I literally do exactly this, all the time. It's called Uber. And it's amazing. It's the direction we need to be going in, with all of this cars stuff.

No, that's not the same. With an uber driver, you can say "I need you to pull up by my garage so I can throw something in your trunk" and when you get to your destination, you can say "I need you to pull around to the side door so I can go in there" or "don't go in the front entrance...you need to go around to the other street and go in that way".

Probably not that easy with the automated cars.

Originally Posted by primaltech

Regardless of AV, we're ready for this cultural shift right now.

I don't think nearly as many people are ready to give up their cars as you think.

[0nyxStation]

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/n...o-atlanta.html


Ninja Please!

[brown_dog_us]

Originally Posted by primaltech

No, on both. It would be really expensive at my current long home->work distance, is one reason.

But, I almost always Uber when going to in-town type stuff (which is sometimes multiple times a week). And, I plan to Uber at least sometimes, when the new tower is completed and my job moves to Midtown at the end of this year. We'll see what our parking situation looks like, and how irritating the morning traffic situation is to drive in.

If I did do it everyday, then it would have to be Uber Pool, which is way, way cheaper.

I've never used Uber for a commute, but I think the typical commute is about $20 each way. Something ITP that was less than 5 miles is probably less, but I'm thinking 20 mins or more.

That's why I wonder where Uber will fit into the AV and commuters. If people gravitate towards their jobs, then no problem. But in a sprawled city like Atlanta, I don't see it working.

To tie this back to the original post, the same people who can't/won't use public transportation probably won't use AV ride shares either.

[cqholt]

Uber is releasing some of it's data to transportation planners.
Inside Uber's New Data Tool, Movement - CityLab

[brown_dog_us]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Uber is releasing some of it's data to transportation planners.
Inside Uber's New Data Tool, Movement - CityLab

Cool stuff. It says that Uber will make the data available to regular folks soon. I can't wait. I think the future for transportation planning will come from this, Waze Connected Citizen, and Google Maps.

ETA: Have you ever checked out Strava's heat maps? It's not commuters, but still cool to see where people bike/run.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by brown_dog_us

Cool stuff. It says that Uber will make the data available to regular folks soon. I can't wait. I think the future for transportation planning will come from this, Waze Connected Citizen, and Google Maps.

ETA: Have you ever checked out Strava's heat maps? It's not commuters, but still cool to see where people bike/run.

No, I am not a fan of Strava

[primaltech]

Like I said, I primarily use it when heading to in-town destinations, where there's either very limited parking or it's paid parking. And it's usually about $15 for me. But subtract from that what I'm saving by not having to pay for parking (usually at least $5), and it's a good bit cheaper. And is more convenient/less irritating, in terms of not having to try to locate parking.

But whenever I do an Uber Pool, it's something like $5, and sometimes the other person in the pool doesn't show, so you get essentially an UberX private car for 1/3 the price.

Now, if your destination is OTP out in the suburbs, parking is always going to be easy and abundant and free of charge, so Uber is less useful. Still good to use sometimes if you just don't want the stress of driving (esp. in rush hour traffic), or if your car is being worked on or something. But it would probably be more expensive to Uber everywhere everyday, vs. own and maintain a car. At least for right now.

Anyway, I believe the future is in at least semi-autonomous vehicles ('autopilot' mode with a driver still present, or whatever), and I believe vehicle-on-demand services like Uber, will be increasingly a part of the transportation network of the future. But privately owned cars will persist as well.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by brown_dog_us

ETA: Have you ever checked out Strava's heat maps? It's not commuters, but still cool to see where people bike/run.

I would love to see how they figure this. I live just off a major thoroughfare marked as heavy bike/run activity. I can assure you that I very rarely see bikes on that road, and runners are few and far between. I've lived there for over 11 years, and come and go at all hours.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

I would love to see how they figure this. I live just off a major thoroughfare marked as heavy bike/run activity. I can assure you that I very rarely see bikes on that road, and runners are few and far between. I've lived there for over 11 years, and come and go at all hours.

User download the app (not free) and then it records their rides.

I am not a fan of this app because of the cost and platform(smartphone) it only captures data from users who can afford a smartphone and data plan. It is missing what bicycle advocates call the silent riders (lower income people who do not recreational rides, but instead ride as their primary mode of transportation.)

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Like I said, I primarily use it when heading to in-town destinations, where there's either very limited parking or it's paid parking. And it's usually about $15 for me. But subtract from that what I'm saving by not having to pay for parking (usually at least $5), and it's a good bit cheaper. And is more convenient/less irritating, in terms of not having to try to locate parking.

But whenever I do an Uber Pool, it's something like $5, and sometimes the other person in the pool doesn't show, so you get essentially an UberX private car for 1/3 the price.

Now, if your destination is OTP out in the suburbs, parking is always going to be easy and abundant and free of charge, so Uber is less useful. Still good to use sometimes if you just don't want the stress of driving (esp. in rush hour traffic), or if your car is being worked on or something. But it would probably be more expensive to Uber everywhere everyday, vs. own and maintain a car. At least for right now.

Anyway, I believe the future is in at least semi-autonomous vehicles ('autopilot' mode with a driver still present, or whatever), and I believe vehicle-on-demand services like Uber, will be increasingly a part of the transportation network of the future. But privately owned cars will persist as well.

Skinflint chiming in here. I think the issue of Uber tipping is not insignificant.

If the minimum fare is $6.75, you're basically talking about adding another $2 (unless you are the type to count out change, which I am not). That makes for a minimum $17 per round trip.

That may be fine if you are going out to dinner, but how feasible is that for everyday running around?

For me personally, that's more than I'd like to spend for routine errands of under five miles, which is the vast majority of the trips I take.