One of the biggest problems in modern cities is public transit. Many of the suburbs that surround cities are too far away from public transit stops to make building out bus lines for them workable, let alone able to financially support themselves, and then there’s the issue of getting to your job from the closest stop. It’s called the first-mile last-mile problem and Tesla appears to be aiming to solve it.
Elon Musk, while attending a transportation conference in Norway, mentioned a project he was working on to solve the issue:
There’s a new type of car or vehicle that I think would be really great, and actually take people to their final destination and not just to the bus stop. Autonomous vehicles are key.
While Musk didn’t discuss the idea in detail, generally the concept has been a comfortable, autonomous van-like vehicle that serves as a sort of carpool. Groups of people request the vehicle, it appears at the appointed time, and they all ride to a preselected destination. The most appealing aspect, of course, is that it’s cheap compared to planning out, timing, and running bus service, especially as riding the bus can carry a social stigma for certain groups of people.
Nothing is set in stone, but if Tesla could provide a cheap, low-cost way to expand transit networks, that’d be great for both people who hate traffic and people who want the environment to stick around. And if nothing else, it’d be pretty neat to have a bus show up at your house after requesting it on your phone. Just it hopefully will feature no naked dancing people on top when it arrives.
(via Gizmodo)