Are autonomous cars good for riders?

I was thinking about this after reading this morning's news that Google is aiming to launch an autonomous rideshare service in the next couple of years.

Are autonomous rideshare cars really what riders want or need?

I'm beginning to really question this. I look at it kind of like telephone operators. I don't think anyone prefers to have an automated machine answer the call when they call customer service. Rather, most people despise it. I myself have a habit of just button mashing the 0 button when calling customer service to try and get to a human as fast as possible. I find this ironic, when these automated systems were surely seen as a futuristic marvel when they first arrived on the scene. But it seems that their benefit is really only felt by the company, who is saved having to hire a room full of people to answer and direct calls.

I'm afraid driverless cars may suffer the same loathsome fate. We've already seen how autonomous cars are overly cautious when approaching seemingly simple situations that a human can navigate easily. Indeed, this problem may be compounded by the idea that shrewd human drivers can intentionally bully autonomous cars. I believe that once the novelty has worn off, the experience of riding in a driverless car is going to end up being more frustrating than impressive, and people will go out of their way to avoid them in favor of human-driven rides.
Don't get me wrong. I can see the appeal of owning one's own driverless car. It's like having a personal chauffeur on call at all hours of the day. You'll no longer have to worry about having that second (or third) glass of wine when out at dinner. Your travel time can be productive rather than a ti…

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I was thinking about this after reading this morning's news that Google is aiming to launch an autonomous rideshare service in the next couple of years.

Are autonomous rideshare cars really what riders want or need?

I'm beginning to really question this. I look at it kind of like telephone operators. I don't think anyone prefers to have an automated machine answer the call when they call customer service. Rather, most people despise it. I myself have a habit of just button mashing the 0 button when calling customer service to try and get to a human as fast as possible. I find this ironic, when these automated systems were surely seen as a futuristic marvel when they first arrived on the scene. But it seems that their benefit is really only felt by the company, who is saved having to hire a room full of people to answer and direct calls.

I'm afraid driverless cars may suffer the same loathsome fate. We've already seen how autonomous cars are overly cautious when approaching seemingly simple situations that a human can navigate easily. Indeed, this problem may be compounded by the idea that shrewd human drivers can intentionally bully autonomous cars. I believe that once the novelty has worn off, the experience of riding in a driverless car is going to end up being more frustrating than impressive, and people will go out of their way to avoid them in favor of human-driven rides.
Don't get me wrong. I can see the appeal of owning one's own driverless car. It's like having a personal chauffeur on call at all hours of the day. You'll no longer have to worry about having that second (or third) glass of wine when out at dinner. Your travel time can be productive rather than a time sink. But these are benefits that rideshare services already provide with their current human-driven services.What it comes down to for me is this: rideshares are part of the service industry, and good service is tough to pull off without a human involved.What do you all think?

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