Lyft’s president says ‘majority’ of rides will be in self-driving cars by 2021

The Verge:

Lyft President and co-founder John Zimmer released a 14-page document today in which he predicts that by 2021, “a majority” of rides on its network will be in autonomous vehicles. Also by 2025, Zimmer says personal car ownership in US cities will be a thing of the past.

The end of car ownership will change cities in “huge ways,” he said, echoing those experts and academics that predict streets and parking lots will be transformed into housing and open spaces with the mass adoption of autonomous vehicles. It will also change the daily experience of riding in a car, he said.

I think this is an (understandably) overly optimistic timeline. I don’t think the obstacles – personal, financial, infrastructure, governmental – will be cleared as fast as he seems to believe. Although, as a motorcyclist, self-driving and therefore theoretically safer cars are something I want as soon as possible.