What if we were all Uber drivers?

[mk44]

I just had an idea. What if there existed %50 of the cars that exist in US today, but they were freely available for everyone. What's the catch? You have to pick up people on the way to where you are going. There will be a cloud system that similar to Uber, where people input where they need to go. If they see a car standing, they can just start driving it. If there's someone who needs picking up on the way, they do it. Each person will have a card they scan when the get in the car or drive it. This way you identify cheaters (those who didn't pick up appropriately). What do you think?

[dalke]

Here are some of the things that can go wrong:

1) some teen drivers are not allowed to drive at night. Some people have a suspended license and are legally restricted to only driving to/from work or to/from school. These people might not be able to participate. How are the restrictions added to the system?

2) My timing is tight. Work ends at 4:00 and I have to pick up the kids from day care by 4:15. It's a 10 minute drive. Do I schedule a pickup every day or do I chance that I might be required to detour for someone else?

3) I live in the countryside about 10 minutes drive from the nearest neighbor. Do I get to have my own car? If not, how long does it take to get a ride?

4) I live on an island where the ferries to the mainland only run during the day, and I want to take the first ferry of the morning. How do I arrange a 5am drive if there are no cars on the island, or none close to me? What if there was a storm that prevented the ferry service from running the previous day?

5) Does the scheduling system know the ferry schedule well enough to know if a pickup is even possible? What if I and the car are on the ferry going from A to C, with a stop to load/unload at B, and there's a notice for a pickup at B. It's not possible to unload, pickup, and load in the short time the ferry is at the harbor, and the next ferry is an hour later. Am I penalized for declining the ridiculous assignment?

6) I do social work and visit 12 residences each day. If I partake in this system, will it introduce enough variability that I have to reduce the number of home visits I make?

7) I am moving and the car is full of boxes and luggage. (It took an hour to load everything.) Do I still have to pick up other people?

8) I suffer from social anxiety disorder and have difficulties dealing with strangers, including as a driver or as a passenger. Do I still have to participate or is there an ADA exception?

9) I have a restraining order on me which prevent me from being within 1,000 feet of my ex-spouse. I'm scheduled to pick up someone from next door to said spouse, and that address is well within the exclusion range. What do I do?

What is the resolution process should there be a conflict between what the system expects that you can do, and what the reality is?

[mk44]

While you are correct, Many of the points apply to mass transportation in general, and society might no have a choice due to environmental/growth/resource problems.

[dalke]

I don't understand your statement.

Mass transit is a different issue. A good mass transit, which holds to a schedule, does not have the same built-in variability that an "everyone is an Uber driver" scheme has.

My ferry example, for example, is mass transit. If I live in the countryside, and have an hourly bus or even twice daily bus, then that's both a maximum time to wait, and a schedule I can plan on, while Uber for that case will be highly variable and therefore difficult to plan around.

Other issues are only specific to the Uber case. If there are no personal vehicles then there's no need to worry about teen drivers with a sunset driving curfew or people with a restraining order who are nevertheless obligated to pick up a passenger.

I am hard pressed to think of a future where "society might no have a choice", but where your proposal makes any sense.

[dalke]

In any case, the examples I gave were lead-up to "What is the resolution process should there be a conflict between what [your proposed] system expects that you can do, and what the reality is?" Your followup didn't address that point.

[johnreagan]

This will happen with Uber + self driving cars. Car capital will just concentrate, and we will all rent it went we need it from well organized network of company cars.

[mk44]

Will we be picking people up on the way? like uber drivers? because that would be the real value.