Tesla Robo-Taxi question

[lampcord]

I get the whole idea that you are going to be able to drive to work, add your car to the fleet, have it out making you money while you work, then pick you up and take you home. Presumably without even having to find a parking place which is nice.

One question about this though. If your car drops you off at 9 am and picks you up at 5pm and is out driving other people around all day, how much charge is your battery going to have when it comes to pick you up?

It almost seems that we could end up with staffed supercharger stations for fleet cars. What a strange twist that would be after going from every gas station having an attendant to almost none. We would kind of be taking a step backwards.

 

[Trips]

Robot Snakes or wireless charging. You could also tell your car to come back when it hits 30%. They would need to limit the distance that a person could go. You do not want your car taking someone on a 200 mile trip with no way of charging to get home. You also do not want your car a hour away when you are getting off work in 10 minutes.

 

[Ludalicious]

I get the whole idea that you are going to be able to drive to work, add your car to the fleet, have it out making you money while you work, then pick you up and take you home. Presumably without even having to find a parking place which is nice.

One question about this though. If your car drops you off at 9 am and picks you up at 5pm and is out driving other people around all day, how much charge is your battery going to have when it comes to pick you up?

It almost seems that we could end up with staffed supercharger stations for fleet cars. What a strange twist that would be after going from every gas station having an attendant to almost none. We would kind of be taking a step backwards.

It's a step forward. Just think of it this way. I am constantly having this argument with family members that don't see the vision and feel as if jobs are being lost in the oil industry and at gas stations.

These jobs will be moved to different sectors that will be renewable energy. It will also allow individuals to have more revenue to spend in other sectors. Like housing ect. It's all relevant and yes people will need to evolve or loose work in different sectors. I.E. Taxi drivers ect.

 

[30seconds]

Have it drive for half the day

 

[bak_phy]

Just use a different robotaxi to get home

 

[malcolm]

Eventually robotaxis won't have any internal controls (pedals / steering wheel) but in the mean time, will it have / need Valet Mode?

 

[Jrzapata]

It's a step forward. Just think of it this way. I am constantly having this argument with family members that don't see the vision and feel as if jobs are being lost in the oil industry and at gas stations.

These jobs will be moved to different sectors that will be renewable energy. It will also allow individuals to have more revenue to spend in other sectors. Like housing ect. It's all relevant and yes people will need to evolve or loose work in different sectors. I.E. Taxi drivers ect.

Jobs loss is not a good reason to refuse advancement in technology and industry. Markets change products evolve. It is a sad part of advancement that some jobs become obsolete, but new ones emerge. Some people will refuse to move to the new industries and will be doomed to go broke, is what happens, it is sad, but we can’t refuse the benefit of the lot for the commodity of a few individuals.
I know i am preaching to the wrong crowd but needed that off my chest

 

[Runebane]

Eventually robotaxis won't have any internal controls (pedals / steering wheel) but in the mean time, will it have / need Valet Mode?

If it truly gets to the point where your car can be added to the robo-taxi fleet, why pay to have someone valet your car? Just have the car valet itself. You can tip it some extra juice when you get home

 

[malcolm]

Apologies - I meant Valet Mode as in a speed limiter

 

[Runebane]

Apologies - I meant Valet Mode as in a speed limiter

Only if you have teens

 

[SMAlset]

While I still believe the majority of people would treat the car respectfully when in it, doesn’t take more than a horrible trashing experience or disgusting clean up to change one’s mind about renting your car out. Despite cameras around the car and presumably activated in the rear view mirror area, all it would take would be for a drunk passenger to vomit in your car or urinate in the back seat. Still happens in driver-in-car ride shares. Even if you could identify the offender can’t imagine the nightmare trying to recoup your cleanup costs. Charging my car would be the least of my concerns but yes something people would have to think thru in advance.

 

[lampcord]

While I still believe the majority of people would treat the car respectfully when in it, doesn’t take more than a horrible trashing experience or disgusting clean up to change one’s mind about renting your car out. Despite cameras around the car and presumably activated in the rear view mirror area, all it would take would be for a drunk passenger to vomit in your car or urinate in the back seat. Still happens in driver-in-car ride shares. Even if you could identify the offender can’t imagine the nightmare trying to recoup your cleanup costs. Charging my car would be the least of my concerns but yes something people would have to think thru in advance.

Yeah, this was strictly an academic discussion for me. I would NEVER let a complete stranger in my $50k + car unsupervised.

Although one benefit I could see from the inevitable attended / automated chargers is you could just send your car to a supercharger and have it come back to work when it's done. No more having to wait for it to charge.

 

[malcolm]

something people would have to think thru in advance

Absolutely. Everyone should hold back and see what happens to the end-of-lease cars which Tesla will use to get the network started.

Shots of the inside of those cars really would be a sped-up video worth watching

 

[ricohman]

Just don't poke yourself on any used needles while you pick the garbage out of your "taxi" before driving home.
But if its involved in a collision perhaps you won't use it to get home.

 

[srs5694]

Yeah, this was strictly an academic discussion for me. I would NEVER let a complete stranger in my $50k + car unsupervised.

It occurs to me that the psychology of this depends on why you purchased the car. Presumably the vast majority of us here on this forum have purchased (or are considering purchasing) Teslas as personal transportation. My Model 3 is my one car, just like my bed is the one bed in which I normally sleep. As my personal property, and as the second most expensive thing I own, I have an emotional attachment to my Tesla. If, OTOH, I were to buy a Tesla to treat as a money-making tool to operate as a self-driving taxi, my perspective would be very different. I'd be more willing to accept an occasional inconsiderate rider who leaves a mess behind, or maybe even somebody who maliciously trashes the car. The degree of emotional investment would be much less. That said, I'd want to have some idea of how likely such events are to work out appropriate pricing and/or be sure that my insurance would cover downtime and cleanup or repair costs.

For this reason (and others to do with economics, financing, and so on), I fully expect that when self-driving ride-sharing arrives, it will be companies, not individual car owners, who will profit. Companies can and do buy fleets of cars that are rented out already. Companies are dispassionate about these investments. Some existing companies, like car-rental agencies and taxi companies, are already familiar with the economics in this space and may jump at the opportunity. To be sure, some individuals will rent out their personal cars, and some of them may buy an extra car or two or more to turn this into a business; but I fully expect that when Joe Average hails a self-driving car, it will more likely be owned by Avis or Uber than by Jane Doe who lives down the street from Joe Average.

 

[Ludalicious]

While I still believe the majority of people would treat the car respectfully when in it, doesn’t take more than a horrible trashing experience or disgusting clean up to change one’s mind about renting your car out. Despite cameras around the car and presumably activated in the rear view mirror area, all it would take would be for a drunk passenger to vomit in your car or urinate in the back seat. Still happens in driver-in-car ride shares. Even if you could identify the offender can’t imagine the nightmare trying to recoup your cleanup costs. Charging my car would be the least of my concerns but yes something people would have to think thru in advance.

The only way I would allow this if they offered a Model 3 that allowed you to open up the door and hose down the entire interior. Kind of like a jail cell. What would you do with homeless people that decide to take the vehicle and pass out in it sleeping. I feel as if people will be showing up dead in cars from OD's.

 

[Misterbee]

I wouldn’t do it today. But by the time the Tesla Network rolls out, my 3 will probably be five years old, so I will feel much less precious about it. Still, I would only rent it out during daylight hours, when people are less prone to get up to mischief. And living near a major airport, I might get a steady stream of people just looking to get to or from their hotel.

 

[Runebane]

I wouldn’t do it today. But by the time the Tesla Network rolls out, my 3 will probably be five years old, so I will feel much less precious about it. Still, I would only rent it out during daylight hours, when people are less prone to get up to mischief. And living near a major airport, I might get a steady stream of people just looking to get to or from their hotel.

Yeah I *might* try it as well as I also work near an airport. It really depends on if we can geofence an area of support or not. IE I don't want someone renting it to go from the airport to a nearby town, but say maybe a 10 mile radius from the airport, which should cover all the major hotels.

 

[Incredulocious]

I think this notion of renting out your vehicle to random strangers is very much like doing the same with your home (ie, AirBnB). It’s definitely not something I would want to do (home or car), but obviously AirBnB and others have demonstrated that many people are comfortable with this.

 

[zhu-]

I may robotaxi my 3 if I get another Tesla but most likely not if it's my primary vehicle. However I recall Elon saying you can limit it to friends and family. Would be great if you could limit it to only people within 2 degrees of separation.