Car Ownership Is Broken
Car ownership is widely accepted in most countries as a necessity in the modern world. However, It’s also incredibly inefficient.
The average Australian (or American) that drives a car on any given day drives for 1.5 hours on average, this means that about 94% of the time, the car is rusting away in some parking spot. This utilization is actually lower as it discounts those that own a car but didn’t drive on a particular day. That’s like an airline buying a Boeing 747 and only flying it one or two days A MONTH. Utilization rates are an important metric for many businesses. For comparison the time Utilization of Hertz, a car rental property is over 65%, and Taxicabs in NYC are occupied roughly half of the time - an order of magnitude difference to average consumer vehicle ownership.
Cars are one of the most expensive things a person will buy in their lifetimes, and for most people, owning a car is incredibly sub-optimal. However, the alternatives to owning a under-used car are just much worse. Public transport, in many areas, is expensive, slow, and doesn’t always get you to where you want. Taxi services are still too expensive to displace the personal vehicle, although getting cheaper with services such as Uber, Lyft, & Sidecar.
There is something in the near future that will disrupt the current model of ownership: On-demand driverless cars. Imagine if at anytime you needed a car, it would arrive and take you to your destination. Imagine owning a car without the hassle of worrying about finding parking, buying insurance, maintaining the car, or getting home after a few drinks. Sounds a bit like a cab? Alright fine. Imagine a cab service that was cheaper than actually owning a car. Imagine if you could own a car, and “plug” it into a network so it could drive around other people while you didn’t need it (and make you money).
You can be expect car services on Uber will be leading the way in making this happen. Most likely with the help of Google and it’s self-driving car technology.
Earlier this year CEO Uber Travis Kalanick alluded to future of Uber’s self-driving fleet.
“I love [self driving cars] all day long,” he said. “The Uber experience is expensive because it’s not just the car but the other dude in the car. When there’s no other dude in the car, the cost [of taking an Uber] gets cheaper than owning a vehicle.” Source
As someone who’s car recently broke down, I’m waiting for the technology and regulation around self-driving cars to mature enough to a point where I can get a car as easily and cheaper as water from a tap.