

Google's Self-Driving Cars May Cost More Than A Ferrari - SlipperySlope
http://www.businessinsider.com/google-self-driving-car-sensor-cost-2012-9

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SlipperySlope
Does anyone else agree that a good business case could be built based on a
deploying a fleet of $250K self-driving cars?

As an example, assume that a 12 hour shift taxicab driver costs $100 per shift
and that a full day labor cost is thus $200. The 365 day labor savings on a
full time taxi is thus $73,000. Payback for the $250K self driving taxi is
about 3.5 years.

I think that self-driving cars could disrupt the taxi driver occupation in
North America if the car would cost less than $125K with a 3 year payback, and
fare prices discounted accordingly compared to a human driver. There may be as
many as 200,000 taxis in North America.

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damian2000
I agree its definitely feasible but there's other things that would need to be
in place for it to happen .. e.g. an automated way of ordering your entire
trip beforehand and paying for it. Where to stop for a pickup if its a busy
street with no legal parking spots. What if the passenger changes their mind
about where to go mid journey.

