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California just opened the floodgates for self-driving cars
(www.washingtonpost.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Sure you might have a lower number of cars total, but you'll also have way more cars on the road, making the traffic problem even worse (because you can now have more cars than people). I'm guessing we'll be seeing legislation that disallows empty cars driving around in big cities.
I don't think it would necessarily mean more cars. It means that your car takes you to work but instead of sitting in the parking lot whole day it drives other people around making you money and then at the end of the day it takes you back home and perhaps then goes back to being a taxi for the night.
You won't own the cars. The cost alone would be prohibitive, but operation and maintenance is far better done by an organization rather than an individual.
And there's almost no way a modern (feudalistic) car company will allow you to use your car this way to earn money.
The corporate masters are already not so keen on paying you when you are actually driving the thing. Do you really think they'll let you in on the racket?