Personal Consumer Issues • Tesla self driving car

Why do you think robotaxis wouldn't be suited for long distances? The concern seemed to be that human taxi / ride share operators tend to stay close to "home" and focus on higher density. A fleet operation of self driving Teslas wouldn't necessarily need a particular vehicle to stay in a given area, and bringing a customer a long distance could even be used as part of deploying to sparsely populated areas.

EV robotaxi in rural areas might actually be a great fit for the unmet demand from those who don't / can't drive in addition to the lower per-mileage operating costs and potentially easier routes.

I agree robotaxi EVs should be a great fit for low-density areas. However, for long distances, there is still a problem with availability of DC fast chargers. If you are taking the scenic route, say, highway 1 along the coast in California, you may not find any DC fast charging until you hit a city. I expect environmental regulations in CA will prevent that problem from being solved in those locations, at least.

If you are going from one rural area to another, but there is a freeway or interstate in between, then the robotaxi will probably find DC fast chargers on the way, and it won't be an issue. This is probably decade+ away anyway, so the charger situation can still change a lot by then.

Statistics: Posted by madbrain — Wed Apr 10, 2024 1:50 am — Replies 167 — Views 8058

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