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Brad Templeton discusses how robot cars will change the design of cars.
Big changes that will come about from robocars will come from how they free car designers from the constraints of human-driven cars which are the owner's sole, or almost-sole vehicle.
If one can hire a cheap specialized “robotaxi” (or whistlecar) on demand when one has a special automotive need, car users can elect to purchase a vehicle only for their most common needs, rather than trying to meet almost all of them — or to not purchase at all.
Most trips are short, have only one passenger and do not require significant cargo room. Almost nobody purchases a vehicle good only for that purpose, because they want to cover the occasional needs for long trips, taking extra people, carrying cargo, towing or going off-road.
So if on demand robotic cars are always roaming nearby then they could be instantly called when you need to carry more people or more cargo.
See more and subscribe to NextBigFuture at 2012-09-29 13:30:22 Source: http://nextbigfuture.com/2012/09/new-designs-enabled-by-robotic-cars.html