Car ownership for status reasons would not change. The market would still be stratified by style, size, badge/brand and features.
The introduction of driverless cars, if anything, is likely to make total miles driven go up. The actual number of cars purchased would go up as long as the miles are going up. The number of individual purchasers doesn't matter, it's how many old cars are getting worn out that matters. They get serviced as they wear out, and manufacturers would still make plenty of money doing that. Even more so, probably, because they could program the cars to come in for a service when needed, guaranteeing them more service revenue.
Insurance providers would only be too happy to write out policies on overall crash/theft data that doesn't involve random events like people falling asleep or driving drunk. If anything, it would make vehicle insurance easier. But the number of claims doesn't really matter to an insurer - they expect to pay out all of their policy revenue on claims - what matters is investing the pool of funds well in the holding period between policy income and claims expense.
Any new product can only be positive for the people who make them. The only ones looking at real trouble are those who don't enter the market (if it turns out to be a success) or those who chase the wrong ideas, plus people who make a living driving cars.
Car ownership for status reasons would not change. The market would still be stratified by style, size, badge/brand and features.
The introduction of driverless cars, if anything, is likely to make total miles driven go up. The actual number of cars purchased would go up as long as the miles are going up. The number of individual purchasers doesn't matter, it's how many old cars are getting worn out that matters. They get serviced as they wear out, and manufacturers would still make plenty of money doing that. Even more so, probably, because they could program the cars to come in for a service when needed, guaranteeing them more service revenue.
Insurance providers would only be too happy to write out policies on overall crash/theft data that doesn't involve random events like people falling asleep or driving drunk. If anything, it would make vehicle insurance easier. But the number of claims doesn't really matter to an insurer - they expect to pay out all of their policy revenue on claims - what matters is investing the pool of funds well in the holding period between policy income and claims expense.
Any new product can only be positive for the people who make them. The only ones looking at real trouble are those who don't enter the market (if it turns out to be a success) or those who chase the wrong ideas, plus people who make a living driving cars.