Private car ownership has been the norm for decades, and many people have fond memories of driving the family or owning a car handed down by someone in the family. Many adults cherish the freedom to go wherever and whenever they want that private car ownership allows them. However, it seems things are about to change with people’s relationship with their cars. CEO of Honda, Toshihiro Mibe, has even predicted his company may stop making cars as he thinks car sharing will remove the need for privately owning the vehicles that we use.
Is it possible that private car ownership will cease being the norm in the future? We look at reasons why that may be so.
The average car spends 90 percent of its lifetime parked. When you think about it, fewer things that we spend so much money on get as unused as these cars. Therefore, it makes sense to hand over our transportation to ride-hailing platforms like Uber and Lyft that let fewer cars on the road do the job, instead of having lots of cars that remain unused most of the time. That is an efficient way to use our vehicles and will lead to a decrease in the cost of transportation.
Speaking on costs, it is no secret that inflation has made Millenials earn less than their predecessor. This has made car ownership more difficult, especially for first-time buyers. As a result, ride-hailing platforms that promise to deliver a car to you anywhere you are and at a lower cost are gaining popularity. A study claims that ride-hailing is cheaper, especially if you live in a city and do not cover more distance. As more people see the economic benefit of using transportation-as-a-service platforms, they will value private car ownership less.
There are reasons to believe ride-hailing will get cheaper in the future. First is the increasing popularity of electric cars that cost less to operate, allowing car-hailing platforms to charge less. Autonomous driving, which auto-making companies and startups are developing, will let car-hailing platforms reduce their costs because human drivers will not be needed. This will make transport-as-a-service more attractive to the detriment of private car ownership.
Urban migration also affects attitudes towards private car ownership. Cities often have reliable public transit because they have the population densities that make it viable. This makes private car ownership quite unnecessary. Similarly, some urban dwellings have limited parking spaces. Yet, data shows that the big cities of the world are welcoming more people who will not need to own cars.
So, will private car ownership cease in 20 years? While it will be extreme to say yes, there are clear indications that car ownership attitudes would have changed.
