Brad Templeton considers a potential use for the coming robotic autos: “whistlecars,” which can deliver themselves to you for a small fee whenever you need to drive someplace. It’s the taxi without the taxi driver, and the vehicle can return itself. An excerpt:

“Many of the big changes that will come about form robocars will come from how they free car designers from the constraints of human-driven cars which are the owner’s sole, or almost-sole vehicle.

Much of this depends on this yet-untested idea:

• If one can hire a cheap specialized ‘robotaxi’ (or whistlecar) on demand when one has a special automotive need, car users can elect to purchase a vehicle only for their most common needs, rather than trying to meet almost all of them — or to not purchase at all.

For example, for many, most trips are short, single passenger and do not require significant cargo room. Almost nobody purchases a vehicle good only for that purpose, because they want to cover the occasional needs for long trips, taking extra people, carrying cargo, towing or going off-road.

Some of these changes would also apply to what I’m calling ‘whistlecars’ — owned or rented cars that deliver themselves to you when you summon them, but which you still drive.” (Thanks Atlantic.)