[bps4484]

I think the price of a self driving car will be very high, and the price of a taxi/rental service (which will no longer have a driver) will go down, making a taxi/rental much more attractive monetarily than it is at present. To your arguments:

- storing necessities - this is probably the strongest argument that will have to be worked around

- cleanliness - is this currently a problem with taxis and rental cars? I haven't had this issue.

- style - I think this is true in certain places (I'm thinking of places like LA where there is a strong car culture) and I think is something that will change as owning a car becomes an unneeded expense. Think of it like owning a plane. Sure, it could say something about who you are, but there are cheaper ways to do that.

- status - same argument as style

- practicality - especially at a larger scale, wait times could be greatly reduced by having more taxis/rentals on the road at any given time, including in the suburbs. There still would be a lack of convenience, but I think the idea of having an expensive piece of equipment sit idle all day in your driveway for the off chance you need to use it suddenly will seem wasteful. In fact it's wasteful now, it's just there isn't a good, cheap, and convenient enough alternative to use instead. A driverless taxi/rental could be that alternative.

[Wilya]

About cleanliness, taxis and rental cars are clean because there is someone there to clean it between each customer. That doesn't work for carsharing, where cars go directly from a customer to the next.

My experience with these systems is that you don't find anything really dirty in the cars, but you tend to find empty bottles and things like that in them. Not a deal breaker if you just want to get somewhere, but not very family-friendly either.

[minikomi]

Car sharing services in Japan ask you immediately (via the navi) what the state of the car is. I imagine it negatively impacts the previous rider in some way. A simple social pressure like that can work wonders.

[noir_lord]

> A simple social pressure like that can work wonders.

So would variable pricing based on how often you leave the car a mess (with appropriate filters to mitigate against the trolls).

[anigbrowl]

I predict a maximum price of $9k, but suspect the target price is $5k. For reference a SmartCar in this market (California) is $15k. Low power and a minimal interior means the main costs are the roll cage/safety features and the drivetrain. The marginal cost of the self-driving functionality is low, and Google can amortize the fixed costs very easily.