WEBVTT - Uber Breaks Scott's Heart 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:07.960 Get in text with technology with tex Stuff from hosts 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:16.520 dot com. Heather, Guys, welcome to tech Stuff. I'm Jonathan Strickland, 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:20.280 and I wanted to continue my podcast about the story 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:24.119 of Uber, and I brought Scott Benjamin into talk for 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:26.960 a little bit. Originally this was going to be uh 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.240 in the first episode, but Scott and I talked for 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:33.400 about forty five minutes and it turned out that that 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:35.800 was gonna be way too long to tack onto the 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:38.640 end of part one. So here is part two, where 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:42.839 I end up asking Scott some really tough questions about 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:47.479 Uber and autonomous cars and a future where car ownership 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:50.839 may become a thing of the past. If you listen carefully, 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:54.000 you can hear the exact moment his heartbreaks. Here we go, 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.160 you know, to really dive into this topic. I decided 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:03.840 I could not do this as just a solo episode, 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:10.320 so I have brought in the foremost mind on automotive 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.680 issues here at How Stuff Works, Scott Benjamin. Scott, thanks 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:16.920 for coming in. Oh, thank you much. The foremost mind 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.039 maybe on this floor in this building, I think for 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:24.200 How Stuff Works was a fair clarification. Yeah, we're we're um, 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:26.560 We're happy to have you on again, And of course, 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:29.080 I mean I love having Scott on the show because 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:33.160 Scott is game for anything. Thank you appreciated. I'd love 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.560 being here. It's a fun conversation usually. Yeah, this was 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:37.720 great because I actually I came up to Scott today 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:39.679 this morning a little peek behind the curtain and said, 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:42.120 would you mind jumping in? You said sure. So we're 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:44.520 gonna talk a little bit about the implications of Uber 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:46.560 and sort of I want to I want to kind 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:50.520 of find out what your thoughts are on Uber the 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:55.960 service in general, and also more specifically this proposed future 0:01:56.200 --> 0:02:00.440 of Uber where we have a fleet of electric robo 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:03.360 cars taking us wherever we go, and we don't own 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:07.640 any of them with no driver. With no driver, yeah, 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:09.200 because you know, you want to get rid of that 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:12.720 pesky person that you have to pay, so autonomous Uber 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.600 vehicles is what we're talking about. Yeah, all right, Uh, 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:18.840 well it's an interesting thought, isn't it. Yeah, I figured so. 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:21.600 So for those who don't know you, Scott, I think 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:26.240 it's fair to say that you enjoy cars. I've really 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:29.120 enjoyed Yeah, yeah, every every aspect of it. And you know, 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.960 I I initially when I when I started doing our 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:34.880 own car stuff podcast years ago, seven, eight years ago, 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:38.240 whatever it is now. Um, I was a nonbeliever in 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.760 the self driving vehicles well, and especially at that time. 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:44.440 I mean the technology was so young, right yeah. I 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:46.799 think we've talked about that that it required so much 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.320 infrastructure at that time, even even seven years ago for 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:52.239 it to work. You know, they've been toying around with 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.000 this for a long long time, I mean decades, and 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:56.880 I've seen some of the older vehicles, you know, from 0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:59.880 the early in eighteen seventies, late nineteen sixties that had 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:02.480 enormous boxes that were tied to them and they were 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:05.400 there were embedded wires in the road, and you know, 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:08.080 even then they sort of worked, but not really. You know, 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:10.880 it was it was kind of just a mixed match 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:13.519 of all different types of components that were added to 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.440 the vehicle, add ons to a standard vehicle. And now 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:20.320 they're designing cars to be autonomous in different ways, like 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:23.080 with um you know, the lane departure systems and the 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:26.480 you know, the the adaptive cruise control systems and you 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:29.359 know all that stuff that exactly all those little components 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.360 that are now starting to come together starting to gel 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:35.120 I guess into one vehicle that is doing all that 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:39.560 stuff with much smaller, smaller components. Try. I guess, you know, 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:41.920 because the technology is getting better, you no longer have 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:47.320 these like gigantic cones or periscopes or things necessarily, although 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:50.520 depending on some of the vehicles, like Google's approach tends 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:53.200 to have, you know, a noticeable protrusion on the top 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:54.840 of the vehicle, and you realize that's where a lot 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:57.440 of the brains or at least the senses of this 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:00.560 vehicle reside. Sure, but their cars out there that have 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:04.200 that same stuff and it's all embedded within, you'd never 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:06.520 know that it's there. And the biggest thing about this 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:08.120 whole thing, and I know that I do that kind 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:10.560 of lead in for every time I talk about autonomous vehicles, 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:14.880 but the biggest thing is the the the removal of 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:17.600 the requirement of the infrastructure for this to work. Yeah, 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:21.520 the fact that the early vision of autonomous cars were 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:24.400 it really wasn't about the cars. It was about the freeways, right, 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:28.039 Like the idea of these autonomous highways that cars would 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:31.279 kind of link into almost like a slot car, and 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:34.800 and the vehicle itself would be largely a dumb machine 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:39.000 that would respond to the the needs and the commands 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:41.760 of the highway. We we moved away from that where 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:44.200 all of that ended up being internalized into the vehicle. 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:47.279 Although you know, there's some discussion about making smart roads 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:50.880 and um, larger systems that are made up of these 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:54.640 individual components, almost like the cars become neurons in a 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:58.280 brain that's made up of highways and other vehicles. But 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:01.360 for the most part, we've we've kind of moved all 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:06.239 of that technology into the vehicle itself, which definitely removes 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:08.960 a lot of the problems that we saw seven or 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.919 eight years ago, when the thought was in order for 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:14.200 this to work, we'd have to make such a huge 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.880 change in existing infrastructure that it's too large of a 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:21.359 job and too expensive of a prospect for it to 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.280 ever become a reality. Sure. Yeah, And I mean we 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.000 still are seeing little bits of this and that. You know, 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:30.360 there's self parking cars and they only work in certain 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:33.120 parking lots, uh, you know, parking lots that have that 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:36.279 technology embedded within the within the pavement or in the 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:39.760 walls or however it works. Um. But yeah, I'm now 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:42.040 a firm believer in the idea that this can This 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:45.880 is possible, this can happen, and the the idea that 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:49.440 somebody would summon a taxi an Uber, I guess, an 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:52.200 Uber vehicle instead of a taxi, and I have it, 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:55.640 you know, arrive on the scene within thirty seconds. I 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:59.000 think that's the goal here, right, arrive in thirty seconds 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:01.039 and you get in and it takes you to where 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:04.120 you want to go automatically and lets you out your charge, which, 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.000 of course, you know, the way Uber normally does. There's 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.240 no cash transactiontion has to happen or anything like that, 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:11.359 um aside from having to have an awkward conversation with 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:14.320 the driver. Uh, this this seems like it's a good 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:16.719 way to go, right. I mean, just imagine that you 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:19.000 throw in as long as you throw in the ability 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:22.080 to have voice commands, to have the radio station of 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:24.760 your choice playing. Yeah. Did I say that right? Because 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:27.200 what I was saying was, you know, you usually, I 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:30.080 guess in a typical cab, I always feel that that 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:32.320 pressure to kind of chat with the guy. I would 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:35.360 I would say that for at least the first two 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.880 miles of any trip in any vehicle, I feel there's 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:43.520 a social obligation to attempt a conversation and based upon 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.719 how awkward that conversation is. At the end of two miles, 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:49.920 you then have to make a very tough decision do 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:53.279 I continue this awkward experience or is it okay for 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:55.520 me to trail off at this point. I've had many 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:58.359 enjoyable conversations with cab drives chest and I'm sure that 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:00.920 Uber drivers are the same way I've had. I've had 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:06.440 conversations that, for one, don't involve working for Uber, that 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:07.960 that you have to get through. There are a couple 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.000 of things you gotta get past right there, the typical conversations. 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.720 So this is true for taxi drivers as well. Uh, 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:16.480 there's there's the weather, and there's traffic. Those are the 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:18.480 two you gotta get past first. Then with Uber you 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.240 have to get past the so yeah, I love Uber 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:23.560 or whatever, or you don't love Uber, or however you 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:26.120 want to breach that, and then after that you can 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:29.680 get into other areas of conversation. I've had some great ones, 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.240 but I know a lot of people who say that's 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:35.560 one of those elements about this that they are looking 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:39.640 forward to saying goodbye to the the uh, the feeling 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:43.480 that you are forced to have a social interaction which 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:48.480 might say a lot about are continuing journey on this 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:51.760 pathway where we compartmentalize everything and we no longer have 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:53.680 to deal with people like we we can do all 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:55.840 our shopping online, we can do all of our we 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:59.600 can ride around in a robot car. That says a 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.000 lot about who we are as people. But at the 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.400 same time, you think, well, if you just want to 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:06.080 you just want to get to where you're going, and 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:08.240 you're not looking to have that kind of interaction, You're 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:09.960 you know, you just you're just literally you just need 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:11.560 to get from point A to point B. I can 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:13.520 see the appeal in it. Yeah, I can't too. I 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:17.040 can understand that. Now. I wonder, I just wonder how 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.160 many people are gonna be really comfortable the first time 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:21.720 they get into a vehicle that has no driver that 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:25.360 then sets out onto New York City street and uh 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:27.600 and all the congestion and traffic and people and all 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:30.760 that that comes with that, you know, knowing that, and 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:33.120 I would assume they know already that this is going 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:34.840 to be an autonomous vehicle. It's kind of pick them 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:37.760 up because the Apple tell them that. You know, because 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.480 normally a spot that shows you shows your driver, you know, 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:42.120 who it is. If it just shows you a picture 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:45.440 of a vehicle, then that's that's an indicator right there. Ye, well, 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:48.480 I mean it's it's really going to be incident, interesting 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:50.920 or fascinting to see how people react to that, especially 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:53.640 if they're not really accustomed to it, you know, the 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:56.160 very first ride that they ever take. I would be 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:00.320 just be excited to see what people's reaction to be, like, 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:03.319 you know, an in car camera view of people kind 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:05.079 of laughing, giggling about it. You know, it's got to 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:09.080 be kind of scary in a way, but also fun. Yeah, exhilarating. Yeah, 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:11.400 almost like an amusement park right at first. Really, I 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:14.080 think I think wherever when we get to the point 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:16.960 where Uber is ready to launch a prototype version of this, 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:20.360 like a beta version of this, that will definitely be 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:21.959 part of It will probably end up being one of 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:25.000 those things where you use the app it asks would 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:26.960 you be willing to do this? And if so, do 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:30.840 you agree to allow video of this to be displayed 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:35.239 because obviously otherwise you've got this whole privacy issue about 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:37.600 a person getting into a vehicle and having their their 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:41.920 video image taken. But I would I would jump at 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:43.480 that chance. You know, you make a good point. I 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:46.440 was thinking about this. What happens? Okay, so, um, let's 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:49.240 say that a group of people are out drinking at night, 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.160 and uh, invariably there's gonna be somebody who gets sick 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:55.960 in the car car sick? Right? What happens in Drivel's car? 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:58.520 Because there's nobody there to say this car is out 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.360 of service right because of this issue? You know, like 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:03.720 an uber driver or taxi driver would say, I gotta, 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:06.000 I gotta take an hour off and get this cleaned up. 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.360 What happens in an autonomous vehicle that has another stop 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:12.160 scheduled forty five seconds away from where they just dropped 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.280 that Person's an excellent question. I wonder. I don't know 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:17.080 how that's gonna have to have you have to have 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:20.240 puke sensors inside the vehicle, because that would be to 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:24.079 be an unpleasant surprise. Yeah, no, I definitely I would not. 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:28.440 I mean, I'm sure one way one thing you could 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:32.079 do to address that. It's not the ideal version, obviously, 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:36.000 is that you build into the app the ability to 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:39.160 say the car that was sent is needs to be serviced, 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:41.600 and then the robot car would immediately high tail it 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:44.640 back to h Q and then another vehicle would be 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:47.680 sent out. But that requires the person to already have 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:51.720 experienced the unpleasant scenario of opening up a door and going, 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:54.400 whoa that is not fit for human beings to get 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:56.280 into right now, that's true, and you can't rely on 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:58.600 the person before that too, you know, I don't know, 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:00.719 hit a button or something that said send back to 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:05.160 main service brand. You certainly wouldn't want anyone to be 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:07.800 able to abuse, such like someone just being a jerk 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:10.800 and saying, all right now for haasake, I'm gonna push 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:12.840 this button and the car is going to go offline, 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:15.200 which is going to affect possibly someone else down the 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:17.520 line by making them wait an extra minute and a 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:20.040 half or however long it might be. I mean, that's 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.800 an interesting question that I don't think there's an answer 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:27.000 to yet unless you do have, um, some other weird 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:28.800 sensors in there. Even if you have a camera, you 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:31.040 still have to have someone watching it to see what's 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:33.559 going on, right, So you know, some of the other 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:35.320 things that I was just thinking about a few different 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:37.520 scenarios of things that could happen. And you know, there's 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:39.560 a limit in cabs when you when you get in, 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:41.079 there's a you know, a seat limit, you know, a 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:43.760 number of people that are allowed to share affair, and 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:46.720 otherwise they're charged more. How do they how do they 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:49.320 protect against something like that in in an autonomous vehicle 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:51.160 where there's not a driver to say, hey, wait a minute, 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:53.240 you can't put eight people in this car? Well, you know, 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:57.000 and I've seen for for that because as Uber does 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.520 not add an extra fee for the number of people 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:03.120 who are right, I've actually seen the suggestion that for 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:05.959 the Uber app, you would end up indicating how larger 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:09.200 party is when you would request it for for an 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:12.760 electric autonomous service if we ever get to that point. 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.320 Part of the idea is that they would deploy a 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:20.600 fleet of vehicles that would meet the general needs of 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:24.840 the average day. So uh for New York City, for example, 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:28.000 most cab rides require are are for one or two 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:31.400 people and that's it. Um then you have a few 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:33.720 that need you know, it's a larger party, like a 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.400 family with luggage, And the idea being that the app 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:38.480 itself would have it built in so that you could 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:40.960 say I need a cab for two people, or I 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:43.400 need to have a van for a group of six 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:47.320 and the reason being is that that way the service 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:50.800 can have just the size vehicles it needs for the 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:53.600 region it needs, and the people who are using the 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:57.319 app will have the experience that is still a positive experience, 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:59.760 as opposed to, well, you know what, we're gonna save 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:02.760 some money, We're just gonna cram eight college students into 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:04.840 the sedan. That's what I was thinking, is how did 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:06.840 they guard against something like that? They do? They do 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.959 summon a sedan, and then they decided to cram eight 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:12.800 or ten people into that sedan, even though that it's 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:14.560 not even though it's not supposed to do that. I mean, 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:17.839 would there be sensors that somehow indicate the number of 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:19.559 people to come in, you know, come into the vehicle, 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:21.400 or that you know, the weight of the vehicle has 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:24.480 been exceeded or something. At least in that case, you 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:27.680 can rest assured that the vehicle itself will still operate 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:31.040 as safely as possible. It's just the interior will not 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.880 be so safe for the people already, right again it yeah, 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:36.320 I wonder, I just wonder where this is going, Like, 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:38.560 is it gonna be a vehicle that doesn't even have 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:40.840 a steering wheel, doesn't even have controls. Is it gonna 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:44.040 be something where the driver's area is still there but 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:47.320 but blocked off somehow, you know, like a cage around, 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:50.559 or could it even be where the driver's area is 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:53.280 open for seating. It's just there're no there are no 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.520 accessible controls, right there, Zero controls like that. It wasn't 0:13:56.520 --> 0:13:59.920 that the Google cars like that? Right? Yeah? The little 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.000 prototype car where you look, you've got like a button 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.520 that you press. Essentially, you push a button that says 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:10.880 go now, and it goes. I'm fully in favor of that. 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:13.880 I love that idea. One of the reasons why we 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:19.120 why I think that Uber's plan is more realistic version 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:22.600 of the future of autonomous cars then say I'm going 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:25.080 to have my own autonomous car is one of price. 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:28.280 And we were talking about this before we started recording. Uh. 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:34.200 The The commonly quoted figure is that autonomous technology will 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:38.960 add about a hundred fifty thousand dollars to the price 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:43.040 tag of any vehicle. So take a vehicle, any vehicle, 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:45.160 and then say, all right, convert that so it's an 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:48.120 autonomous vehicle. You add a hundred fifty dollars to the 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:51.360 price tag of that. That puts most cars well out 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:55.960 of the range of most people's budgets. Cars are expensive 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.040 to begin with, right, And we were trying to find 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:01.000 a good example of this, Yes, And the example that 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.080 I came up with was the car that is probably 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:05.680 the closest to a self driving vehicle that's on the 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.920 road right now, Yeah, that that consumers can purchase exactly right, 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:13.520 there's a Mercedes Benz S five hundred that has a 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:17.120 system called intelligent Drive and intelligent drive and if we 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:20.800 haven't already mentioned this on this podcast before, it's basically 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:23.400 a self driving vehicle, but they can't legally call it that. 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:25.480 It's still you still have to have a driver in 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:29.440 the driver position. Driver doesn't have to do anything programming 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:31.600 the coordinates, and the car goes. I've watched videos of 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:36.320 it in action and it's flawless and the way it works. Um. 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.200 But the cost of a a s An S five 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:42.560 hundred with intelligent drive is about two hundred and eighty 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:45.800 six thousand dollars. That's a that's a that's a lot 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:48.520 of chedder. Yeah, that is a lot of shudder, that's right. Um. 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:50.640 And just to try to compare that, we were looking 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:53.400 for a version of that car that doesn't have the 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.119 intelligent drive. And the closest we could get was another 0:15:56.320 --> 0:15:58.720 S series vehicle and instead of the five hundreds of 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:00.760 five fifty, but the M S R P on that 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:06.600 vehicle is only dollars now, so nearly two dollars less. 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:09.640 Nearly yes, And so that shows you just how much 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.720 technology is packed into that S S five hundred with 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:16.240 intelligent drive. And again this is a car where everything 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:18.760 is really streamlined. I mean it's it's mostly tucked away. 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:22.080 You still you do see a few uh controls and 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:25.000 you see if you, um, modules, I guess you wouldn't 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:27.520 find on a normal S five hundred that that have, 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.640 you know, the the electronic I type stuff. I guess 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:34.000 it's for lack of better term, but um, it's really 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:37.040 well tucked away. It's well designed. It's it's it's not 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:39.240 you know, the big boxes on the hanging off the 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:41.080 front fenders like you know, the old style stuff that 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:42.960 we've seen. Right, people aren't going to look at this 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:46.240 vehicle and say, hey, what's that for necessarily unless they're 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:48.800 really paying close attention. And if you didn't know this 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.280 car intelligent drive, and unless it has a badge on 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:53.320 it that says intelligent drive. You wouldn't even know that 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:55.360 it was one of these vehicles, you know, versus a 0:16:55.440 --> 0:17:00.560 regular S five hundred. So the conclude SHO I come 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:04.240 to with this is that these cars are likely not 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.040 going to be something that that the average person is 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:08.560 going to be able to afford any time in the 0:17:08.640 --> 0:17:13.600 near future, even even assuming that car manufacturers build what 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:16.560 are fully autonomous vehicles and put them out on the market, 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:19.560 because we're getting you know, this car, like you say, 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:21.359 is about the closest that we have to that, and 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:24.040 it's it's pretty much capable of doing it. Yeah. I mean, 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:26.840 there's other manufacturers that are toying around this too, but 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:29.080 but Mercedes Benz is one that's been out there in 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:32.479 the forefront, and so is UM well BMW and Audie 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:34.639 and of course Tessa is working on something. Nissan is 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:38.840 testing a leaf for autonomous vehicle, for autonomous drive. Um. 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:41.800 It seems like all manufacturers have something in the works, 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:44.040 but it's always ten years out. It's always gonna be 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:47.360 ten years away, and and I just really wonder when 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:50.639 they're gonna finally say this is an autonomous vehicle. You 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:52.760 don't have to have a driver in the driver position. 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:55.040 You could you could have everybody in the back seat 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:57.760 if you wanted and go to church or go wherever 0:17:57.800 --> 0:17:59.280 you're gonna go. Yeah, I think it's I think it's 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:02.280 a combination of the cost. That's a big one where 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:03.920 they're trying to figure out, well, how can we get 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.040 this down to a cost where it's worth it for 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:08.920 us to even build the thing, because if we if 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:11.880 we build, you know, a thousand of these, and we're 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:14.480 only able to sell ten, there's no point in doing it. 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:17.560 Then there's also policy, you know, making sure that it's 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:20.480 actually legal in in the places where you sell the 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:22.520 vehicle for someone to be able to ride in that 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.680 vehicle without being in control of the car. I think 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:27.600 that's the big one. That's that's a big one. It's 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.119 why I think the price and the legality are the 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:33.639 two biggest obstacles. It's not the technology. The technology is 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:36.240 pretty much there, and technology is definitely there. I think 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:40.159 the highest hurdle right now is is the legal issues, uh, 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:43.560 you know, the regulations that don't allow for something like that, right, 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:45.480 and so assuming that we get to a point where 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:48.800 the regulations are no longer an issue, the price then 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:52.640 becomes the chief obstacle. And I think that as processes 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:55.600 continue to improve, you know, we see prices come down 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:59.760 when we start streamlining those manufacturing processes and things like that, 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:03.840 and the technology continues to evolve. But even so, a 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:07.480 hundred fifty is a huge amount of money, so so 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:09.880 reducing that I don't think we're ever going to get 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:12.280 it where that ends up being a five thousand dollar 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:14.960 price hike on a car. And I don't think so either. 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:17.080 But and in our our case is extreme. That's a 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:20.480 Mercedes Ben's S class. That's a that's a big luxury 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:22.760 such sure, I mean that that's already a luxury vehicle. 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:25.000 It's it's going to be expensive no matter what it 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:27.240 really is. But and and the price to upgrade to 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:29.960 that type of system is always going to be more 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:31.800 than it would be. Let's say, if they if they 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:35.399 did build a Nissan Leaf that has a system like this, um, 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:37.320 it's just going to be that much more. It's a 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:40.240 you know, within scale. I guess it's going to be balanced, 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:42.760 I would hope. So, I mean, it's still is going 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.879 to be a very expensive vehicle compared to one that 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:48.240 would not have the autonomous controls, which is why I 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:52.359 think the Uber approach. This idea of having a fleet 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:57.720 of autonomous vehicles is more realistic a fleet operated by 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:00.960 a service. I think that's more realistic than and personal 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:05.000 vehicles that are autonomously controlled, at least in the near future. 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:08.040