But What Will We Do With All Our Free Time? Plenty of people think that tomorrow’s driverless cars will lead to more leisure time. Here’s why we’re not so sure

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A surprising problem

The future of driving is looking bright for you, the driver. With the rise of technology like electric vehicles, ride-sharing apps, and self-driving cars, cars are becoming cheaper and better for the environment. There’s just one problem: a lot of people are worried that there won’t be enough jobs for all the people who drive for a living. But not you! You’re thinking about how awesome it will be to read a book or get work done while your driverless car drives itself around town.

Until recently, experts thought this was wishful thinking. It turns out that it might not be so crazy after all! A new study found that people with more time on their hands choose to do more valuable stuff with their time instead of wasting it watching TV or surfing the Internet. Researchers at the University of Zurich set out to discover whether people really would use the extra time they gained by using self-driving cars in productive ways—or whether they’d spend an extra hour each day watching YouTube videos instead.

And it’s not just about travel time.

There’s another way of thinking about the time that driverless cars will save people. If they are able to get in an extra hour or so of sleep, do some work or tend to their kids on their commute, then you could argue that they’re using all their travel time more productively and don’t actually gain any extra leisure time. Perhaps we could call this the “theory of opportunity cost”.

In fact, there’s plenty of research to suggest that this is what tends to happen: when people gain more time in one activity, they use it up by increasing other activities. A study from 2010 found that men who were given an extra hour a day had no more leisure at the end of the week than men who were given no extra time; instead, they used up all their extra time by watching even more TV than before (women did something similar with household chores).

This should hold true for driverless cars as well – if we are able to be productive during our commutes, there will be little reason for us not to be productive during that period too.

Data mining will eat up a lot of your free time.

The tech companies that provide us with these autonomous cars will have an incredible amount of data about their passengers. They will know where we go, when we go there, and how long it takes us to get there. This information is incredibly valuable to advertisers who want to know what kind of consumers we are and what sorts of services and products interest us. As the driverless car network expands, so too will the opportunities for tailored advertising based on our day-to-day lives. According to a study by economists at the University of Texas at Austin, such targeted ads could be worth a staggering $450 billion annually in the United States alone — an amount equivalent to all digital advertising spending plus a third of all traditional ad spending today.

This means that many people’s days in driverless cars will be punctuated by ads touting new products or services along their route or even within the car itself (think: custom ads built into your windshield).

While this might be annoying, as analysts point out, it could also be helpful if you can use your time in transit more productively through seeing relevant ads for things that you actually need or want.

Work from home.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways that more people will live-work remotely.

Communication. It will be easy to talk with colleagues and clients, thanks to the use of things like video conferencing apps, which has been around for years but is still pretty new to most people. You’ve probably used Skype or Google Hangouts before—they’re great options because they work on any device, you can share your screen with others, and they are free! The only downside is that they require an internet connection in order to use them. That may not always be possible if you’re traveling; however, there are other solutions out there such as Slack (which has a paid version but also offers limited functionality for free), which allows you to communicate without having internet access as long as all parties involved have downloaded this app beforehand.

We don’t know how people will use their new free time, but the answer will likely be “working.”

  • People will spend more time working.
  • People will spend more time on their phones.
  • People will spend more time with family.
  • People will spend more time on entertainment and leisure: the arts, sports, museums, hobbies and games of all kinds, reading, watching TV and movies, etc.
  • People will spend more time shopping online or in person for things they want or need—and/or at least browsing to see what’s available that they might want or need in the future (see also point #2 above).
  • People will spend more time pursuing education of various sorts: formal academic study or training through high school or college; informal classes through community programs; learning how to do something by following how-to directions online; perhaps even taking up a new hobby such as a foreign language (again, see point #2).

Don’t get your hopes up about the free time you’ll get from driverless cars.

But don’t get your hopes up. You can’t just assume that you’ll have more time to yourself. Sure, you may not have to drive a car anymore—what with the car handling the acceleration and steering and braking on its own—but that doesn’t mean you won’t be busy. It’s easy to think of more time as a resource, but time is limited whether or not your hands are on the wheel: We all have 24 hours in a day. And while you’re commuting, there are other things you could be doing instead of driving. For one thing, if we want people to spend less time in transit, then we need shorter commutes via new infrastructure or denser development; neither of these is going to happen overnight. But even if it does happen someday—and that’s a big if—then getting from point A to point B will still take about as much time as it does now…which means we’ll have plenty left over at the end of the day for family, friends, hobbies and other endeavors!A surprising problem

The future of driving is looking bright for you, the driver. With the rise of technology like electric vehicles, ride-sharing apps, and self-driving cars, cars are becoming cheaper and better for the environment. There’s just one problem: a lot of people are worried that there won’t be enough jobs for all the people who drive for a living. But not you! You’re thinking about how awesome it will be to read a book or get work done while your driverless car drives itself around town.

Until recently, experts thought this was wishful thinking. It turns out that it might not be so crazy after all! A new study found that people with more time on their hands choose to do more valuable stuff with their time instead of wasting it watching TV or surfing the Internet. Researchers at the University of Zurich set out to discover whether people really would use the extra time they gained by using self-driving cars in productive ways—or whether they’d spend an extra hour each day watching YouTube videos instead.

And it’s not just about travel time.

There’s another way of thinking about the time that driverless cars will save people. If they are able to get in an extra hour or so of sleep, do some work or tend to their kids on their commute, then you could argue that they’re using all their travel time more productively and don’t actually gain any extra leisure time. Perhaps we could call this the “theory of opportunity cost”.

In fact, there’s plenty of research to suggest that this is what tends to happen: when people gain more time in one activity, they use it up by increasing other activities. A study from 2010 found that men who were given an extra hour a day had no more leisure at the end of the week than men who were given no extra time; instead, they used up all their extra time by watching even more TV than before (women did something similar with household chores).

This should hold true for driverless cars as well – if we are able to be productive during our commutes, there will be little reason for us not to be productive during that period too.

Data mining will eat up a lot of your free time.

The tech companies that provide us with these autonomous cars will have an incredible amount of data about their passengers. They will know where we go, when we go there, and how long it takes us to get there. This information is incredibly valuable to advertisers who want to know what kind of consumers we are and what sorts of services and products interest us. As the driverless car network expands, so too will the opportunities for tailored advertising based on our day-to-day lives. According to a study by economists at the University of Texas at Austin, such targeted ads could be worth a staggering $450 billion annually in the United States alone — an amount equivalent to all digital advertising spending plus a third of all traditional ad spending today.

This means that many people’s days in driverless cars will be punctuated by ads touting new products or services along their route or even within the car itself (think: custom ads built into your windshield).

While this might be annoying, as analysts point out, it could also be helpful if you can use your time in transit more productively through seeing relevant ads for things that you actually need or want.

Work from home.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways that more people will live-work remotely.

Communication. It will be easy to talk with colleagues and clients, thanks to the use of things like video conferencing apps, which has been around for years but is still pretty new to most people. You’ve probably used Skype or Google Hangouts before—they’re great options because they work on any device, you can share your screen with others, and they are free! The only downside is that they require an internet connection in order to use them. That may not always be possible if you’re traveling; however, there are other solutions out there such as Slack (which has a paid version but also offers limited functionality for free), which allows you to communicate without having internet access as long as all parties involved have downloaded this app beforehand.

We don’t know how people will use their new free time, but the answer will likely be “working.”

People will spend more time working.

People will spend more time on their phones.

People will spend more time with family.

People will spend more time on entertainment and leisure: the arts, sports, museums, hobbies and games of all kinds, reading, watching TV and movies, etc.

People will spend more time shopping online or in person for things they want or need—and/or at least browsing to see what’s available that they might want or need in the future (see also point #2 above).

People will spend more time pursuing education of various sorts: formal academic study or training through high school or college; informal classes through community programs; learning how to do something by following how-to directions online; perhaps even taking up a new hobby such as a foreign language (again, see point #2).

Don’t get your hopes up about the free time you’ll get from driverless cars.

But don’t get your hopes up. You can’t just assume that you’ll have more time to yourself. Sure, you may not have to drive a car anymore—what with the car handling the acceleration and steering and braking on its own—but that doesn’t mean you won’t be busy. It’s easy to think of more time as a resource, but time is limited whether or not your hands are on the wheel: We all have 24 hours in a day. And while you’re commuting, there are other things you could be doing instead of driving. For one thing, if we want people to spend less time in transit, then we need shorter commutes via new infrastructure or denser development; neither of these is going to happen overnight. But even if it does happen someday—and that’s a big if—then getting from point A to point B will still take about as much time as it does now…which means we’ll have plenty left over at the end of the day for family, friends, hobbies and other endeavors!

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