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Uber was supposed to help traffic. It didn’t. Robotaxis will be even worse
(www.sfchronicle.com)
this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023
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Idea is that instead of 4 cars containing 1 person in each of them you get 1 car with 4 people in it. No idea how well it works in practice though, I assume most people who already drive will want to keep driving alone even if it is more expensive.
The way I see them get used, the driver is never going anywhere themselves, they're just working as a taxi. I've never seen Uber reduce the number of cars required, but I have been in situations where we needed to call 2 Ubers when everyone would have fit if the driver's seat was available.
If that's the primary use case then it indeed does not help anyone. Have never used it so I assumed passengers use it to get a lift when going to work or some event like concert by someone who would travel there anyway.
That's definitely what the term ride-share used to mean, but companies like Uber and Lyft call themselves ride-share services now when really it's just a taxi service where drivers use their own cars.
I don't think the drivers have any control over which direction their next fare will take them. I've never met a driver that wasn't driving either full or part-time as a second job.