Picture this: You live in a big city (or any city for that matter) and you’re used to using public transportation as your main resource for getting everywhere. But it’s the future now, so you press a few buttons, wait a few minutes, and then arrives your Robo Taxi. That’s right, a Robo Taxi. It’s an on-demand vehicle that is ready when you are. Need to get the dry cleaning? No problem. Meeting some friends for a night out on the town? Easy. The idea of a Robo Taxi is that you’re more inclined to reduce your carbon footprint dramatically. If you think of cars nowadays, they’re huge. Even your average-sized sudan is too big for one person, and if you really think about it, most cars are driven solo. So if we had cars that would do the driving for us, then our priorities to have the biggest SUV on the market would eventually change. Well, hopefully. Alexis Madrigal, senior editor at The Atlantic, gives a great list that shows the benefits perfectly:

-Range is much less important -Battery problems are considerably reduced -Refueling is not usually done while humans travel -Single passenger vehicles will be much more common -Reverse and face to face seating -Windshield requirements are different -Cargo space is not necessary in all vehicles -Acceleration is not a big requirement -Speed may not be that important -Cars may be much lighter -Suspensions can be super-soft -In time, safety concerns change considerably -The in-car environment changes considerably -Sleeper cars -Robo-RV -Parking is not a problem for the humans (or society) -Many car owners may rent out their cars

So there you have it, folks. The future is here, and it’s probably time that we accept it. Besides, I think benefitting the environment and having a personal chauffeur that you don’t have to tip sounds pretty exciting.

(Photo credit: Green Blog)