I realize this is essentially a PR piece, but still, it makes me feel much better about the potential future of automated driving than what Tesla is doing. If I owned TSLA right now I'd sell.
In 2018 this would be a really good argument. What does Tesla do better now, compared to another modern purpose built EV, for example a Ford Mustang Mach E, or a Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, etc?
I struggle to identify any particular feature I would say they are better at, much less something that would make it the best mass produced EV. I say this as a two-time Model 3 owner, having just bought the most recent one two weeks ago. I don't quite have buyers remorse yet, but it's nagging at me that I may have just made a foolish choice for the wrong reasons.
As someone in the EV market I almost went for a Tesla for this reason.
They are not obvious winner among EV cars currently. They were first to do actual high end EV car and that vision changed the market back then.
Tesla also used to have reputation of being well build cars few years back. I don't know whether their quality went down due to mass production or whether it was just not known about them.
It would suck to be in a world where the only way to do self-driving is indistinguishable from the Uber or taxi service we already have (and likely wouldn’t even be cheaper if it’s proprietary to one or two mega-companies who can extract nearly all the productivity surplus from this as monopoly rents).
i may be biased since i use public transit or bike for everything
In general I think the trend of personal car ownership is something that will become somewhat of a hobby rather than a daily necessity, even outside of cities as long as Waymo (and others) are able to actually achieve their ambitious goals. The only way I see that reversing is if people are forced to live out of their cars due to absurd home costs, which is a very very bleak future.
There’s options with fixed parking spots, and services that allow pick up and drop off anywhere.
You tend to structure your life a little different once you don’t own your own car anymore, you start to think twice about little trips you would’ve done otherwise. On the flip side I now have access to 5 different types of cars ranging from small to big (vans) from my phone. It doesn’t even require that much more planning considering it’s reached critical mass around here and there’s a ton of cars available.
The biggest player around is profitable too, so it’s not going away any time too. It’s saved me thousands and spared me from so much hassle surrounding car ownership. I consider myself an enthousiast but I just got a motorcycle for the weekend instead, pennies on the dollar compared to a car.
All in all I notice I’m just happier not being in a car all the time anymore, you might consider it your safe area but it might as well be a golden cage at times.
I understand it’s different once your throw small children in the mix so it might make sense there, but the reality is that a lot of people could do with a lot less car at most points in their life.
If you are doing longer travel, using the train is actually awesome. Those trains have actual places for children to play in.
If you cities and that goes for small cities as well are properly designed its very possible. Its just that in the US cities are literally designed so as to make it impossible.
It is good to recognize this. A very large portion of the population does not live somewhere that makes good sense for pervasive public transit, walking, or biking for regular transportation needs. And many of those people actively don't want to live somewhere like that. Personal vehicles have a use case, and that does not become invalid just because it does not match your own preferences.
That's just a different way of saying that you never have any cargo (children, groceries, etc) to move.
You should also bear in mind that not everyone wants to live in such high density that everything you could ever need is 5 minutes away on foot.
We have plenty of cargo (children and groceries) and do not own a car.
I also expect long term self driving cars will be safer than humans, and as a person that primarily walks around instead of driving that's a benefit to me even if I'm not in the car.