The self drive car shifts into third

Ford Developing Fully Driverless Car

This is a good plan by Ford.

​More after the fold.

Ford has a good plan, forgo the individual customer for package delivery, and share ride fleets. It will be here, and government, and private fleets where the first growth will blossom. This is why the technology will take over so quickly. As these fleets see costs, and at fault accidents decline, insurance, and operating costs will also decline. Insurers will begin uncharging human drivers for the actual accidents they cause, and the self drive fleets will pay very little in premium, an only for liability insurance. All other risks will be self insured. 

This will allow the share ride vehicle to quickly become a common occurrence, first in cities, but quickly in suburbs, and eventually in the exurbs. As children, and oldsters begin to adopt this new service, everyone will become familiar with the convince, and low cost of the service. A large plus will not being required to make long walks through the heat of summer, the rains of spring, or the cold of winter from the parking lot to the destination whether work, shopping or play. It is a no brainer that moms would rather be dropped at the door to the mall, then have to shepherd their gaggle through a long, cold, wet walk through a dark mall parking lot. 

While the wealthy will want their own car, and the upper middle class will seek to emulate. Many at the bottom will find new services arising which will offer them door-to-door rides for about the cost of bus fare, if the ride is shared with others. Finally, the poor will have the same right to safe, comfortable, door-to-door transit just like the wealthy.

The free market system we call capitalism has always favored the poor and the average Joe. The wealthy do not gain much from brining the luxuries of the wealthy to the masses, but the masses do. And the self drive car will move transit from the 19th century to the 21st in a  very short period of time. Expect implementation to look like that of the radio or iPhone, fast and all but complete.

 The great achievements of capitalism have primarily benefited the ordinary citizen, not the wealthy

The speed at which various technologies were adopted:

Chart of the Week: The ever-accelerating rate of technology adoption

Expect the adoption of the self drive car to look like the adoption of the refrigerator, color TV, cell phone, or Internet fast and furious!