Ride Sharing Companies are Trying to Make Personal, Self-Driving Cars Illegal
A subtle, yet powerful little piece of legislation is trying to make its way through the Transportation Departments in major U.S. Cities.
The "Shared Mobility Principles for Sustainable Cities," proposes that autonomous vehicles in urban areas should ONLY be operated ride sharing fleets. The movement from rural and suburban areas to cities is one of the largest, and fastest migrations of people ever recorded in history.
This chart puts the trends into quantitative value. 82% of North Americans live in urban areas and are increasingly concentrated in mid-sized to large cities.
Do we really want to limit the market to 2 or 3 ride-sharing fleets? Talk about a monopoly.. even though they currently have a monopoly over their intellectual property rights.
Uber and Lyft are the main players, and Uber especially, has shown that they are willing to do whatever it takes to pass their agenda. The best part is that they give their best, positive spin on the matter. For example, the ride sharing fleets argue it can provide more affordable access, increase public safety, reduce emissions, and reduced traffic congestion.
While these are all true, autonomous vehicle's in and of themselves already provide all of these solutions. Why do we need a middleman to provide car as a service? Can't the autonomous vehicle owners themselves provide the service?
So keep your eyes on Uber, Lyft, because their competitors will soon be us, the people who own the autonomous vehicles.
Sources: https://cei.org/blog/uber-wants-make-it-illegal-operate-your-own-self-driving-car-cities