How Will Driverless Cars Change Car Ownership?

 Self-Driving Cars  

Autonomous cars will certainly have a big impact on our lives in the near future.  For now, there are concerns about privacy, and liability issues in case a robotic car gets involved into an accident, and as Jordan Perch explores the very future of car ownership may change.

With driverless cars getting ever closer to rolling into reality, more and more people start to think about the impact they will have on the environment, whether they will improve traffic safety, and what owning such a car will look like, in general. While most people would agree that autonomous cars will have a largely positive impact on their lives, there are still some issues around them, including concerns about privacy, and liability issues in case such a car gets involved into an accident. However, lawmakers have been working on resolving these issues for a while now, and it's safe to say that regulations for driverless cars will be established before they are ready to hit the road.

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But, the question of how car ownership will look like in the future remains open, with some people predicting that driverless cars could end private car ownership as we know it.

While most experts are claiming that self-driving cars will help reduce congestion, there are those who are saying that the opposite scenario could occur. According to Robin Chase, the founder of Zipcar, one of the most popular car-sharing services, the introduction of autonomous cars could result in more vehicles on the road and even more traffic-congested cities.

The question of how car ownership will look like in the future remains open, with some people predicting that driverless cars could end private car ownership as we know it.

Chase made an address at the New York Internet Week that was held recently, focusing on the future with self-driving cars and whether the changes they will bring about will be mostly positive on negative. She said that she was worried that autonomous car owners will be sending their cars to run errands for them, and they won't even enter the vehicles. She added that people won't hesitate to have their cars do the tasks they don't enjoy doing, such as going to the dry cleaner during rush hour, meaning that the number of cars on the road will increase substantially, resulting in more congested streets and worse air quality.

On the other hand, there is a good chance that autonomous cars will help eliminate the concept of private car ownership, and promote car-sharing and ride-sharing services. Considering that self-driving cars are expected to be quite expensive, only rich people will be able to afford to own one, whereas middle-class consumers will have to share rides or rent cars, which will be a far more cost-effective option. If this scenario happens, car sales will drop drastically, and more people will use alternative modes of transportation. This is where autonomous cars can turn out to be very useful. They could be owned by public transit companies or local authorities, and people could rent a shared autonomous vehicle whenever they need it, have it pick them up at a given location, and drop them off at the desired destination, picking other people up along the road. After the car drops everyone off, it can park itself and wait until it gets rented by another user. This is a far more efficient use of cars, considering that most of them are sitting on parking lots or in garages unused about 90 percent of the time.

By Jordan Perch

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Author Bio - Jordan Perch is an automotive fanatic and “safe driving” specialist. He is a writer for DMV.com, which is a collaborative community designed to help ease the stress and annoyance of “dealing with the DMV”