I've been annoyed with the proliferation of Uber/Lyft rideshare and generally Yellow Cab operating models where each vehicle is adding to pollution, costs, traffic congestion, and lengthening the duration of traffic jams as well. It's been thought that this is because customers do not think consider greener alternatives and the fact that livery vehicles spend a good amount of time (and fuel) unproductively driving without passengers inside. Meanwhile, these taxi companies disguised as technology companies (and wanting both tech valuation and compensation) are offering both their drivers and customers a decline in service. Drivers are seeing shrinking profits while customers are being charged more.
Google's Waze Carpool attempts to fix many of these problems by recommending a participating driver and rider who are headed in the same general direction to carpool. I don't believe there is a profit model for the driver or Google, but arrangements could be made for the rider to help cover the cost of fuel to the driver. This both lowers the cost to the rider and reduces the number of vehicles on the road. This got me thinking about Tesla's cleaner emissions, accuracy of the navigation trip computer, and tracking via API or Tesla App could easily be used coordinate a rideshare service where a passenger(s) could coordinate a multi-leg ride that will get them to their destination using various Tesla vehicles as a personalized bus system. Being in the LA/OC area or the SF/SJ area where Teslas are ubiquitious would be a wonderful pilot program. Those who are interested in lowering their carbon footprint and would like to reduce traffic (or access the HOV lanes) would probably love a system like this.
This would probably require some creative infrastructure tweaks so that Teslas can pickup and drop-off passengers without adding to congestion. When electric buses or vans become widely available the system would be more efficient since they can carry more than 3 non-driving occupants at a time. Of course a program like this would be more practical when we're not facing a number of communicable diseases too. Thoughts?
Google's Waze Carpool attempts to fix many of these problems by recommending a participating driver and rider who are headed in the same general direction to carpool. I don't believe there is a profit model for the driver or Google, but arrangements could be made for the rider to help cover the cost of fuel to the driver. This both lowers the cost to the rider and reduces the number of vehicles on the road. This got me thinking about Tesla's cleaner emissions, accuracy of the navigation trip computer, and tracking via API or Tesla App could easily be used coordinate a rideshare service where a passenger(s) could coordinate a multi-leg ride that will get them to their destination using various Tesla vehicles as a personalized bus system. Being in the LA/OC area or the SF/SJ area where Teslas are ubiquitious would be a wonderful pilot program. Those who are interested in lowering their carbon footprint and would like to reduce traffic (or access the HOV lanes) would probably love a system like this.
This would probably require some creative infrastructure tweaks so that Teslas can pickup and drop-off passengers without adding to congestion. When electric buses or vans become widely available the system would be more efficient since they can carry more than 3 non-driving occupants at a time. Of course a program like this would be more practical when we're not facing a number of communicable diseases too. Thoughts?
