[erikpukinskis]

I have a hard time imagining the combination of self driving cars and VR not having a DRAMATIC affect on cities. As I’ve said many times before eye contact will be the killer app for VR. What happens to cities when you can look someone in the eye over the internet, or place them alongside you while you use your laptop? I don’t understand how that could be anything but transformative for the economics of cities.

[joe_the_user]

I have a hard time imagining the combination of self driving cars and VR not having a DRAMATIC affect on cities.

Ah but what will that effect be? There's nothing about a self-driving car that increases road capacities. And since a self-driving car doesn't get bored or frustrated, there's less of a disincentive for a self-driving car to drive during rush hour. So it seems like if all else remains equal, self-driving cars are going to make traffic worse, not better (sure, if you could combine them with ride-sharing, they might reduce things but lyft and Uber right now could be ride-sharing but they aren't. No reason to expect a self-driving taxi would better unless something impels it).

[sliverstorm]

I'm with you, many folks seem to believe self driving cars will increase existing road capacity tenfold or something- I just don't see it. Once every car on the road is self driving they can maybe drive "too close" at speed, but overall there's still a limited amount of space on the pavement.

Now, if these self driving cars were high passenger capacity, that might have a great effect- but of course then we'd just call them a bus.

[skybrian]

I don't think anyone really knows, but say we have cheap taxis, ride sharing, driving "too close", and far fewer accidents? There's still a limit but it should be quite a bit higher.

[sliverstorm]

Trouble is the concept of induced demand, which roads enjoy in spades

[kross]

I agree. My businesses now all have remote-able workers, though most of the time we want to work together. VR bridging that gap could make a huge difference (think whiteboard sessions). I think in general alleviating the requirement to be somewhere such as the majority of peoples 8-5 jobs will change traffic patterns dramatically.

This alone might make it appealing to take normal methods (car or autonomous car) into the city for leisure.