Quote:
Originally Posted by Damien
What's going to replace fuel tax is a trivial problem. That isn't going to cause the biggest issues in the future. The problem is going to be automation. So many jobs are going to be taken by automation that if we're not careful all this income will funnel up to the people who own the technology.
Self-driving cars are an example. We're very close to self-driving trunks being able to do the bulk of long-distance freight. In the near term they'll require drivers for the 'last mile', driving the trunks from stop-off points to their location on the side roads but otherwise they can probably drive themselves.
In the slightly longer term we may well have 'cars as a service'. Uber without the human drivers. You wouldn't need to own a car and instead just call one up via a Uber-style app on your phone/watch/voice activated device. The lack of a human driver and the fact the car could run continually would make this far more cost-effective per person than owning a car but the companies that run it would earn a fortune. Just think how inefficient cars are now. Most people have their cars sitting idle the majority of the time, doing nothing. It's a waste of money and space. Instead fewer cars can service more people at a fraction of the cost.
All of that is without mentioning how bizarre it may seem in future that we trusted these fast metal machines to humans with our slow human brains and lack of ability to coordinate in a wider network.
That's where all the money will go. Fuel tax would be nothing compared to that.
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Not to mention that there will be a "percieved security risk" to allowing "private individuals" to own and operate "dangerous" motor vehicles in an increasingly pedestrianised and self-driving society, together with the environmental red scare, creating the perfect excuse to clamp down on freedom of movement.