Car people: would you be open to giving up your car in exchange for traveling from place to place via a self-driving taxi? According to a new survey, a surprising number of Americans would be up for such a change. At AutoBlog, Gary S. Vasilash has the details of this new study, which could have a significant impact on how Americans travel in the years and decades to come.
Vasilash cites a recent article by Dan Ammann of the self-driving vehicle company Cruise. In it, Ammann makes the case that using a shared self-driving car or robotaxi will save households a lot of money.
All told, the average San Franciscan household driving themselves or using ridesharing, will, on average, see up to $5,000 back in their pocket every year.
This calculation also factors in a few other things specific to the Cruise Origin, including the fact that it’s designed to run for 1,000,000 miles. But between the Cruise Origin and Waymo’s foray into self-driving cars, there’s no shortage of high-profile projects currently in development.
As Vasilash writes at AutoBlog, this taken together with a recent AlixPartners study offers plenty for car enthusiasts and automakers to ponder. That AlixPartners study offered some interesting data about who might be interested in making a shift to robotaxi use:
In the U.S. — where 1,594 people 18 and above were surveyed — 44% said they would “consider giving up vehicle ownership.”
In Germany — where 1,015 were surveyed — 52% would be willing to consider giving up vehicle ownership.
And in China — 1,072 surveyed — a full 84% would consider giving up their vehicles.
It’s a fascinating look at where we might be headed, vehicularly-speaking — and just what we might be relying upon to get us there.
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