Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

Smaller companies will find it more difficult.

But for us, as a small (50 employees) company, it is similar. We expanded our Berlin office shortly before Corona — that was unnecessary and bad timing. But we are keeping the Hamburg office now despite increasing employee numbers and investing in new working options, more focused on irregular attendance and new forms of collaboration. We also have employees who have moved farther away in the last 1.5 years and will now only come to the office once a month for a few days. All possible and did not require a major adjustment, neither for us nor for our clients. And overall, it pays off for us.

Creepy idea. This will more than double traffic volume with unnecessary empty trips. I drive to work, send the car home, my wife uses it additionally, and then it drives autonomously back to my workplace to pick me up. Great future...

I can't think of anything, absolutely nothing, that is cheaper to rent with regular use than owning yourself. But the rented autonomous vehicle has the same problem, it makes an empty trip between me and the next customer.

The whole thing looks different if you don't own the autonomous car but use it. That is where route and usage optimization lies. A kind of public transport with an autonomous taxi option.

I can think of a lot, for example a cooperative machinery ring in agriculture. And: just wait — ownership will become really expensive when resources become scarce. With good data analysis and control, the route to the next customer is minimized. Compare it with parcel services. Imagine a person is a parcel, which sometimes has a short-term (express), sometimes regular, and scheduled destination. Would you provide each parcel/person with their own vehicle or build logistics if you were planning such a system? We like it the way it is now — I even like cars. But there is no doubt that it is totally inefficient in terms of overall costs and resource intensity.

That’s exactly what I meant in the context of on-demand taxis. There is simply no (or at least much less) individual traffic, and public transport is no longer the mass transit as it is today, but small autonomous variable transport modules with AI-optimized routing drive around constantly. They know fairly precisely when people need to leave and where they want to be at what time. This reduces empty trips and especially idle times.

But my ordered packages never end up with me, but in various branches or at the neighbors. :) Even when I am at home.

At night, the same modules can then deliver packages to parcel stations to serve the last mile of individual logistics. And yes, even though I can understand this demand for comfort and sometimes display it myself, one will have to weigh whether, given the problems that are already metaphorically at the door, one can really still expect to have their Amazon crap delivered to the real door.

And yes, even though I can understand this demand for comfort and sometimes exhibit it myself, one will have to weigh whether, given the problems that are already standing at the metaphorical door, one can really still expect to have their Amazon crap brought all the way to the real door.

I am also in favor of more parcel boxes. Currently, however, the system is so chaotic that one wonders why there are no better solutions than employing underpaid, overworked couriers who just somehow carry out deliveries to meet the schedule. Even the smartest logistics tracking/planning is no use in that case.

That's exactly what I meant in the context of the call taxis. There simply is no (or, from my point of view, much less) private traffic, and public transport is no longer the mass transit it is today; instead, small autonomous variable transport modules with AI-optimized route guidance are constantly driving around. They know relatively precisely where and when people need to leave and where and when they want to be. This reduces empty trips and especially waiting times.

And yet traffic volume increases because of it. Those who already drive cars will continue to do so; just calling an autonomous vehicle for a short trip adds on top of that. No matter how you look at it, trips are not reduced; they increase. Empty trips and new trips. Autonomous driving solves no traffic problems; it promotes them.
And if you can save even just 10 cents, most people will summon a car from the other side of town rather than a closer available one. The main thing is to get a bargain. There will be numerous competitors, like there already are with all the rental scooters today.

One will have to weigh whether, given the problems already metaphorically at the door, it can really still be expected to have your Amazon crap delivered right to your real door.

Of course, the customer wants that. I’m not the only person in the world who gladly takes advantage of the free same-day delivery option. And since such deliveries are often made at 9:00 PM, you are guaranteed to be at home.
Nothing is more annoying than when a (large) package has to be picked up at the downtown branch where you can’t park anywhere nearby because the parcel locker was full again.

You are not thinking far enough: There will no longer be individual (or rather: manual) traffic in the city. The transport modules will all be autonomous and connected, controlled on their own tracks where possible, so that traffic lights are basically unnecessary (pedestrians and cyclists move on their own tracks/paths). Parking spaces are no longer needed because the modules are basically always in motion. This alone greatly increases capacity. The modules are much more adapted to actual demand; several modules can be coupled into a large module, so there are not dozens of SUVs with one person each, but two-person modules or coupled ones that run en bloc like a assembled bus on a route and then “lose” smaller units along the way, while others join in. There is no option to order a specific module (like in your example from afar), but at most a certain class. For example, to reserve a single module that might dock but does not open its walls and thus no additional passenger is “let in.” Obviously, big steps are necessary for this, and we won’t manage it overnight. It will mean big pains for some, but I don’t see how one can still get to a green branch (pun intended) without major restrictions, and at the same time I see in autonomy the possibility to achieve a high level of comfort that causes as little social damage as possible.

Those who already drive cars will continue to do so; just calling an autonomous vehicle for a short trip is an additional option.

I would like to be exempted from that point. Even though I enjoy driving, I prefer not to drive myself. And I would find small autonomous call-taxis, which in the near future might even fly a bit higher up (so above the other cars), great. If everyone who gets into such a call-taxi has to show identification, I think that's good. Also with regard to future pandemics that would be excellent because then groups can be formed. The power just shouldn’t run out mid-flight. ;-) I no longer use regular public transport; however, that might change again at some point.