The Significance of Tesla’s Shared Fleet Program
One of the major challenges facing new technologies is often the initial cost. You can talk for days about the clean, sustainable nature of wind energy, but when you unveil the multi-million dollar price tag for erecting a single turbine, it will create objections from even the most green-minded individuals.
Autonomous and electric vehicles are no different. Many people would love to have one, but the cost of initial adoption will keep the road full of six-cylinder gas burners.
Tesla, for one, seems to have an interesting idea for making their autonomous electric vehicles more affordable: a shared fleet program.
Does Tesla’s Shared Fleet Program Mean Affordable Autonomy?
Elon Musk, Tesla’s founder, CEO, and global face, has stated that once their cars are full autonomous, the company will create a shared fleet program, enabling owners to actually make money off of their autonomous electric cars. While the owner is not using the Tesla vehicle, other people can pay for the opportunity to use it, significantly offsetting the cost of ownership and even leading to a profit.
According to Musk, owners will be able to use an app on their phones to add their cars to the Tesla shared fleet program. The car would then be available for people to run errands, and it would all generate income for the owner. This system could in theory be used while the owner is at work, on vacation, or simply spending a day at home.
By using the car to make money, the cost of actual ownership could be significantly reduced. Potentially, anyone could be able to afford a Tesla because the economic reality of owning an autonomous car would be significantly more attractive than owning a car that depends on a driver.
With the shared fleet program, the economic objection to autonomy and electric cars could be lifted entirely.
Much of the Wait Hinges on the Government
There is no current timeline for the availability of fully-autonomous cars, but Musk has previously stated that Tesla’s self-driving cars would be ready for the roads by 2018. However, even if autonomous electric vehicles were available today, there would still be a significant wait, based entirely on government regulations.
So even if Tesla is able to hit the 2018 benchmark with fully-autonomous vehicles, owners would still have to wait for the regulations to catch up before they could make money off their vehicles.
While the adoption of autonomous cars and electric energy takes time and effort, Tesla’s shared fleet program could prove to be an essential part of advancing both technologies.
