Driving hasn’t gotten cheaper since 1934. Self-driving cars might change that

On the surface, it seems like cars have changed a lot since automobile giant Ford launched the Model T way back in 1908.

Today’s cars are safer, more efficient, and have all sorts of bells and whistles that Henry Ford could only have dreamed of. But in terms of cost per mile, not much has changed.

As the graphic above from Ark Invest shows, owning a personal vehicle still cost US$0.70 per mile (adjusted for inflation) in 2016 despite all that innovation.

However, research from the investment management firm’s Big Ideas 2023 report shows that could be about to change thanks to autonomous vehicles. The report indicates that at scale, self-driving taxis could cost consumers just US$0.25 per mile by the end of this decade.

That’s certainly a lot cheaper than the cost of housing and feeding a horse for your cart back in the 1800s.