Uber was supposed to help traffic. It didn’t. Robotaxis will be even worse::px-captcha

  • bob_wiley@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    In theory it could reduce the number of cars required for a population, but not traffic. Whoever is throwing this stuff out there seems to forget that cars spend most of their time parked, not on the road. If there are fewer cars, but those cars spend a significantly higher percentage of time driving, traffic will be the same.

    Uber may actually make it worse, as there are people trying to go places, and drivers simply driving around waiting to get a fare, and then driving to get them (a new leg of the trip that didn’t exist before).

    • 小莱卡@lemmygrad.ml
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      1 year ago

      In theory it just reduced parked cars. If 100 people need to go somewhere at the same time, you still need 100 ubers to do it.

      Uber pool would actually reduce cars in circulation but for some reason americans can’t share rides and even then buses are just a better way to do it.

      • bob_wiley@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’ve taken Uber pools in the US before. I’m guessing a lot of people wouldn’t because it’s not that much extra to get your own car, and it avoids any unknowns. For example, I booked an Uber pool, I was first to be picked up… just me. We stop to get someone else and it was a couple. They were nice and seemed clean, but we were pretty cozy in the backseat with 3 of us. Most people, at least in the US, don’t want that much skin to skin contact with a complete stranger for 20 minutes.

        With another Uber pool I took, the driver didn’t even know what was going on. I assume this is some kind of training issue. He seemed really overwhelmed, because he had picked someone up, but the app kept telling him to pick up more people. I ended up explaining it to him. The girl who was in the car already didn’t seem to speak English, so she wasn’t able to offer him much help.