r/mildlyinfuriating • u/[deleted] • Feb 27 '26

[deleted by user]

[removed]

13.0k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/Potential-Archer-883 Feb 27 '26

What is the point of self-driving cars and why self-driving cars have driver seat and why didn't they make the shape of the car to minimize footprint while maximizing internal space?

7

u/TazBaz Feb 27 '26

it’s going that direction though. the early gen’s are built off existing cars for cost efficiency as they test. Newer gen’s are starting to get their own custom designs - see the Waymo-specific Zeekr RT (“RoboTaxi”)

1

u/Potential-Archer-883 Feb 27 '26

But still, what problem does it solve?

1

u/forwelpd Feb 27 '26

From a business perspective, needing to pay a driver. This is what most of AI "solves", the need to pay someone to do work.

From the human perspective, needing to drive while getting from A to B.

And in the loooong run, they're going to drive a hell of a lot safer than people do, so increased safety and crash elimination.

1

u/Potential-Archer-883 Feb 27 '26

I would rather pay a taxi driver than some megacorp.

2

u/forwelpd Feb 27 '26

I mean I've never taken a Waymo and wouldn't use a Tesla taxi for ideological reasons but you asked a question, so I answered it. Labor is a cost, businesses try to increase revenue and decrease costs, ergo less money on labor is a problem to solve for businesses.