Hacker News Reader

Comment by rohit2412 | Hacker News Reader

USA also has chauffers and Uber drivers. So self driving cars are real?

Your argument is as stupid as it comes. Not everyone is upper class and can hire a driver.

I don't think you understand my point. In India, if you can afford to hire a car, it essentially comes with a driver because of the ratio between the cost of the rental and the cost of the driver. There is therefore far less of an economic benefit to having a self driving car if the purpose is to be cheaper than hiring a driver. India (and other places where the ratio of cost of labour to cost of cars is similar) will be one of the last places where self driving cars will make economic sense.

Are drivers in India limited to just the upper class? Whenever I visit India it feels like anyone who’s not lower class can afford to hire a driver.

If you are a typical American you are likely to be interacting exclusively with the upper class. Even if they don't feel upper class to you, by local standards they are at worst upper middle class.

I'm from a middle class family in Delhi, and we never had (or could have) afforded a driver full time. Maybe now, my father can, but it is still expensive and not worth it. Most middle class families don't have a driver IMO. Much more common with upper middle class. However, we did hire driver for couple of days in rural areas every now and then.

if you rent a car, getting the drive is never that expensive. Getting a FT driver for your own car is of course different. Rental cost + driver cost is not that much higher even without uber/ola

Do you guys hire other kinds of servants for things like cooking/cleaning/laundry?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com