Month: May 2013

Nice Self-Driving Car. But How Much Does It Cost? – Businessweek

by dldamore

Nice Self-Driving Car. But How Much Does It Cost? – Businessweek:

“According to a J.D. Power & Associates (MHFI) survey published in April, 39 percent of people would be interested in owning an autonomous car, but only 21 percent said they’d be interested if it cost them an extra $3,000.”

*The future of self-driving car is not ownership, but time sharing [opinion]. Think of a community with cars spread out and shared amongst members. Pay by the mile with time of day surcharges and discounts. Need to get to work at 8am? Well, if there is a lot of demand at that time, there will be higher prices to get people to switch their non time sensitive activities to a time with lower demand.

Imagine how this could be used as a car pooling device for people driving to the same location. People could be picked up and both parties get a better price for doing so.

Sharing points? Maybe. Perhaps a dashboard and tracker for people…

  • How many miles do I travel alone?
  • How many miles do I travel as part of a carpool?
  • Miles
  • Time
  • What times of day do I need transportation?
  • Could my costs be reduced by choosing different travel times?

    • The Post Office Returns to the Local Store – Businessweek

    by dldamore

    The Post Office Returns to the Local Store – Businessweek:

    “Hoping to minimize the inconvenience to customers, the Postal Service is encouraging coffee shops and grocery and hardware stores to provide limited mail services. “

    *Sort of like a store within a store or like a mini mall. One stop shop. This might be like the opposite of Walmart. Go small and offer services the community values in a one stop shop location. 

    My Musings

    by dldamore

    My Musings will be a new category on this site. These will be writings that I’ve most likely written in the past. These could be spur of the moment thoughts that are incomplete as published, they could also be more full formed. I’ll try to included a note somewhere in each post to indicate changes and updates to the original. In the past I’ve used apps to capture an idea or thought and saved it to Dropbox. To the file saved in Dropbox I’ll add something like “Posted” to the end of the file name so as to not post the same item more than once.