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Comment by jareds | Hacker News Reader

I wonder what the first country that will allow completely automated cars with no human driver is? As a blind person I wonder if that would be enough to have me consider migrating from the U.S. depending on the country.

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You should seriously consider approaching car companies. There will be some (understandable) public resistance to automatic cars, but you could make an excellent poster boy for their benefits.

Google already thought of that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgQpa1pUUE

I've been talking about this for years with friends. I bet on Singapore. (I lived there 2.5 years and know the place a bit).

Do you need a car in Singapore? I thought they had decent public transit?

They do, and generally it's a difficult place to have a car:

* Severe congestion pricing

* Expensive due to severe taxes (generally over 100k USD)

* Licensing for a car is time-limited. I think this is about 10 years or so.

The last point in particular makes it feasible to cycle out the entire country's cars in a relatively short time.

EDIT: Add more newlines between bullets

>* Licensing for a car is time-limited. I think this is about 10 years or so.

In US it is 4 years. I was surprised to see that low time frame as in India it is at least 20 years. And, in US, you are also required to renew your registration plates every year

What I mean is "you're not allowed to register a car again after that point". Most people sell it across the Strait in Malaysia. This distinguishes them from the US and India, where you can drive a car until it doesn't work anymore.

Also, your US numbers of course vary by state.

Thanks for clarifying. Registering and licensing are not same.

No, Singapore does allow you to register the car again -- problem is, this requires paying for a new "Certificate of Entitlement", which are sold at auction for >US$70k each. So most people switch to a new car instead.

> Also, your US numbers of course vary by state.

For example, Arizona driver's licenses don't expire until the person's 65th birthday (and every five years thereafter).

That will be interesting since Singapore hates car use. That shows in their incredibly high tax on cars. A typical car costs more than $100k. Since automated cars can reduce city cruising for parking space and increase car utilization they may actually welcome the automated cars and perhaps ban manual cars altogether.

100k for a typical car?? What's the minimum wage there?

It wouldn't surprise me if it was Sweden. Most cars you see on the road are Volvos and most new sold cars are Volvos.

Volvo is the manufacturer with the highest market share, but it still "only" has 20% of the market, so it's by no means "most cars".

(source: Volvo Cars press release: https://www.media.volvocars.com/global/en-gb/media/pressrele... )

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