@nomdeb exactly-- no customer benefit that I can see. It's like the "convenience" when they offer you the ability to do your business over the phone or online, rather than with a human agent. Worse for the customer, cheaper for the company.

@jamesmarshall I am thinking about old age - what sort of car services would we want to use once we stop driving. Of course, things may be very different then, we hope for a few decades still - but I am planning now we're in our 60s. My sense is that as an older person I would NOT want a non-human managed service.

@jamesmarshall Now I could get behind maybe a shared small group of car owners (like they do for airplanes) with a dedicated couple of drivers, that we can schedule - hopefully not many conflicts - amongst the group. That would give peace of mind and safety and personal care type of service I'd like as an older person.

@nomdeb that sounds like a rideshare service on a smaller scale, except in your scheme you would know the drivers, and I guess commercial rideshare services aren't really human-managed. I had to stop driving around 2013 for medical reasons, and now use Lyft for the few times I need a car. It's cheaper than owning a car was, since I work at home and don't go out much. No road trips without a friend driving, alas. I think Lyft is somewhat politically better than uber, which I avoid unless necessary. Ideally there would be a rideshare service that paid its drivers better. :/ I've tried to call Flywheel a few times, but there are never drivers available.