When You Have An Idea That Involves People... You Might Want To Understand People
I saw a few movies this weekend and was about to start writing about them when a buddy of mine sent me a news story that I had missed from earlier this week. Apparently as soon as next year, you will be able to buy a Tesla and then get ti rent it out to be used in the fleet of robotaxis. As always, the father of the idea was ridiculously excited about the prospect of doing this. He went as far as to say "It will be a very big deal when people can release their car to the fleet and have it earn money for them. It's just like if you have an Airbnb and you can rent out your home when you're not there."
Wow! Making money while you sleep! This is the greatest idea in the history of time... if you the passengers are also robots.
Actual footage of coming up with the idea to let your $50,490 car roam the streets
Let's just say you buy the cheapest Tesla for $42,490 and add the Full Self-Driving feature for another $8000. So now you have a $50,490 car.
It seems the idea is, I drive home from work in my $50,490 car. I park it for the night and when I am sure I don't need it again, I pat it on its trunk and send it out into the streets to make daddy some money. It picks up some customers named John (so we will call them Johns) and lets these Johns get into her backseat for a fee. After the car has picked up enough Johns, it drives itself back home, pays me my cut and is ready to take me to work in the morning! Amazing!!!!
What could go wrong?
Well let's start with a very common and easy one. Sometimes at night, Johns like to drink... a lot. Because they are responsible, they decide to take my robocar home. You know what sometimes happens when you drink too much and get in a moving vehicle? You puke! So what happens when someone pukes in my robocar? Does it have puke sensors so it doesn't continue driving around and trying to pick up Johns in a puke filled car? Does it have some kind of puke cleaning device so that when I need to get to work in the morning the puke (and its smell) are magically gone? I'm going to go with no on this one because once again, the father of this idea does not understand human behavior. Now you might be saying "Well you would just charge the John for puking". But money doesn't get me a non-puke filled car when I need to be at work in 30 minutes!
How about the next one. Accidents. Now of course a robocar would never make a mistake and crash. I have never had a single electronic device ever crash in my entire life. I mean it is not like a common term for a computer failing is "crashing". That is absurd. But anyway, what happens when someone crashes into my innocent robocar? Who does the John sue for their medical bills? I'm in America so the answer is ... everyone! They will sue the driver who hit them and me for providing a car that got hit. Luckily, in America insurance is incredibly cheap so it insurance premiums won't mess with my profits. Oh wait. insurance is super high in America. In addition, I'd need to be insured for damage that a John could cause inside the car. Like maybe after they puke, they get mad and tear up the seat. So insurance costs might be another barrier.
My dad loves this car. The only thing that he'd love more is if some randos rode around in it while he were asleep.
How many people do you know who regularly let rando Johns use their $50,490 cars? Most people I know would say, "You know what? I paid a lot for this car. I don't want anything bad to happen to it. I'm not even going to let a valet drive it let alone let a rando John take it wherever they want and do god only knows what in the backseat". If I had a $50,490 car I'd be more likely to say "Apparently you don't understand, Ferris, he never drives it he just rubs it with a diaper." This is not a beater that you are just letting randos ride around in, it is an expensive car.
And now for a more serious one. What if a John leaves something illegal in the car. I'm no expert but from what I understand, people on drugs don't always make the most rational decisions. It is quite possible that someone under the influence might forget an illegal substance in the car. I don't know how well the "I let my car roam the streets last night officer, who knows what it picked up" will be a very effective excuse if you get pulled over and a police officer finds an illegal item int the car.
But let's just use the words of the father of the idea, "It's just like if you have an Airbnb and you can rent out your home when you're not there." Well according to AI (Yahoos search not Grok) surveys indicate that around 20-30% of Airbnb hosts have experienced some form of property damage. And that is a house or apartment where you have all sorts of info on the guests. This is a short car ride. Even if the person who calls for and pays for the robotaxi is a reliable person, there's no guarantee the John who gets in with them will also be a delightful passenger. Every group has "that guy" in the friend group (if you can't name "that guy", you are "that guy"). It is quite likely "that guy" will be bumming a ride home with a more responsible friend. So there really is no way to make sure "that guy" doesn't get in your $50,490 car.
It's just like if you have an Airbnb...
Understanding humans is hard. Hopefully there is some kind of other kind of intelligence that can explain human nature to people with these ideas.
Don't ask me how I know, but I understand why taxis charge you so much if you throw up in their car. Not even professional detailers can get rid of the smell sometimes...
Oh man. I can guess.
Leaving a $50,000 car on the road alone in a normal world seems like a good idea and generates income while we sleep, but there are many drawbacks that make us think that it is a lot of money not to have it monitored.
The idea is great, but how well and in detail it is explained, human nature is the worst thing that exists, so it is better to take that detail into account when carrying out any activity that has to do with providing services.
There can never be an explanation of human nature, as its not guaranteed to be same always, instead its guaranteed to change.
Young couples often have no place to be alone in a big city. Robotaxi will be very useful for making love.
Couldn’t think of a way to write that without being gross. You nailed it!!!!!!
Love your writing and solid logic!
Ever since Musk made Grok go full nazi (some weeks ago) just because it was too 'woke' and stated facts backed by evidence (which he wasn't a fan of), I will no longer trust any self-driving cars that come from that direction.
And of course, regardless of politics, all the scenarios you've listed are completely spot on! I had a Honda civic that I bought for 17K and even that was too dear to me! I rented it once through Turo, then smelled pot for days. And I think the guys name was John, LOL. One time was more than enough for me to understand that unless I have a fleet of disposable cars, I would never use my personal car as a rental.
Another thing to consider is Tesla charging time, I mean unless the car drives itself to a supercharger station, it takes 8-12 hours to charge it fully from a regular home outlet. So when will it even have the time to taxi about?
Maybe of they made a significantly cheaper version that was kind of like the Honda Element and you could just hose it out inside...
Brilliant! I like the idea of a car you can hose out. Is but that before I’d buy a self driving one.
😂 LOL Great idea! Unless the water shorts the electronics and Tesla voids your warranty (which they are known to do).
lol the picture looks retro and soooo funny
Sometimes, we make decisions, and the idea seems great until we look at it logically. If I can afford such an expensive car, I wouldn't let it on the road for some rando Johny to ride... definitely not because even the unthinkable can happen. Humans are so unpredictable sometimes (including those who look responsible)
Totally agree with this take. On paper, the robotaxi idea sounds futuristic and efficient, but once you factor in how people actually treat rental cars, Airbnbs, or even public restrooms, things get messy, literally and legally. I love the tech behind autonomous vehicles, but trusting strangers with your expensive car unsupervised feels like asking for trouble. There’s a big gap between idealistic innovation and how things play out in the real world.