Urban areas especially would largely benefit from this. Fewer cars would mean streets could get narrower again, like in old European cities. People would be more connected, or alternatively, nature could be partially introduced back into the cities. Examples of this can be seen in cities where now disused transportation bridges are being handed back to nature to allow wildlife to grow and to create safer crossing for animals who still live on the outskirts of our ever-growing cities. When one-lane smaller roads can replace large multiple lane cities’ roads within cities, the opened-up space can be used for things such as public parks, public transportation, and even more housing. This could also help dissolve the vast parking lots that are especially rampant in the US, where shops are required to have a minimum of parking spaces, compared to most of the EU where there is a maximum, making urban areas denser and thus more walkable and easier to cycle through. Currently, Uber uses surge pricing determined by factors such as passenger location and drop-off point, supply and demand of drivers and passengers, and what passengers were previously willing to spend on rides. This system would not need much changing to be compatible with a third-horizon company; all that Uber would have to do is clearly display that this is happening. As an example, Felyx is an operator of shared e-scooters in the Netherlands and Belgium that clearly shows which scooters have a mark-up or a discount. In doing so, the operator hopes to encourage some of their riders to walk a bit further to get different scooters that would be underutilized otherwise. In Uber’s case, this would allow people who have the time to walk a bit further and spend less, thus leaving cars for people who are in more of a rush or are willing to spend a bit more. Considering that this is already where Uber seems to be going, the best way forward might be to double down on the promise of self-driving technologies and forgo the business of trying to be a cab company that pretends just to be a platform. 44
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